I recently had the privilege of attending my second annual Basics Conference with Alistair Begg and Sinclair Ferguson at Parkside Baptist in Cleveland. I took five men from the church with me and we had a great time of fellowship, conversation and listening to some very powerful preaching. Here is what one of the guys had to say about it...

"This past week I was at a pastor’s conference that is aptly titled Basics. The point of this conference is to bring pastors and lay leaders together to hear about, and be encouraged in exegetical preaching. At the core of this exegetical preaching is first and foremost the preaching of the gospel and the centrality of the cross. I share this because on the way home from the conference (a nine hour drive with 5 other men) we had an opportunity to discuss many different topics including the impact of the gospel in our lives. What God really showed me as an area of needed change in my life was that all ministries must be an extension of the cross. In stating this it sounds like an obvious statement, but the fact is that many of us take it for granted that the gospel is central to what we do. We assume that the gospel is central but in reality it has been forgotten."

Now I think part of what he is saying here is that the church can do a lot of very good, even very biblical things but still miss the gospel. For example, a church that preaches holy living or right biblical practices without being rooted in the gospel can come across as being too harsh. Likewise, a church that focuses too much on personal experience and a better life without centering that in the gospel will be too soft. So what's the answer?

"The secret of ministry power is getting the gospel clear. To be even slightly off to one side or another, loses tons of spiritual power. And people don't get really converted. Legalistic churches reform people's behavior through social coercion, but the people stay radically insecure and hyper-critical. They don't achieve the new inner peace that the grace of God brings. The more relativistic churches give members some self-esteem and the veneer of peace but in the end that is superficial too. The result, Archibald Alexander said, is like trying to put a signet ring on the wax to seal a letter, but without any heat! Either the ring will affect the surface of the wax only or break it into pieces. You need heat to permanently change the wax into the likeness of the ring. So without the Holy Spirit working through the gospel, radically humbling and radically exalting us and changing them from the inside out, the religion either of the hard or soft variety will not avail." - Tim Keller