Mark Dever is Cool
4 Comments
By Pastor Scott Thomas
“You [Acts 29 Pastors] are taken to be the essence of cool by many young ministers, and I personify not cool,” said Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church and founder of 9Marks, in his address at our Chicago Boot Camp last week. Dever, conspicuously clad in suit and tie, united the commonality of our mission by saying, “Our differences are enough to separate some of my friends—your brothers and sisters in Christ—from you. And perhaps to separate them from me, now that I’m publicly speaking to you. And I don’t want to minimize either the sincerity or the seriousness of some of their concerns (humor, worldliness, pragmatism, authority). But I perceive some things in common which outweigh our differences—which the Lord Jesus shall soon enough compose between us, either by our maturing, or by His bringing us home. I long to work with those, and count it a privilege to work with those whom My Savior has purchased with His blood, and with whom I share the gospel of Jesus Christ. I perceive that we have in common the knowledge that God is glorified in sinners being reconciled to Him through Christ.”
This is the essence of cool, as I see it. Cool is an influential man who hangs around with the likes of MacArthur, Mohler, Mahaney and Sproul and still set aside his own reputation to challenge a bunch of young church planters for the advancement of the gospel. Our generation applauds that as a rare virtue—a cool factor the young, hip, Hurley-clad pastors can only hope to attain.
After the boot camp was completed, Dever and I had a one on one conversation for about 90 minutes at his prompting. He told me to come over to his room after the Republican debates. I have to admit I was a bit intimidated to knock on his door. He greeted me with a big smile and warmly welcomed me to sit down. We talked about our salvation, our sin, church planting, and the importance of leading well and about Hillary. After all, Dever pastors on Capitol Hill and remembers the last time the Clinton family moved into town! He invited me to a 9Marks Weekender--which I plan to attend the first chance I get--and he offered his assistance so that we can work together for the advancement of the gospel.
I have read numerous articles and all of Dever’s books and I had the impression that he was hyper-intelligent, but stodgy. Do people use that word anymore? What I discovered was a winsome, articulate, caring and generous person who offered 90 minutes of his time to invest in the director of a network of young church planters desperately in need of the gospel.
He expressed his need of that same gospel several times in our conversation. That’s pretty cool.
Mark Dever's Acts 29 Session and other Chicago Boot Camp Sessions can be found here.
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David Wolfe on Feb 2, 2008 3:58pm
I totally agree Scott. I attended this week's boot camp in Chicago, and I walked away totally blessed for having been there. What you are writing about is exactly one of the main joys I took away from the week. To see Pastor's of different denominations and contexts (Dever, Stetzer, Driscoll, Patrick, etc.) coming together and uniting under the glorious cross of Christ. I was thoroughly blessed about a year and half ago when attending John Piper's National Conference I was first exposed to Mark Driscoll. I highly respect John Piper, and highly respect him more for bringing Mark to the conference. It just goes to show that while we minister in different contexts we can still be unified under the banner of Christ crucified!!! I thank you guys for bringing Dever and for working hard to unite us to further the Kingdom. Thanks again for a great week! David Wolfe
Alan Reader on Feb 2, 2008 8:16pm
A bit like: Cool is an influential and divine person who hangs around with the likes of God and the Holy Spirit, but still has time for sinners like us..
THAT is cool.. Jesus is cool..
This guy is cool too.. :-)
Nice post
Steve Fuentes on Feb 2, 2008 10:54pm
Hey Scott,
I agree with your impression of Mark Dever. I was slightly familiar with him before the bootcamp, which I attended, but wasn't really sure what to expect. But hey, if A29 invited him, I knew he' be good.
He was more than good, he was wonderful. Articulate, funny, and sound with the word. He impressed me so much that I ended up buying most of his books and signed up to receive his email thoughts.
I'm hoping that the network will have the same affect on him as he seems to be having on the network. Perhaps next time he speaks at an A29 event, he'll do so in ripped jeans!
(PS - Thanks for the insight into 're-plants'. I went away from the bootcamp holding you and the rest of the A29 guys with high regards as first class Men.)
See some thoughts from the event at:
www.themaledomain.blogspot.com
www.colosseumuprise.blogspot.com
Anonymous on Feb 3, 2008 3:03pm
Hey man. Great post. I have been a big Dever fan for a while. While I have some obvious differences with him over some minor issues, his stuff on Church Health and Church Membership are MUST HAVE resources. I highly recommend his books 9 Marks of a Healthy Church and The Deliberate Church. They have such a great pastoral heart for membership and a commitment to the truth. I used them a ton in my topical series on the Church. Most bookstores have them.
Dustin Neeley
www.crossinglouisville.com