Last year I had the privilege of attending a small theological colloquium led by Dr. D. A. Carson and Dr. Tim Keller in Chicago. Over the years, Dr. Keller has been kind enough to speak a great deal of wisdom into my life regarding the gospel and role of the church in culture. Although I have read a great deal by Dr. Carson, who is among the leading New Testament scholars in the world, I had never before had the privilege of meeting him. To be honest, I had never been to a theological colloquium before and found it to be the most fascinating theological discussion I've ever witnessed.

It centered on a new evangelical reformed confession of faith drafted up by Dr. Carson with a preamble composed by Dr. Keller regarding the role of the gospel and church in culture. The colloquium was arranged in order to help hone the statements into an agreeable final draft. The hope was to redefine a clear center for evangelicalism more akin to that previously articulated by men such as Francis Schaeffer, John Stott, and Billy Graham.

Joining in the small colloquium were men from a number of churches, such as Alistair Begg, Kent Hughes, Philip Ryken, Mark Dever, Ray Ortlund, and Ligon Duncan. Also represented by various leaders were organizations such as The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, Desiring God, Together for the Gospel, 9Marks, Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Sovereign Grace Ministries, along with Acts 29 and The Resurgence. Overall, there was a great deal of ethnic, geographic, denominational, organizational, and stylistic diversity, bound together by a solid reformed confessional agreement on theological essentials.

Out of this gathering of the tribes has come a new organization called The Gospel Coalition. It will be holding its first conference beginning at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 23, and finishing on Thursday, May 24, on the campus of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. The shape of the conference is as follows:

Wednesday (May 23)

1:00 – 2:45		Open Corporate Worship
		"What is the Gospel?" Primarily an exposition of the first part of 1 Corinthians 15 (Don Carson)
		Panel Discussion
2:45 – 3:15		Break
3:15 – 5:00		Gospel-Centered Ministry (Tim Keller)
		Panel Discussion
7:00 – 9:00		Corporate Worship and Exposition: "Passing on the Torch" (Crawford Loritts)

Thursday (May 24)

8:30 – 9:00		Devotions and Corporate Prayer
9:15 – 10:30		Workshops The Doctrine of God Today (Graham Cole) Defining Evangelicalism (Ray Ortlund, Reddit Andrews) Union with Christ and Justification (Phil Ryken) The Use of the Bible in Pastoral Counseling (Mike Bullmore) Mentoring Younger Pastors (Mark Driscoll, Michael Lawrence) Mentoring Younger Lay Leaders (Harry Reeder, John Yates) The Church of the Living God: Crucial Issues in Gospel and Community (Jeff Louie) The Church of the Living God: Practical Challenges in Mobile Society (Stephen Um) Christ and Culture Revisited (Sandy Willson) Q & A on Preaching (Crawford Loritts, Ligon Duncan) Cultivating Biblical Meditation and Prayer (Andy Davis) Evangelizing People in a Post-Christian Society (David Bisgrove)
10:45 – 12:00		Closing Exposition: "The Triumph of the Gospel in the New Heavens and the New Earth" (John Piper)

It is likely that this will be the only smaller conference of this magnitude because once the ministry is officially launched it will attract thousands and not hundreds. I would strongly encourage any young Christian leaders wanting to meet and learn from the men who are participating to sign up; space is limited to 515 and filling fast because the cost is only $80. If you would like to attend, you must book your registration at this secure registration page: register.thegospelcoalition.org. The $80 registration fee covers conference costs, including snacks and the evening meal on Wednesday. Each person attending will have to register separately. As soon as the conference is over, all of the materials from both the plenaries and the workshops will be made available on The Gospel Coalition website, which we expect to be fully functional by the time of the conference. Our crew from The Resurgence will be on-site interviewing the speakers on various subjects and making the content available on this website in both podcast and vodcast form. As always, that content will be free thanks to the generosity of the elders of Mars Hill Church who fund this ministry.