Embracing the Truth Bible Conference, 6th annual . . . March 8-11, 2016 . . . Hamilton Chapel Church, Lebanon, Tenn.

With the theme this year being "Set Apart To Do Holy Business for Our King," the 6th annual Embracing the Truth Bible Conference (ETT) takes place March 8-11 in the Gladeville community of Lebanon, Tennessee (25 miles east of Nashville). I will be attending the last two days of the conference as a first-time attendee.

Click here to view the conference flyer; here for ETT's schedule; and here for the ETT welcome letter.

[Post-conference update: to listen to the messages, see here.]

The conference's vision is "to help men as leaders 'to guard what has been entrusted to you' (2 Timothy 1:14) and to 'be strong in the grace that is Christ Jesus' (2 Timothy 2:1) and 'to share in the suffering, like a good soldier of Jesus Christ'" (2 Timothy 2:3).

Though primarily for men and especially for pastors/church elders, women also are welcome to attend ETT and be instructed and blessed. However, there exists an ETT-like annual spring conference solely for women. This year (2016), the Women of Grace Bible Conference is at the Holiday Inn (World's Fair Park location) in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, April 21-23. This year's theme is "Christian Women Growing in Grace."

ETT will feature, in total, 7 lectures and 9 sermons by 11 "Sovereign Grace" (Calvinistic Baptist) African-American (and some Caucasian) preachers from 6 U.S. states: Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas.

After the opening lecture and sermon on the evening of March 8, the daily format for March 9-11 (Wednesday-Friday) is to have one lecture (10:30 a.m.) sandwiched between two sermons (9:15 and 11:45 a.m.) in the morning, fellowship and lunch provided by the host church (1:00 p.m.), the afternoons free for rest or recreation, and then one lecture (6:15 p.m.) and one sermon (7:15 p.m.) in the evening. So it's like going to a multi-day music festival, but instead of music, the people are gathered to hear the Bible taught (lecture) and preached (sermon).

Once again, Hamilton Chapel Church is hosting ETT. The historic Lebanon, Tennessee, church was founded by newly freed slaves just after America's 4-year Civil War had ended in 1865. Hamilton's pastor (1992- ), Dr. Robert L. Spickard, Sr., "has led the congregation in tremendous spiritual growth over his fifteen year tenure at this church. He teaches about the election of grace, justification, salvation, and sanctification. He preaches about the sovereign grace of Jesus Christ. Under his leadership, he has taught us that we serve a sovereign God, eternal, and still on the throne."

In the African-American church tradition, the conference presider is Wayne Cornelius, the senior assistant pastor at Main Street Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky.

As always, ETT conference registration is free. But the conference organizers ask that attendees complete a simple registration form. "The cost will not be a burden to those who attend, but believe those who receive this wholesome manna will support us in seed to continue these efforts to share the  gospel." A morning and evening freewill offering will be taken each day.

If in the Nashville area March 8-11, consider this as your invite to attend and be instructed and blessed by ETT's "wholesome manna" from God's Word, preached by God's choice servants who are some of the boldest preachers I know. "The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion" (Proverbs 28:1).

Elder/Pastor D. J. Ward (died 2008)
Main Street Baptist Church, Lexington, Ky.

The African-American Calvinistic Baptist ETT conference is the annual spring conference of the annual summer Sovereign Grace Bible Conference founded by the late D. J. Ward (died 2008) over 30 years ago (1985- ).

Prior to its current host church (2010- ) of New Home Missionary Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the SGBC was held where Elder/Pastor Ward served (1989-2008), namely, at Main Street Baptist Church (est. 1862 during the Civil War) in Lexington, Kentucky. The historic church is part of Lexington's African-American Heritage Trail.

All 11 ETT preachers were influenced by Elder D. J. Ward, either by Elder Ward's pastoral mentoring (thus, are a spiritual "son in the ministry" in the African-American church tradition) or by Elder Ward's sermons. For a brief biography on Elder Ward, see here.

Through my good friend Daniel R. Green (1947-2006), I first learned of Elder Ward relatively soon after my conversion to the Christian faith (Evangelical Protestant) in 1992 and while living in Port Angeles, Washington. I then first met and heard Elder Ward preach at a John G. Reisinger-founded John Bunyan Conference in Pennsylvania in 1996. I met and heard him preach again when I attended the 2003 and 2004 Sovereign Grace Bible Conference in Lexington, Kentucky. As with many others, so also did Elder D. J. Ward make a lasting impression on my life and ministry, especially as it relates to preaching and pastoring. (Read here for a April 24, 2016, tribute to Elder Ward in the Lexington Herald-Leader.)

