In other Band of Bloggers news, we are aggregating our giveaways and look forward to sharing them with you in a couple of weeks.  We make it our goal with each gathering, you walk away with a nice stack of great resources for your edification!

Don’t forget. Register today.

You can get a more detailed description of each panel speaker below.  Needless to say, I can’t wait to get together and enjoy an hour of fellowship and great conversation about what God has been doing in our lives, churches, and broader evangelical culture to draw us into His passion for His name!

Tim Challies (twitter)

Tim is a leading evangelical blogger, pastor, and author of two books, The Discipline of Discernment, Sexual Detox and The Next Story. Co-founder of Cruciform Press, Tim lives in the outskirts of Toronto, Ontario with his wife and three children.

Justin Taylor (twitter)

Justin has been blogging at Between Two Worlds since 2004. He works at Crossway Publishers after working at Desiring God in Minneapolis, MN. Currently, he is an elder at New Covenant Bible Church in St Charles, IL. Justin and his wife live in Chicagoland with their three kids.

Kevin DeYoung (twitter)

Kevin is the Senior Pastor at University Reformed Church (RCA) in East Lansing, Michigan, right across the street from Michigan State University. He has been the pastor there since 2004. Kevin was born in Chicagoland, but grew up mostly in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. He is the author of Just Do Something, Don’t Call it a Comeback: The Old Faith For a New Day, Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be, and more. Kevin is married to Trisha. They live in Lansing and have five young children.

Collin Hansen (twitter)

Collin is perhaps best know through his work for Christianity Today and especially his first book, Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists. He is the editorial director for The Gospel Coalition. He has appeared as a commentator on Fox News, and his work has been featured in Time magazine.

Tim Brister (twitter)

Tim is the Director of PLNTD Network and also serves as a Pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida. He is the founder and coordinator of the various Band of Bloggers fellowships. He also organizes the Roots Reading Initiative, which focuses on providing church planters targeted self-feeding opportunities through an informal structure and accountability. Tim is married to Dusti and they are the parents of three growing children.

Owen Strachan (twitter)

Owen is the Assistant Professor of Christian Theology and Church History at Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky. He has published six books on Jonathan Edwards and has written for publications like The Atlantic, First Things, and Christianity Today. He is married to Bethany, and they have two children.

’12 Band of Bloggers: An Underestimated Resurgence
Tuesday, April 10th 11:00AM
Legacy Hotel (on campus of Southern Seminary)
Tim Challies | Justin Taylor | Kevin DeYoung | Collin Hansen | Tim Brister | Owen Strachan
* Lunch is provided

Registration is only $15 this year! Seated is especially limited. Register early because we will likely have to shut down registration before the event.

REGISTER Today!

When we began Band of Bloggers in 2006, we were thrilled to donate one book per person.  Since then that number has continued to increase until last year where we were privileged to give away 12 books per person. As we started planning this year’s gathering, I was very skeptical about the possibility of increasing that number. Fortunately, we received great assistance from John Starke of TGC Reviews, and together we were able to secure a total of (wait for it) . . . 17 books ($237 value) for all everyone attending this year’s gathering!

Here’s a complete listing of the books for this year’s giveaway:

1. Counterfeit Gospels: Rediscovering the Good News in a World of False Hope by Trevin Wax (Moody)
2. Don’t Call It a Comeback: The Old Faith for a New Day edited by Kevin DeYoung (Crossway)
3. Reverberation: How God’s Word Brings Light, Freedom, and Action to His People by Jonathan Leeman (Moody)
4. Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (25th Anniversary Reference Edition) by John Piper (Desiring God)
5. Taking Hold of God: Reformed and Puritan Perspectives on Prayer by Joel Beeke (RHB)
6-10. The Essential Edwards Collection (5 Books in Set) by Owen Strachan and Douglas Sweeney (Moody)
11. Christ Formed in You: The Power of the Gospel for Personal Change by Brian Hedges (Shepherd Press)
12. Faithful Preaching: Declaring Scripture with Responsibility, Passion, and Authenticity by Tony Merida (B&H)
13. When the Word Leads Your Pastoral Search: Biblical Principle and Practices to Guide Your Search by Chris Brauns (Moody)
14. Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself by Joe Thorn (Crossway)
15. Orphanology: Awakening to Gospel-Centered Adoption and Orphan Care by Tony Merida and Rick Morton (New Hope)
16. The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion by Tim Challies (Zondervan)
17. Radical Together: Unleashing the People of God for the Purposes of God by David Platt (Multnomah)

Having said that, the 2011 BoB Gathering will be smaller than previous years with a capacity of 150 attendees. That means registration will likely fill up fast (registration is now closed).  Aside from the free books and dinner, we believe this event will be one you will find profitable for the kingdom of Christ as it relates to intentionally leveraging our online influence for the advance of the gospel.

