CROSScon 2013

Just after Christmas, I left (that Friday) to go to a conference about missions. The title is as is.

Here's what happened:

Friday, 6:00 a.m., I arrived at the church and piled in a van with eleven others: Ryan Tetreault, Kyle Betsill, Emily and Leslie DePena, Katie and Danielle Saba, Amber Marcum, AnnaKate Jackson, Anna Thompson, Gina Granauro, and Natalia Gomez. We drove north to Louisville, Kentucky for about eight hours, including a stop in the middle for bathroom and a stop for lunch. We arrived around 2-2:30 p.m. (Lauren Keller and Charissa Crotts arrived via other transportation).
We went straight for the conference instead of stopping at the hotel. Registering, we then saved some seats, wandered around the many booths in the gigantic conference room and waited for the kickoff event.
At 4:30, the conference began with none other than TRIP LEE rockin' it out with some of his songs. Now, I'm not much into rap, but I've never met a real-life celebrity before. Seriously? It was great.
After Trip, guess who came up to preach? JOHN PIPER! I was racking up the list here. He was amazing and passionate, as John Piper usually is. After his sermon he was interviewed by Mark Dever, pastor of a D.C. church. We then left, exhausted and ready for bed, to go to the hotel.

At eight the next morning, Saturday, we left for the conference (I had breakfast in our room). For the morning session we started with some great singing, followed by Thabiti Anyabwile (yeah, I can't pronounce it either) and Kevin DeYoung, both brilliant men of God. The session ended at 12:15, and we then went to lunch. After lunch, we had our 'breakout' sessions, which were different talks by different speakers that you signed up for beforehand (although many people, myself included, just went to whichever one they wanted). There were two sessions, each an hour with a 45 minute break in between each. Then dinner. Finally, we went to the evening session at 7:00 where Conrad Mbewe preached an amazing sermon and afterwards Mark Dever interviewed some missionaries attending the conference. We left the conference right after the evening session ended for the hotel.

Sunday, we again left at eight and arrived for the morning session where Richard Chin (A Chinese man with an Australian accent...suffice it to say that was a first for me) and Mack Stiles (a missionary) both preached. Then lunch, then the breakout sessions, and finally the evening session pastored by Matt Chandler, after which David Sitton (another missionary) gave his testimony and called people to come to missions. Afterwards, we attended a Q&A with Matt Chandler and then left for the hotel.

Monday, the morning session was preached by Michael Oh (a Korean) and D.A. Carson, a well-known Christian writer. Afterwards we had the breakout sessions followed by the evening sessions, preached by David Platt, an ordinary man that, if you had been there, would undoubtedly seem touched by God. We left sometime afterwards for some sleep.

Tuesday, we left the hotel at 7:45 a.m. and arrived back around 5:00 p.m.


And that was that. Let me make a few notes.
-I brought a ton of soundtracks, which everybody loved and we listened to halfway there and halfway back.
-I met John Piper. Don't believe me? I posted a picture on Facebook. If you don't know me on Facebook, well, then, sorry. Too bad. Just take my word for it. XD
-Mark Dever is hilarious and serious all at the same time. He reminds me a lot of Kent Keller, who used to be a youth pastor at my church.
-We got FREE BOOKS. Like, six of them! And a free CD by Sovereign Grace!
-Michael Oh was quite the shocking preacher. While he made a good presentation, he kept using a phrase (that he explained, and which I'll mention later) that wasn't very savory, and he only used two passages of Scripture total. It was more of a presentation than a sermon, let me say.
-David Platt...quoted eight chapters of Romans straight. From MEMORY. He looked like he coulda gone further too. Put us all to shame. We should be memorizing Scripture like that.
-I've never had a better time in my life. Great teaching. Great worship. Great fellowship. Great God. Awesome, awesome time. I want to go again. Here's some quotes from each of the speakers.

John Piper: "The goal of missions is the supremacy of God in the joy of all peoples."

Thabiti Anyabwile: "No one can stand, no one can survive." (referring to the wrath of God)

Kevin DeYoung: "You can risk everything because God risks nothing."

Conrad Mbewe: "Death has died in the death of Christ."

Richard Chin: "We sign a blank check for Jesus."

Mack Stiles: "I love the small hinges upon which the great doors of life turn."

Matt Chandler: "The life worth living for Christ is a live worth losing."

Michael Oh: "Give a damn for Christ." ('damn' refers to a small Indian coin, which was of little value. That's where the expression 'I don't give a damn' comes from. Oh was encouraging people to give money for the sake of the gospel. I didn't like it, many people didn't.)

D.A. Carson: "To live above with those you love is quite the wanted glory: to live below with those you know, quite another story." (poking fun at our discontent)

David Platt: HE QUOTED EIGHT CHAPTERS OF ROMANS. I think that's enough.


Of course, there were many other speakers who did breakout sessions. I don't have a quote from them, so I hope you're satisfied. It was a great time. You should come for the next CROSScon. Visit their website at crosscon.com to learn more about global missions. Sayonara!