The ETT preacher from Greensboro, North Carolina, is one of my favorites. A close friend of Elder Ward and blessed with a sharp mind and pastor's heart, he is one of the boldest and bravest preachers I know. David B. Morris studied classics and linguistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He became a Christian in 1973. After nearly twenty years of pastoral ministry, he entered an itinerant ministry of evangelism and conference speaking. He and Terri, his wife of 31 years, have six children. Click here to listen to some of Elder Morris' sermons. 

Another favorite "Sovereign Grace" preacher of mine who will be at ETT is Jim McClarty, the founding pastor (2001- ) of Grace Christian Assembly in Smyrna, Tennessee. (Not that it matters, but both Pastor Morris and Pastor McClarty are Caucasian men loved by the "Sovereign Grace" African-American churches that are primarily located in the American South.)

Pastor Jim McClarty
Grace Christian Assembly, Smyrna, Tenn.

Evangelist David B. Morris
Greensboro, N.C.

Lebanon, Wilson County, Tennessee, USA

Lebanon is named after the Bible's reference to Lebanon
as there are cedar trees prevalent in the area.
"Cedars of Lebanon" (Judges 9:15, 1 Kings 5:6, etc.).
In Wilson County are the Cedars of Lebanon State
Forest and 900-acre State Park. 

The first Crackle Barrel Old County Store restaurant
and gift shop was in Lebanon, Tenn., 1969.
With over 630 stores in 42 states,
its headquarters remain in Lebanon.

Sovereign Grace Bible Conference (African-American), 30th annual . . . August 4-8, 2013 in Chattanooga, Tennessee . . . Elder D. J. Ward, conference founder

Sovereign Grace Bible Conference. Chattanooga, Tenn.

I am set to attend the 30th annual Sovereign Grace Bible Conference, August 4-8, 2013.

The host church (2009- ) is New Home Missionary Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

New Home's pastor is Elder G. M. Spotts, one of the many ministerial students of the conference founder, the late Elder D. J. Ward.

I will be attending the annual conference with a budding African-American preacher from my new home church in Louisville, Immanuel Baptist Church. He is a student at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a graduate of the University of Louisville.

It will be my first time attending the truly unique African-American conference since 2004. I had attended also the 2003 conference that had the then-Minneapolis pastor-author John Piper as one of the 12 or so mix of white and black preachers. This was when the conference was held in Lexington, Kentucky.

I first learned of the Sovereign Grace Bible Conference in the mid-1990s from John G. Reisinger of Sound of Grace ministries. I had become a Christian in October 1992 and soon thereafter a believer in God's sovereign electing grace (Calvinistic/Reformed Baptist theology, especially as it pertains to soteriology, the doctrine of salvation). I had initially learned the Doctrines of Grace (T.U.L.I.P.) through Reisinger's video tapes, as shown to me by friend and spiritual mentor, Daniel R. Green (1947-2006), of Port Angeles, Washington.

John G. Reisinger.
June 2014. Canandaigua, NY.

It was at a Sound of Grace-sponsored John Bunyan Conference in Pennsylvania in April 1995 that I first heard Elder D. J. Ward preach in person. What a blessing! At the time, I was 23-years-old and had just completed my first year of studies at Prairie Bible College in Alberta, Canada.

For the history of the annual Sovereign Grace Bible Conference that began in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, moved to the historic Main Street Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky, and is now held in Chattanooga, Tennessee, see here.

And here is the Lexington Herald-Leader obituary for Elder D. J. Ward, and here is the April 29, 2008, online tribute to Elder Ward by Dr. John Piper. Lastly, here is the entire Homegoing and Memorial services for Elder Ward.

UPDATE

Click here to listen to and/or download the sermons and music sessions from the 2013 conference.

Elder D. J. Ward. Conference founder, Sovereign Grace Bible Conference.

New Home Missionary Baptist Church. Chattanooga, Tenn.

Chattanooga, Tennessee. USA.

