Sovereign Grace Music is coming to Grace Baptist Church in Santa Clarita, CA, October 1-4, for Your Gathering and the Gospel! If you plan, lead, or even participate in your church’s Sunday service, we put this conference together for you.
I know there are plenty of conferences you can attend and might need a little more info to be persuaded. So here are seven reasons I think you should seriously consider coming, along with others from your church, to Your Gathering and the Gospel.
1. The Topic
A typical Sunday morning of a church involves setting up, greeting, singing, prayer, teaching, fellowship, Scripture reading, and more. What ties those elements together? What should occupy the forefront of our minds? What do we want filling the hearts and vision of those who leave our Sunday meetings? The gospel. The good news that Jesus Christ has come to earth to redeem us from our sin for his Father’s glory (Titus 2:11-14). It’s the truth that provides the foundation, fuel, and purpose of our services. If we’re not constantly intentional, we often make 2nd and 3rd level issues primary in our meetings and end up missing what matters most. This conference is designed to tackle that problem head on.
2. The Teaching
We’ve invited a group of main session speakers who will not only inform your mind but ignite your heart with a passion for Jesus Christ. Each one is serious about the significance and effect of the gospel. Rick Gamache will be show us how the gospel grounds all we do in the reality of our union with Christ. Dane Ortlund, pastor and author of Gentle and Lowly, will remind us the gospel must affect our hearts before we think about how it affects our gatherings. Mike Bullmore will tell us how the gospel is the main story of every message and what we’re meant to hear in every sermon. I’ll have the joy of speaking on how the gospel impacts our singing. My friend Jon Payne will be preaching on how the gospel creates churches that exhibit joyful, humble serving. And my son Devon will remind us how the gospel inspires our Christ-exalting, Spirit-empowered witness.
3. The Music and Musicians
Sovereign Grace Music exists to produce Christ-exalting songs and training for the Church from our local churches. But we know we’re not alone. So while we’ll be singing a number of Sovereign Grace songs, new and old, at the conference, we’ll also feature theologically driven, gospel-centered, emotionally affecting, and singable songs written by friends like the Getty’s, Matt Papa, Matt Boswell, CityAlight, and others. And most of those leading us, while skilled, aren’t “professionals.” We’re members of local churches, wanting to make much of Jesus through our songs, and more importantly, our lives. And on Thursday night, we’ll be “singing through the gospel” using songs, Scriptures, and prayers that enable the word of Christ to dwell in us richly (Col. 3:16).
4. The Attendees
One of the best parts about any Sovereign Grace Music conference is the people who come. You’ll be surrounded by people who love the church. People who love God’s Word and want to hear it preached faithfully. People who want to grow in their craft and take every part of what we do together on Sundays seriously. People who pray in faith that God would move through his Spirit each week to build the members of their church into Christ and into each other (Eph. 4:15-16). People who are serving their churches faithfully and want to learn how to do it better. And we make it a point to find ways to make you more aware of the amazing stories God is writing in the lives of those at the conference.
5. The Training
While the main messages are reason enough to come, we’ll also be offering pre-conference master classes for vocalists, guitarists, tech personnel, pianists (I’m teaching that one), and bassists and drummers (with Ryan Foglesong and David Zimmer). During the conference you can choose 4 of 16 breakouts to be practically equipped in areas like fighting weariness, how to be a good team member, arranging for a congregation (not an audience), shepherding your musicians, using technology on Sundays, meeting with Christ in Scripture, cultivating the gift of encouragement, marriage and ministry, and more. We’ll also be offering seminars on bi-lingual services, how we write Sovereign Grace songs, and “Who is Sovereign Grace Churches?” for those who didn’t know Sovereign Grace Music is part of a denomination!
6. The Location
Our last West Coast conference was in 2014. Since then, we’ve held most of our conferences in Louisville, KY. A lot of people have made the trip across the country to attend those and we thought it was time to do something more convenient for those who live west of the Mississippi. Ryan Foglesong, a pastor at Grace Baptist Church and frequent bass player on our albums, graciously offered us their building as a place to have the conference and we loved the idea. It’s a beautiful campus and hey – it’s in California!
7. The Model
It’s great to attend a conference where the production is amazing, cues are never missed, there are no dead spots, the musicians are over the top good, the lighting is awe-inspiring, and you feel pampered (we try to get that one right). But a conference isn’t your church. So at Your Gathering and the Gospel we’ll be toning down the production and polish and work at keeping it real. You can watch us rehearse. We keep the lights up when we sing. We use a lot of volunteers. Speakers and musicians are available for casual conversations. We want you to get to know us, and we want to get to know you. We definitely want the conference to be enjoyable and encouraging. But through it all we pray it’s the glory of Christ, not us, that shines through.
On top of the seven reasons I just listed, you’ll get a free lunch on Thursday and Friday, you’ll have the opportunity to hang out with your team on Friday night, we’ll be giving away books, gear, and resources, and we’d love to serve you in any way we can!
And one last thing. Senior pastors, church planters, students, and international guests can register at any time for only $99. It’s almost like we’re paying you to come! But for everyone else, the cost of registration goes up Tuesday, July 1!
So what are you waiting for? You can register here.
Hope to see you there!
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