Together for the Gospel 2008

Tony Reinke spurgeon

Clunk. Clunk. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee… Dun. Dun. Clunk. Click.
Clunk. Clunk. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee… Dun. Dun. Clunk. Click.

For more than a week now, I’ve been working next to an awkward-looking, loudly-clicking, nonstop-running printer. My desk is conveniently located about 6 inches from R2-D2 (as it’s been affectionately named). It’s a bulky printer, but also hard working, and very, very noisy. It reminds me of the old dot matrix printers that violently slapped back and forth, making that indescribable whining sound, across an endless line of perforated paper. It sounds a lot like that, with a shot of abrupt clanking mixed in.

Clunk. Clunk. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee… Dun. Dun. Clunk. Click.

I’m told the unceasing whine from the printer will be done soon. But for the last week, “R2” has been humming away 24/7, printing out colorful plastic nametags for each of the 5,000+ attendees scheduled to attend Together for the Gospel next week in Louisville.

Click.

As the loud printer slowly births each nametag—delivering one card every few minutes—the newborn falls on top of the other cards in the catch bin. I hear the click of the new card as it drops on the pile. Several times over this past week, at the sound of that click, I’ve paused momentarily to thank God for the person it represents. I don’t see the name, but I know that card represents someone for whom the gospel is precious, someone who prioritizes the gospel. And that is a work of God in their soul. So many works of grace. So many new births.

Click.

In the first couple days of the noise, my first thought at the click of the card was to wonder: is that the card that reads “John Piper, MN”? But separated from a thin screen, I cannot see the names. It’s just as likely the card represents a rural pastor from a farming community in Nebraska.

Listening to this printer has been wonderfully equalizing. When I get up from my desk I can see the long stacks of nametags, all arranged in alphabetical rows. Whether a main speaker, an old pastor, a young pastor, a ruling elder, a deacon, a seminary student, an aspiring seminary student, or a soul who is simply attending out of love for the gospel—each nametag is the same color, the same size, and the same arrangement. Equalized.

God knows our frame, that each of us are dust (Psalm 103:14). Saved. Precious to Him. Blood-bought. But we are all dust, equally dust, from A-Z.

Next week we gather at Together for the Gospel. But we are not coming together to huddle around prominent evangelical figures or to merely collect a stack of free books. We gather to proclaim our allegiance and faithfulness to the unchanging and eternal gospel. We gather to form a picture of God’s compassion, who, rather than destroying us, has compassionately atoned for our sin and redeemed us (Psalm 78:38-39).

Well, back to work.

Clunk. Clunk. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee… Dun. Dun. Clunk. Click.

See you in Louisville.

Tony

16 thoughts on “Together for the Gospel 2008”

  4. Careful working too close to laser printers Tony. It could be killing you…all those carcinogenic particles floating in the air. Maybe SGM should supply you with a gas mask. Or perhaps you should rename the printer T-1000.

    Pax,
    Tom Bombadil

  10. Will TOGETHER FOR THE GOSPEL BETRAY CHRIST ?

    That is a question which is upmost in my mind. Will the whole Gospel of Christ be clearly and prominently displayed?If it is a truncated gospel, a partial christ, the gospel of a systematic theology rather than the Gospel of the great biblical narrative, then it will in the end rob Christ of His glory because it robs him of a major part of his redemptive work.

    The Gospel Christ preached had as part of its theme. “The Kingdom of God”, the Gospel that Paul preached following the cross, the resurrection, the enthonement in heaven, the giving of the gift of the Holy Spirit, was the same Gospel, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

    If this is left out, are we not in danger of preaching a truncated gospel, an unauthorized gospel, and as J.I.Packer has argued, a gospel which does not do what the original one was able to do, “The power of God unto salvation to every one who believes it.”

    I will be praying for those that attend, that Christ in fact will not be betrayed, that the wole Gospel will be on display, so that you, my beloved brothers and I will be strengthened and empowered as only Christ alone, through the Gospel can accomplish for the glory of his Father.

    John Paul Todd
    e4unity.wordpress.com

  11. Thanks to you and R2-D2 for serving us by printing out those nametags. I’m not sure that I would have started many of the conversations I did were it not for those.

  12. A thank you to SGM for all the hard work in organizing the conference, with everything, not just the name tags. I can say with confidence that the gospel of Jesus Christ, our King and Savior was not betrayed. Sola Deo Gloria.

    thank you again

  13. I appreciate the tag all the more to be reminded of it’s production. We didn’t meet, sadly, but I want to say thank you for your blogging and for helping CJ blog.

    Dave, guest of the UK SGM guys.

  15. Tony,

    Thanks for your hard work. The conference was great. By the way, I had a good conversation with your dad on Wednesday at lunch. He is a courtious and intelligent man. The conversation ranged from the Gospel to church planting to evangelism. Please let him know that I appreciated the short fellowship over lunch.

    Bert Lumetta (KY)

  16. Bert, thank you for the comment and the kind words about my father. It was great to experience T4G with him in the same room. What a joy! And thank you for your example of faithfulness as your serve and sacrifice for your wife like Christ served and sacrificed for the Church. May we both do this well and with great joy! Thanks for the example!

    Blessings, Bert!

    Tony

Leave a comment