Israel, Henry H. Halley (1874-1965) and "Halley's Bible Handbook" . . . 17 and 19.5 year desire being fulfilled

One of the reasons for my current and extended 2-year spiritual pilgrimage to and self-study sabbatical in Israel is due, in part, to my reading of Halley's Bible Handbook.

It was this handbook and its pictures of historical/archaeological sites in Israel that spurred my interest in visiting The Holy Land of Israel.

At the time of purchasing the 24th edition (1965) of the handbook in 1989 or 1990, I was 18- or 19-years-old and not yet a Christian. I purchased it soon after I began reading the Bible seriously in October 1989.

From October 1989 (West Hartford, Connecticut) to my conversion to Christ in October 1992 (Lake Crescent Lodge employee dorm room in Olympic National Park near Port Angeles, Washington), I was a self-student of the Bible. (For the full story of my conversion to Evangelical Protestant Christianity, click here.)

For 10 days in late December 2005/early January 2006, and now for 2 years from May 2009 to July 2011, my desire to see in-person the historical sites of the Bible in Israel is being fulfilled. "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4).

Zondervan, the current publisher of the handbook (25th edition), states,

Halley's Bible Handbook, the classic layperson's companion text, includes a concise Bible commentary, important discoveries in archaeology, related historical data, church history, maps, and more. . . .

Halley's Bible Handbook was born out of the conviction of Henry H. Halley that everyone ought to read the Bible daily.

From its first edition, a small give-away booklet of 16 pages, it has grown into an 864-page "almanac" of biblical information, used regularly by hundreds of thousands of laymen, teachers, and ministers. Halley's Bible Handbook contains more biblical information than any other book of its size.

It has been a continuous best-seller through the years and has sold more than five million copies in many languages.

Elsewhere, Zondervan writes,

Now in full color, the twenty-fifth edition of Halley’s Bible Handbook provides time-tested help for understanding the Bible—not just with the mind, but also with the heart. It includes a concise Bible commentary, important discoveries in archaeology, related historical data, church history, maps, and more.

Clear. Simple. Easy to read. Now in full color for its twenty-fifth edition, this world-renowned Bible handbook is treasured by generations of Bible readers for its clarity, insight, and usefulness.

Halley’s Bible Handbook makes the Bible’s wisdom and message accessible. You will develop an appreciation for the cultural, religious, and geographic settings in which the story of the Bible unfolds. You will see how its different themes fit together in a remarkable way. And you will see the heart of God and the person of Jesus Christ revealed from Genesis to Revelation.

Written for both mind and heart, this expanded edition of Halley’s Bible Handbook retains Dr. Halley’s highly personal style.

It features brilliant maps, photographs, and illustrations; contemporary four-color design; Bible references in the easy-to-read, bestselling New International Version; practical Bible reading programs; helpful tips for Bible study; fascinating archaeological information; easy-to-understand sections on how we got the Bible and on church history; and improved indexes.

For a biography on the Kentucky-born Protestant (Disciples of Christ) minister and author, Henry H. Halley (1874-1965), click here.

Halley's Bible Handbook, 25th Edition is available through its publisher (Zondervan), at Christian Book Distributors (CBD) or Amazon.com.

It is worth noting that Dr. Halley developed a fondness for memorizing favorite passages of the Bible until he could recite from memory entire books from the Bible, in abridged, connected form and in their own words. Some have suggested that at any one time Dr. Halley could quote in excess of no less than 25 continuous hours worth of Scripture without looking at a reference. According to Dr. Halley, "The Bible is the most precious possession of the human race."


Elder D. J. Ward & Main Street Baptist Church (Lexington, Kentucky)

Interestingly, Dr. Halley is buried near where a favorite preacher of mine ministered.

Kentucky's historic Lexington Cemetery (est. 1849, 833 West Main St.) is just up the street from where the late Elder D. J. Ward pastored (1989-2008), namely, the historic Main Street Baptist Church (est. 1862, the first African-American Baptist church in Lexington, 582 West Main Street).

Up until 2009 (when it moved to New Home Missionary Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tenn.), Main Street Baptist Church was home to the annual Sovereign Grace Bible Conference. The conference was founded in 1983 by Elder Ward who was, at the time, pastoring in Oak Ridge, Tenn. I have attended this African-American conference twice, in 2003 and 2004 (and then again in 2013).

Click here for the location of Dr. Halley's burial site in Lexington, Kentucky.