It's great to be back in my office this morning after a successful, blessed trip to West Texas. I spent Monday and Tuesday in Lubbock, attending the Ministry Renewal Conference and visiting with candidates for the Youth Ministry position at Marble Falls. Also, spending time with my great friend and mentor, Dale Mannon, preaching minister for the Greenlawn church in Lubbock, was a true joy. Everytime I'm with Dale, I leave the encounter a better man and a better minister.
Yesterday brought an early flight (before sunrise, in fact) to El Paso to visit with another Youth Minister candidate before flying back to Austin.
As for the Ministry Renewal Conference, Dr. Lee Camp from David Lipscomb University spoke on "A Grace that Transforms." Camp's purpose was to show how a proper view of grace debunks a dualistic mentality, i.e. that the sole purpose of God in salvation is the freedom of the soul from the body. Camp's position is that the redemption of God is not just eternal but it is the restoration of God's original creation intent. God created Adam and Eve for relationship and therefore, redemption is God's desire to reconnect, to commune with humanity. "The gospel's concern is not me and God," Camp concluded, "but the creation and God."
Dr. Richard Oster, professor at Harding Grad School in Memphis spoke on some overarching themes in 1 Corinthians. Oster's thesis was a call to take a more theocentric (God-centered) approach to the text of the New Testament rather than a strictly Christocentric (Jesus-centered) approach. Oster showed several examples of how Paul reaches back to Old Testament theology as the basis for his theology with the Corinthians. Oster also presented an insightful view of grace, based on 1 Corinthians 6.9-11. His conclusion was that a person who has received grace (justification) must live grace (sanctification). Behavior, according to Oster, is simply the means whereby God examines a person to see if he/she has received grace. A person cannot receive grace and then live in a way that betrays the covenant with God.
I appreciate Oster's insight because, without saying it so boldly, our heritage has often taught grace as something that it is earned. If one's behavior is adequate, then grace comes at the tail-end of life to make up for the works/behavior deficiencies in our life. But the determining factor, our heritage has often taught, is the effect of works/behavior upon the reception of grace.
As Oster points out, grace is not something a life is lived to achieve; grace is a gift given at the moment of justification. Works/behavior then evidence whether or not grace has been received.
The third speaker was Wes Crawford, newbie prof at LCU and newly appointed preaching minister at the Broadway church in Lubbock. Crawford, a church history guru, focused his presentations on the modern/postmodern tension. Of course, if you have attended a conference, seminar, lectureship, etc. of any shade within churches of Chirst in the last two years, you've probably heard your fill on the modern/postmodern cultural tension. As Dale put it in our discussion, "Why can't we just call it what it is? Satan's deceptions." Why can't we? Well, to simply call it "Satan's deceptions" would neuter all these good 60-minute theoretical seminar presentations.
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My uncle, George, was in Austin last weekend for the "Ride for the Roses" with Lance Armstrong. George is a biking enthusiast, as you may remember from his 14-day ride around the state of Arkansas this past summer raising money for the Arkansas Childrens Hospital. He writes here on his impressions of Austin and the ride with Lance under the blog entry entitled "I want to be a TEXAN." It's a good read.
