Why I Attend TGC
The conference culture in evangelicalism takes a lot of heat, and a lot of that heat is deserved. We are definitely in danger of idolizing celebrity pastors, becoming “respecters of persons” (in the “fear of man” sense), and none of us is immune to that. But I am grateful for conferences in general, and the ginormous ones in particular.
In 2009, I attended with some team members of our Nashville church plant that year’s Gospel Coalition Conference. It was the first conference of any kind I’d attended since the Willow Creek Leadership Conference in 1996. So I didn’t enter the fray as a conference junkie, but my experience that year at TGC definitely colored what I hope to get out of conferences each year. Since then, I have attended the annual “big gospel conferences” — T4G and TGC — each year. I try to make it to smaller regional events in my area as I can, but I prioritize the “big” conference every year, and my church helps me afford to go. So I am attending The Gospel Coalition’s national conference next month. Here are four, but not the only, reasons why:
1. I get to see more people in real life than I do at smaller events.
If I want to see as many of my pastor and ministry friends from around the country as possible, it is most likely they will be at the big conference. And there have been great opportunities to further fraternity in coffee breaks and after-hours events. TGC is great for connecting and reconnecting with as many of my brothers and sisters as possible.
2. My wife enjoys it.
T4G and TGC are generally for generalists. They are focused supremely on the gospel. Therefore I can take my wife to these conferences, as I have since 2010, and not worry the subject matter will be specifically narrowed to this nut or that bolt of pastoral ministry. I know that the preaching will very often apply to her as easily as to me, so she doesn’t have to feel like we are just there for me and she’s simply hanging on. Also, as I don’t have the availability or income to attend multiple conferences a year, usually when I am at a Christian event, I have some role to play. I am blessed my wife has been able to attend many of these speaking engagements with me, but when I’m there, I am largely focused on my responsibilities and she becomes my support and encourager. But she doesn’t have my undivided attention. At TGC, I have the opportunity to just be, and to just be with my wife. Going to the conference each year has become a great time of rest and reflection with Becky that we both look forward to.
3. Live preaching from men who have earned my trust.
I love the smaller venue vibes, especially the intensive and more relational way teaching in those events is carried out. I am speaking at more of those kinds of events each year and I benefit a lot from the content my colaborers present there. But since I really only get to one conference a year as a non-responsibility attendee, I know I can count on the quality preaching from men I admire and trust at T4G and TGC. I don’t listen to very many podcasts any more, and even when I do, they don’t quite meet the need I have to sit under the proclaimed word of God. And because I am preaching almost 52 weekends a year, and at other engagements in between, I crave this opportunity to sit under live preaching of the gospel and receive the word of God. If that is my desire, and if my options are limited, one could hardly blame me for choosing the conferences where I know I will hear the gospel boldly proclaimed by exulters in Christ I have come to trust and respect.
4. I am encouraged by the bigness.
Again, I enjoy the relational aspects of smaller venues, but my heart is also greatly encouraged when I see 4,000 people in one room exalting God and exulting in the gospel. Cynics may scoff, but this is helpful to my heart. I pastor a relatively small church in a very small town in a very small state, the least religious state in the nation. Going to a huge conference that centers on the gospel of Jesus Christ and that is teeming with people talking about and enjoying Jesus is hugely refreshing.
