So, this is part one of two for the day two highlights:

The speaker for this morning was Thabiti Anyabwile from First Baptist, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands (tough deal huh?). The title of his sermon was “Expressing Emotions With the Psalmist”, in which he presented an exposition of Psalm 73 (my psalm for this morning by coincidence or providence). The punch line was that man-centered emotions produce self-pity, jealousy, and bitterness, but when we turn to the presence of the Lord and glory in Christ Jesus our emotions will be turned toward God by the truth of who He is. Consequently, when we lament the downfall of the wicked, rather than envy their temporary success, God uses us to reach the perishing and draw them toward Himself as well. Even if we are in the midst of hard times, our whole being can change simply by drawing our attention and affections toward God without our outward circumstances changing at all. What a great reminder for us to keep focused on Christ to experience true joy through all situations. He gave great practical points for worship leaders to employ in the congregation.

We have already had some great conversations as a team and we are looking to have more over dinner. It seems as though this conference was the right thing for all of us; God’s great providence is has definitely shaped our time thus far.

We also attended two seminars. The first, which we all attended, was led by Bob Kauflin where he broke down his definition of a worship leader as found in his book, Worship Matters. It was great to see him passionately define this task based on Biblical principles even after I have read the book, but I was most excited for the others to benefit from his wisdom on this subject and they received it very well. The second seminar I attended was entitled “writing songs people will want to sing”. I have had a burden to write songs for our congregation and this seminar gave some great a insight into writing songs that not only serve the local church, but the church universal through means of publishing and recording. 

I have already been blessed tremendously and I am thankful that there is so much more to come.