It’s Friday. The start of the weekend and the end of an incredibly encouraging week at Together for the Gospel. “T4G” is a conference geared for pastors that began in 2006 in Louisville, KY and is held biannually. Grant attended 2 years ago, right before our big move to Louisville for him to attend Southern Seminary. The first thing Grant said to me when he got back from T4G last time was, “I want you to come with me next time.”

When the conference was approaching this year, Grant did all the planning to make sure I would be there, “Call your mom, see if she can come in April to watch the girls. If she can’t, I’m calling my mom.”

If it weren’t for his persistence in inviting me and telling me how much he wanted to make this past week a priority, I can honestly tell you I would have said, “Just go, Grant. I will watch online.”

As I reflect over the past week, I feel a deep weight of gratitude for not just my husband, but the godly men I heard teach and lead us this week.

CBMW held a pre-conference the morning before T4G started. Grant is the Conference Director for CBMW and we originally planned for around 200-300 attendees. We were shocked when we sold out at 1300 seats. We then sold another 100 standing room only tickets.

I was blessed by Ligon Duncan, Danny Akin, John Piper, Russ Moore and others who faithfully taught about God’s design for men and women. I also had the privilege of moderating a women’s panel of wives, moms, and a grandmother. After the conference, the women on the panel, myself included, received such positive encouragement from the men who were present in the room, “Thank you so much.”

It meant a lot to me and I’m sure to the other women as well. I couldn’t help but think what a beautiful picture it was of men building their sisters up for the glory of God’s Kingdom.

Around 8,000 people attended T4G, the majority of them male since it was a pastor’s conference (there were almost 900 wives in attendance). One of the things I loved most about the conference was hearing thousands of men lift their voices in worship to the Lord. There were many songs I didn’t sing because I just wanted to listen to the deep reverberating voices all around me. How grateful I was to hear them.

I pray we will always hear them.

I know that many of these pastors are laboring for the Gospel week in and week out.  Some in large churches, some in small. Some young, some in training, some who have faithfully served for years on end.

Hearing the pastors who preached the Word during the main sessions was equally encouraging. A couple of the pastors who preached I have been listening to since I was a teenager.

Faithful men. Unashamed.

It seems that lately (though I know it has always been this way), godly men have been viscously criticized and torn down for standing by the truth of God’s Word. Sometimes by men. And oftentimes by women.

But how grateful I was to hear them praying. To learn from their preaching. To benefit from their faithfulness.

Dear men of God, please keep speaking up. Please keep preaching.

Your sisters in Christ need you.

We may not always be the loudest voices out there. But we are here. We want to listen. And we are right here praying you’ll keep singing.

 

The messages preached at T4G are now available here.

The videos from CBMW’s pre-conference will be available on their website within a week or two.

You may also purchase T4G worship from previous conferences here.