Registration for this year’s event is $25.  Once we have reached 150 attendees, we will unfortunately have to close the registration for this year’s gathering.

The theme for this year’s gathering is The Gospel Procession. A procession entails a concerted effort by a community to catalyze a movement, and in our case a gospel movement.  A lot of talk is talking place on the Internet regarding being “gospel-centered,”  and what this theme seeks to do is invoke the participation of all those who love the gospel and desire to leverage their lives for its advance in every sphere of their lives. Therefore, the purpose and theme transcends the gathering and endeavors to see a gospel procession take place through our blogging and influence on social media and other various online networks.

I have asked ten other men to join me in facilitating this meeting.  During our event, they will moderate round-table discussions as well as participate in panel discussions on related topics.  The men leading this event are:

Justin Taylor, Tim Challies, Joe Thorn, Steve McCoy,
Jared Wilson, Trevin Wax, Justin Buzzard, Collin Hansen,
John Starke, Owen Strachan, and Tim Brister

You will not want to miss this year’s gathering.  Of course, we plan to unload many goodies in your backpack as well.  Pre-registration is required and now available online closed.  Dinner will be provided as part of the event which will begin at 5:oo PM Tuesday night (April 12).  The registration cost for this year’s gathering is $25.

Stay tuned for more information, including the breakdown of this year’s format, book giveaways, and greater explanation of what we are calling a “gospel procession.”  For now, here’s a summary breakdown of this year’s Band of Bloggers gathering:

2011 Band of Bloggers » The Gospel Procession
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 || 5:00-6:30 PM
in conjunction with the Gospel Coalition National Conferenece
Speakers: Justin Taylor, Tim Challies, Joe Thorn, Steve McCoy, Jared Wilson,
Trevin Wax, Justin Buzzard, Collin Hansen, John Starke, Owen Strachan, and Tim Brister

Below are the giveaways that each attender of the 2010 Band of Blogger fellowship will receive.

1.   Holy Subversion: Allegiance to Christ in an Age of Rivals by Trevin Wax

Challenges Christians to stop privatizing their faith and begin undermining the cultural “Caesars” of our time by reclaiming the early church’s radical proclamation: “Jesus is Lord.”

Christians are too often guilty of pledging their allegiance to the influential principalities and powers of this age rather than to Christ alone. In Holy Subversion, Trevin Wax challenges such behavior by urging a return to the subversive lifestyle of the earliest Christians. Their proclamation and demonstration that “Jesus is Lord” directly opposed the Caesar worship of their day.

Today, Christians in the West must choose between Jesus and our “Caesars”: self, success, money, leisure, sex, power. What would it look like, asks Wax, if today’s church reclaimed the communal, subversive nature of the gospel, intentionally undermining all contenders for our devotion? How would the message that “Jesus is Lord” change our thinking about our jobs, our families, and our church participation? Here this gifted pastor-theologian offers help in taking our faith public, dethroning modern-day Caesars, honoring the Lordship of Christ, and understanding the church as the ultimate counterculture-an embodiment of Christ’s supremacy over all.

2.  Your Jesus Is Too Safe: Outgrowing a Drive-Thru, Feel-Good Savior by Jared Wilson

A provacative new book that calls Christians to stop making Jesus so “convenient”. Cutting through the glossy, modern perceptions of Jesus, Jared C. Wilson returns to the gospels for twelve raw, realistic portraits of Christ in this revolutionary book. Your Jesus is Too Safe offers a clear image of the historical figure of Christ in his biblical and cultural context.

Ideal for readers dissatisfied with the “Buddy Jesus” that has pervaded the evangelical landscape, Your Jesus is Too Safe provides a devotional, inspirational survey of Christ and his kingdom with a conversational style, humor, and a solid theological foundation.

Culture has introduced us to Hippie Jesus, Postcard Jesus, and Get-out-of-hell-free Jesus. There’s also Grammy Award Jesus, Therapist Jesus, Role Model Jesus, and Buddy Jesus.

3.  Welcome to a Reformed Church: A Guide for Pilgrims by Daniel Hyde

“Who are these guys?” That was the question the teenage Daniel R. Hyde posed to his father when he first encountered “Reformed” believers. With their unique beliefs and practices, these Christians didn’t fit any of the categories in his mind.

Not so many years later, Hyde is now Rev. Daniel R. Hyde, a pastor of a Reformed church. Recognizing that many are on the outside looking in, just as he once was, he wrote Welcome to a Reformed Church: A Guide for Pilgrims to explain what Reformed churches believe and why they structure their life and worship as they do.

