ENGAGE this weekend

I am going to the ENGAGE conference this weekend. Everyone probably knows all about it, but if you don't live way down here the speakers for the weekend are Don Carson and Mark Driscoll. I know that Mark Driscoll is the man of the moment, and I heard him speak the other night and thought he was just great and it's a blessing that there are men like him doing what he does, and I know that we oughtn't to be "fans" of anybody who preaches in the name of Christ, but, if I did happen to be a fan of anybody, it would be Don Carson.

The reasons for that are because I think he is brilliant, and one of the biggest and sharpest theological minds alive, but further because I think his heart is equally as big as his mind, and as genuinely warm as his mind is sharp. For all his dazzling intellect every time I've heard him speak he still leaves me with the impression that what it really is all about for him is a living relationship with his God and Saviour and a love for people. And he speaks with humility and an unassuming and self-effacing graciousness.

So, I know that there will probably be a great contrast between the speakers this weekend (which I think is a grand thing!) and we might have to listen hard to Don Carson (and I am fairly certain he won't mention "budgie smugglers"!) but I am really looking forward to what he has to say (especially in those moments when he takes his glasses off and looks out). Maybe it's the British in me, maybe it's because I am not Gen Y, but I like his style - and if ENGAGE was Don Carson, pipe organs and International Roast I'd still be there.

(I know it's risky business to write such a thing before a conference, but now that I have made him my hero he would have to seriously mess-up for me to give him up anyway! :) - And I am excited about Mark Driscoll, and think he's really likeable, too!)