Sessions Three and Four February 22, 2007

The afternoon sessions were terrific. First, Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill spoke about the two enemies of the gospel: idolatry and religion. He described how easily we make good things into God things. We end up worshiping created things, turning them into functional saviors.

Believers are more likely to fall prey to religion when we begin to believe that salvation is about what we do instead of what Jesus did. When religion enters the picture, we see God as a pinata and religion as the stick.

The Q&A was again excellent, including discussions about the emergent movement, idols in ministry, critics, and what it's like to pastor in one of the least-churched cities in America, Seattle.

The final session of the day was one of the most emotional as Dr. Ed Young, Ed's father and pastor of Second Baptist in Houston, cast the vision for reaching children in the church. His talk, based on Isaiah 54:2, focused on how as church leaders we must strengthen  our stakes and lengthen our cords in order to reach people and grow.

After first covering how me can strengthen our theology, ecclesiology, and eschetology, he turned to the core of his talk - the church's failure to care for, minister to, and reach the children and youth in our country and around the world. He challenged pastors and church leaders to invest in the next generation through time and focus, resources, and talent. Once parents believe that a church truly loves kids, they will be drawn to it.

Nearly 75% of all believers became Christ-followers before they were 18, yet we focus most of our energy on everything but children and students. Dr. Young received a lengthy standing ovation at the conclusion of his moving talk.

A blog post gives such an incomplete picture of these sessions, or the conference overall. If you weren't able to be here, be sure to keep an eye on the site - the conference recordings should be available in 6-8 weeks.

More pictures have been added to the C3 2007 photo album, including some of the incredible time of worship. C3 concludes tomorrow morning with two more sessions.