Allow me to plug an upcoming event that is being jointly sponsored by 9Marks and Matthias Media, and hosted at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. It is called Gospel Growth vs. Church Growth.

Here's what the conference is all about. It is designed for pastors, evangelists and ministry trainees, and it aims to provide instruction in biblical principles and practices for the promotion of God-glorifying, Christ-exalting, Gospel-growth, as opposed to the kind of things often peddled as key to "church growth."

Why is there a need for a conference like this? Well, here's how the good folks at 9Marks explain it: "It's hard for pastors not to be mesmerized by church growth. Who doesn't want their congregation to grow? Who doesn't want to see numbers and budgets increasing year by year? And who isn't greatly interested when the latest growth model comes along, the latest research, the latest insight that promises us the key to such growth? But there's growth and there's growth. Understanding what the New Testament means by growth, and how that growth happens, sets us free. It liberates us from anxiety and self-doubt, and from the slavery of chasing the latest program."

The speakers are Phillip Jensen, Mark Dever and Tony Payne. There will also be a forum with all three speakers answering questions and engaging in further exploration of the ideas. The conference is slated for Tuesday, October 30 through Thursday, November 1, 2007. Registration will begin at 2:00pm on Tuesday, and the conference will conclude by noon on Thursday.