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Let's take a little time and 
discuss who the conference is for. I mean, in our vision we 
say it's for pastors, for elders, deacons, for people who want 
to learn more, including anyone who attends church. Can we speak 
a little on what they hope to gain by attending the conference? 
What they hope to learn and how they'll be benefited by it. Go 
ahead. Well, I think one of the things 
is, you know, a measure of the spirit of the conference is to 
demonstrate solidarity, you know, amongst the churches of Christ 
in this area and beyond. I think one of the things that 
that we want to see, that Christ wanted to see, the Lord of the 
church is unity among the churches and unity for the sake of and 
at the point of truth. So I think one of the things 
is to demonstrate collegially the solidarity that we have across 
you know, across the Reformed churches, and we would hope the 
churches at large. So, I think demonstrating that 
theological solidarity, demonstrating the connection to the past that 
we have in a stream of creedalism and confessionalism that reaches 
back to the New Testament, and I think encouraging a A seeking after the truth and 
emphasizing the importance of doctrine. I think, you know, 
if we look at the landscape of the modern church, and we don't 
want to throw a blanket across it, but there's a lot of an emphasis 
on feelings. There's a lot of an emphasis 
on, you know, how does it make me feel or where do I fit into 
this? you know, some sort of expansion 
upon simple moralism or, you know, anything that could fit 
within the context of, you know, of your local, you know, your 
local, I'm totally losing it here. You got to edit this. I'm 
trying to recover my train of thought here. So you can edit 
that out. Why don't we pass it over to 
Jim to sort of pick it up and run with the baton? Yeah, I would 
say, you know, to be candid, I'm not a big conference guy, 
honestly. I think that if the church is 
doing her job in faithfully expounding Scripture, making good application 
from good exegesis, then she really doesn't need conferences. 
However, I think when you have specialists in their particular 
fields able to tap in You know, in terms of historical theology, 
systematic theology, all grounded on a solid exegetical theology, 
I see the necessity or at least the benefit of that. And so, 
the guys or the men that we invite to do this, they're competent. It's not like, you know, somebody 
that just fell off the turnip truck. They're seasoned men, 
they're capable men, they're competent men, and they're specialists 
in their field. So, anybody and everybody that 
attends the conference or listens to the lectures online is going 
to be able to benefit. It's not that, oh, yeah, I already 
knew that, or, you know, it's just these principles on a better 
life. It's not that. It's doctrinal 
instruction that is grounded in Scripture that is connected 
to the history of the church and it is for edification. And I think what Cam was saying 
earlier is accurate. It's not, you know, there's a 
multitude of conferences on the practical emphasis, the practical 
this, the practical that. I'm all for that. But we're not 
going to sponsor that one, I'm kidding. Ours is our confession, 
and we think there's a great need for that. You know, Jesus, 
especially relative to chapter 2, Jesus in John 17, verse 3 
says, �This is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the 
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.� And it's 
been my concern that persons don't know God. I mean, they 
do. But, in terms of a basic expression of Trinitarian thought 
to emphasize the unity of the divine nature and the trinity 
of persons and the Godhead, they come up short, or they say things, 
well, that's really not for me. That's for theologians. Well, 
guess what? We've got some great theologians 
that are coming. so that they can make it for you. And I actually 
believe that the more that people understand who God is when we 
come to a chapter like chapter 2, the better it is for you. It elicits worship and praise, 
adoration, admiration for God and for what He's done in terms 
of salvation. And I think that serves then 
as the impetus for why I should live in a particular way. We 
cannot disconnect the application from the doctrine. We cannot 
just be Christians without first thinking Christianly. And so, 
I hope that this conference addresses that particular reality. Which 
is good that you said that, because the topic that our brother Jim 
is doing on Saturday morning, the last topic we have, is about 
how does this doctrine affect us practically, and how does 
it lead us to worship. If you want to give us a minute 
or two teaser of what you hope to speak about, that would be 
appreciated. Well, I'm not sure this will 
be the text, but I think about King Solomon, for instance. Solomon 
was certainly the son of an extraordinary theologian. So, Solomon has good 
theology, and at the dedication of the temple, before he gets 
into specifics in terms of the the temple itself or, you know, 
the various things involved with temple-ness, he starts with God. He extols the grandeur of God. He highlights the transcendence 
of God, admits that this temple cannot contain you. So, it's 
always a good place to start with God, to be theologically 
minded. We're not just, you know, well-behaved 
pagans. There's pagans out there that 
can conduct their lives in an orderly fashion based on light 
of nature realities and the fact that they cannot completely obliterate 
the image of God. But we're not sanctified or holy 
pagans, we're Christians and we need to think Christianly 
first about who God is, who we are, how God has saved us, then 
comes the application and how I'm supposed to love my wife, 
or I'm supposed to serve my children, or my employer, or whatever that 
is. It just seems to me that in our 
generation, we want to bypass the doctrine and just get to 
the how-to. And our emphasis is the how-to's 
important, But you've got to get the why you've got to understand 
who you're dealing with Because as that gets into your spiritual 
bones, then you're animated in the proper direction Mm-hmm