In his message at TGC's 2021 National Conference, John Yates teaches on the successes of The Great Awakening of the 1700s to1800s and what this historical revival can show us.Yates explains five things that made the ministry and revival of the early awakeners so effective:1. Their message always started with man’s lostness and inability to live up to the standard of God. It always ended with the atonement of Christ and a call to new birth and true faith that brings assurance of salvation.2. Their delivery was filled with a great sense of duty and responsibility to bring others to Christ.3. Their community was set up from the beginning to have small groups with high commitment where honesty and accountability for Christian living were the focus.4. Their emotions, flowing from their devotion to Christ, had a place, and the awakeners used them in their music and writings.5. Their leaders were well trained and educated.Yates closes with encouragement and urges us to pray for revival now as we rely on the Holy Spirit to move.

A few years ago, Jen Wilkin coined the term “celebratory failurism” to describe an acceptance of the thought that Christians will never be able to fully obey because of total depravity. Wilkin pushes back on that idea, and she and Mike Kruger discuss why there seems to be a misunderstanding on total depravity, legalism, and obedience to the law. They discuss the struggle between antinomianism (lawlessness) and pharisaical tendencies (lawfulness) and find that the relationship between law and grace is: obedience that pleases God has right motive combined with right action.

“We can’t love Christ and love his word and ignore the gospel imperative to love each other.” — Courtney DoctorIn our polarized world, Christians should be constantly demonstrating a better way toward unity. In this panel discussion at TGC21 (moderated by Vanessa Hawkins), Courtney Doctor, Suzanne Bates, Ruth Chou Simons, and Dennae Pierre discuss the barriers to gospel-centered racial unity and practical ways we can move forward.Some of these barriers to racial unity can include: fear of people who are different from us, lack of awareness of others’ experiences, and the cost of investing time into these hard conversations. In foolishness and pride, we might see these as simple problems that need to be fixed. In humility and grace, we can listen to and learn from each other’s complex experiences.If we are going to build a diverse church, we must be intentional. The panel discusses that reading books on ethnic and racial diversity, attending an ethnic church different from your own, and creating local spaces to have hard conversations, are some practical ways forward with Christ at the center.

“Go online for a purpose, go for a reason. Stay online only as long as you need to, and then go offline.” — Brett McCrackenIn his message at TGC21, Brett McCracken addresses an issue of today's generation of quick information—how to develop wisdom in the midst of all that is being thrown at us, online. He shares three things that are making us sick:We have too much informationWe receive it too quicklyThe information is too focused on the individual (self)As an antidote to these problems, McCracken forms a “wisdom pyramid” which is similar to the food pyramid. In each level of the pyramid, he describes how much time we should be spending in relation to the other levels. For example, most of our time should be spent in the Bible, which is the foundation of the pyramid, and the least amount of time should be spent on social media and the internet, which is the top of the pyramid. Like a healthy diet, The Wisdom Pyramid  is a guide to lead us into better spiritual and physical health.

Along with his other brothers and sisters, James started out as an unbeliever—though he was a half-sibling of Jesus—until Christ's resurrection. Nancy Guthrie takes us through verses from the Gospels, the Book of Acts, and historical writings to show us James's journey as the leader of the church in Jerusalem, a pastor, peacemaker, doer of the Word, and a man who remained steadfast under trial. In all this, we learn the significance of why James refers to himself as “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

“God’s eternal plan for your life includes your physicality.” — Sam AllberryAt TGC21, Sam Allberry gives five reasons why our bodies are good and how we should treat them as we wait for bodily redemption.Our bodies are not accidental, for we were “fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139)Our bodies are not incidental. God created Adam in the flesh and then breathed life into him. The flesh is not just a casing for our soul.Our bodies are not straight-forward. We are broken and have been subjected to futility with the rest of creation. (One common example of this brokenness is idolatry of the body.)Our bodies are not ours, for we were “bought with a price.” (1 Cor. 6:19)Our bodies are not yet finished. One day, Jesus will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body.As believers, we can honor our physical bodies by seeing ourselves through a gospel lens, remembering that one day, God will—like all things—make our us new. 

At TGC21, Michael Horton explains how we, as sinners, can take our sin to a holy God without fear because of our sympathetic high priest, Jesus. Horton takes Friedrich Nietzsche’s writing on “the ugliest man,” who claimed to kill God because he couldn’t bear to have someone know his dirtiest corners, and parallels it with how we can bring our dirtiest sins to the Father through Jesus, without shame. Using Hebrews 4, Horton shows how Jesus is a glorious High Priest, a sympathetic High Priest, and a gracious High Priest.In the person of Christ, we have advocate who can actually sympathize with us because he became like us, yet without sin. This is the greatest news of all—that we can take our dirtiness to the Father, knowing we will be met with grace because the Son fully understands what it is to be human.

If we want our kids to love Jesus, we must also want them to love the church. In her message at TGCW21, Megan Hill gives five ways to practically teach our kids to love the local church.Acknowledge our kids’ experiences. Know that church isn’t always easy for them, and talk to them about it.Remove practical obstacles. Sometimes what they don’t like about church isn’t spiritual and can be changed.Teach them that church is good. Disciple children at home so that practices at church don’t feel foreign or awkward for them.Affirm their Kingdom value. Make sure kids don’t feel like an afterthought, but know they are valued and can be used by God.Invite them to participate. Call them to serve and invite them to love others with you in tangible ways.Hill closes with an encouragement to parents who are feeling overwhelmed. “Sunday by Sunday, seek to show your kids how good it is to love God’s people and to worship alongside them—you have an advocate in the heavenly places.”

“At the core of our identity as Christians is this thing that says, ‘Jesus is more important to us than anything else,’ and it causes us to lean toward one another, not away from each other.” — Mark VroegopAt TGC's 2021 National Conference, Mark Vroegop, Kori Porter, and Irwyn Ince discuss why lament is a key component of racial reconciliation. The panel answers tough questions: What is racial reconciliation? Why is it so important? Why is it so difficult?Lament is a tool Christians must use in order to enter into each others’ pain. We must not be tempted toward denial or despair, but instead, we embrace brokenness together as the gospel heals racial wounds.

“We don’t persevere in order to be saved. We persevere because we have been saved. God has made it possible for us to maintain faithfulness to Jesus, and God is invested in our faithfulness to him.” –– Glenna MarshallAt TGCW21, Glenna Marshall delivers a practical message on how to be faithful in the small things, noting that it takes time to see spiritual growth. This perseverance and faithfulness are only possible in the Christian life with the help of the Holy Spirit. Teaching through Hebrews 10, Marshall outlines three calls to action in pursuing and maintaining faithfulness:Let us draw near to God and pray.Let us hold fast to the gospel—we cannot grow apart from the Scriptures.Let us not neglect meeting together and encouraging one another.Being faithful in these ways allows us to remain connected to the vine and continue growing in Christ as we wait for his return.