Below are the plenary session titles from this year's Desiring God National Conference, "Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God." Underneath each title is a brief snapshot of what was covered in the session. Clicking the title will take you to the related audio, video, and notes.
Thanks to Johnathon and Crystal Bowers for their nimble note-taking during the sessions, and to Peter Ostebo and his team (Andrew, Stefan, Brendan, Edd, and Tristan) for diligently capturing and editing all the audio and video.
Rick Warren – The Battle for Your Mind
Five things we must teach church members about thinking:
- Don't believe everything you think
- Guard your minds from garbage
- Never let up on learning
- Feed yourself daily with God's Word
- Let God stretch your imagination
Speaker Panel with DeYoung, Parsons, Piper, and Tchividjian
Some of the questions asked:
- What are your initial reflections on the message we just heard from Rick Warren?
- How does this topic of "the life of the mind" relate to pastoring college students?
- How do you cultivate the life of the mind at your church?
- What would you say to people who consider themselves "non-thinkers"?
- How would you connect this conference theme of "the life of the mind" with the person of Jesus Christ?
R. C. Sproul – Thinking Deeply in the Ocean of Revelation: The Bible and the Life of the Mind
In Acts 17, Paul urged the Athenians to seek God and then gave perhaps the most profound philosophical statement in the whole New Testament: “In him we live, we move, and we have our being.” Ultimate reality is found in God who is the creator of everything. God is absolute, pure being. He reveals himself to Moses as “I am who I am.” He is the supreme monarch of heaven and earth. God alone has pure actuality. There is no room for improvement with him.
Thabiti Anyabwile – Thinking for the Sake of Global Faithfulness: Confronting Islam with the Mind of Christ
Three major questions:
- What is pluralism?
- What is Islam? Is Islam consistently compatible with pluralism?
- What is the Christian's responsibility for encountering Muslims and Islam in this context?
Albert Mohler – The Way the World Thinks: Meeting the Natural Mind in the Mirror and in the Marketplace
If we do not think about thinking, if we are not intellectual disciples of Jesus Christ, then we will find the natural mind staring us in the face. If we’re going to think rightly, we need to do at least three things:
- Avail ourselves constantly of the Word of God.
- Avail ourselves constantly of the life of the local church.
- Depend constantly upon the corrective power of the Holy Spirit present in our lives to conform us to Scripture.
Speaker Panel with Piper, Anyabwile, Chan, and Mohler
Some of the questions asked:
- To Thabiti Anyabwile: What is the gospel?
- To Albert Mohler: What can we learn from secular thought about thinking?
- To John Piper: How do you handle being honored?
- To Francis Chan: How did you move from an anti-scholarship attitude to founding a Bible college?
Francis Chan – Think Hard, Stay Humble: The Life of the Mind and the Peril of Pride
It’s so easy to seclude ourselves from the world of lost people. We step out of it for a season to think hard about the Scriptures, and we keep going on in school to learn more. And we eventually get to the point where we realize that we don’t love the lost like we should. The point isn’t that we shouldn’t pursue learning, but that we ought to be able to do both, to love people and know the Bible better.
John Piper – The Life of the Mind and the Love of God
Eight things we hope this conference will prevent:
- That you will not be naïve about the depravity of the human mind—your mind.
- That your mind will not be complicit in spiritual adultery.
- That you will not be cagey or slippery with your mind.
- That you will not be romantic about the benefits of ignorance.
- That you will not be children in your thinking but mature.
- That you will be children in your thinking.
- That you won't view thinking as unnecessary in knowing God or as decisive in knowing God.
- That yours will not be a proud, loveless mind.
One thing we hope this conference will promote: thinking for the sake of loving God and people.
