I would have to say that that was the best Desiring God Conference my wife and I have been to so far and, I would have to say, probably the best conference I’ve ever been to. Every speaker was fantastic and relevant and helpful and challenging. Didn’t make it? The audio is posted here. Let me give you my take on each one.

David Wells – Wells really set the stage for the discussion that followed. His book “Above All Earthly Powers” was the impetus for the conference and we all got a free copy.

Voddie Bauchman – I’d never heard of Bauchman before but I was immediately impressed with him. Very articulate. The only hesitancy I had with his talk was that he tended to address secular humanism and that really isn’t an issue in Post-Modernism. Still, what he said was very good and to the point.

Tim Keller – My favorite speaker of the bunch. His approach to evangelism in a post-modern setting is something we all should be paying attention to. We won’t duplicate it, we’re not ministering in Manhattan, but we can get some clues as to how to reach post-modern, post-Christian minds. I want to be Tim Keller.

Mark Driscoll – Piper said that he had gotten more heat for inviting Driscoll to the conference than anyone else. Ever. I know I had heard murmurings and hesitations and some folks who just didn’t go. By the way, the conference sold out. Anyway, I like Mark Driscoll. He is able to reach the people he’s reaching because of the way he preaches. I expected to be offended at some point by his talk but what bothered me was not what I was expecting. He was making a comparison between Jesus in an Emergent approach and Jesus in a Reformed approach. The Emergents focus too much on his humanity. Probably. But then he said that some Calvinists focus too much on his divinity. “Like who?” I asked myself. My wife said it out loud. I think he did it for the sake of symmetry in the lecture more than because it is an issue we Reformed have to wrestle with. Other than that, his talk was very good on Jesus in a post-modern world. Worth the bandwidth to download.

D.A. Carson – Carson could read instructions for setting up a VCR and make it interesting. He spoke on post-modernism and love from John 17. He was in his element. His commentary on John is the best today and John was what his PhD was on. He knows that book.

John Piper – This year John only spoke once, the closing session. He took John 17:13 and talked about Jesus’ joy in God being ours. He prefaced his talk with some kind words to any post-moderns in the audience and some kind words to Mark Driscoll who had left the day before. There has been some discussion about some tension between John and Mark but that is not so. They respect and admire each other and I admire and respect them both.