In layman’s terms, Rev. Hyde sketches the historical roots of the Reformed churches, their scriptural and confessional basis, their key beliefs, and the ways in which those beliefs are put into practice. The result is a roadmap for those encountering the Reformed world for the first time and a primer for those who want to know more about their Reformed heritage.

4.  When the Church Was a Family: Recapturing Jesus’ Vision for Authentic Christian Community by Joseph Hellerman

Spiritual formation occurs primarily in the context of community. But as the modern cultural norm of what social scientists call “radical American individualism” extends itself, many Christians grow lax in their relational accountability to the church. Faith threatens to become an “I” not “us,” a “my God” not “our God” concern.

When the Church Was a Family calls believers back to the wisdom of the first century, examining the early Christian church from a sociohistorical perspective and applying the findings to the evangelical church in America today. With confidence, author Joseph Hellerman writes intentionally to traditional church leaders and emerging church visionaries alike, believing what is detailed here about Jesus’ original vision for authentic Christian community will deeply satisfy the relational longings of both audiences.

5.  Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt

“Do you believe that Jesus is worth abandoning everything for? Do you believe him enough to obey him and to follow him wherever he leads, even when the crowds in our culture—maybe even our churches—turn the other way?”

In Radical, David Platt invites you to encounter what Jesus actually said about being his disciple, and then obey what you have heard. He challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated a God-centered gospel to fit our human-centered preferences. With passionate storytelling and convicting biblical analysis, Platt calls into question a host of comfortable notions that are common among Christ’s followers today. Then he proposes a radical response: live the gospel in ways that are true, filled with promise, and ultimately world changing.

6.  Reaching and Teaching: A Call to Great Commission Obedience by M. David Sills

All Christians understand that Christ has commanded us to reach the lost around the world. Yet, Christ’s command is broader and deeper than simply reaching them. He has called His church to make disciples of all people groups and to teach them to observe all He commanded us. Reaching and Teaching examines this task and emphasizes the need for a thorough and balanced missiology that is obedient to it.

While evangelism and church planting are essential components of a biblical missions program, they are merely the first wave of the task to which we have been called. Reaching and Teaching surveys contemporary missions methodologies and advocates a return to the biblical task of reaching and teaching the nations for Christ’s sake. Outlining issues essential to establishing a ministry that results in discipled and trained national believers, Sills provides examples of what is left in the wake of reaching and leaving too quickly.

Whether you are a seasoned missionary, student, or newly curious about missions, Reaching and Teaching will reveal ways you can be more faithful to what Christ has called and equipped you to do.

7.  The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th Century Catechism by Kevin DeYoung

If there is “nothing new under the sun” then perhaps the main task now facing the Western church is not to reinvent or be relevant, but to remember. The truth of the gospel is still contained within vintage faith statements. Within creeds and catechisms we can have our faith strengthened, our knowledge broadened, and our love for Jesus deepened.

In The Good News We Almost Forgot Kevin DeYoung explores the Heidelberg Catechism and writes 52 brief chapters on what it has shown him. The Heidelberg is largely a commentary on the Apostle’s Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer and the book deals with man’s guilt, God’s grace, and believers’ gratitude. The result is a clear-headed, warm-hearted exploration of the faith, simple enough for young believers and deep enough for mature believers. As DeYoung writes, “The gospel summarized in the Heidelberg Catechism is glorious, it’s Christ gracious, it’s comfort rich, it’s Spirit strong, it’s God Sovereign, and it’s truth timeless.” Come and see how your soul can be warmed by the elegantly and logically laid out doctrine that matters most: we are great sinners and Christ is a greater Savior!

8.  Entrusted with the Gospel: Paul’s Theology in the Pastoral Epistles edited by Andreas Köstenberger

After a lengthy period during which scholars paid relatively little attention to the Pastoral Epistles, a spate of studies has suddenly appeared in print. However, except for a small number of commentaries, critical scholars have by and large neglected evangelical scholarship on these letters. To fill in this gap, this volume offers a collection of important essays written by evangelicals on 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. The book aims to inform readers of the history of scholarship on these letters and examine thoroughly Paul’s theology in the Pastoral Epistles.

Contributors include several scholars who have done previous advanced work on these letters: I. Howard Marshall (University of Aberdeen, Scotland; Recent Study in the Pastoral Epistles), Andreas Köstenberger (Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary[SEBTS]; Hermeneutical and Exegetical Challenges), Terry L. Wilder (B&H Publishing Group; Authorship), F. Alan Tomlinson (Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary [MBTS]; Purpose/Stewardship), Greg Couser (Cedarville University; Doctrine of God), Daniel L. Akin (SEBTS; Christology), Ray van Neste (Union University; Cohesion and Structure of the PE), B. Paul Wolfe (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Use of Scripture), Ben Merkle (SEBTS; Ecclesiology), George Wieland (Carey Baptist College, New Zealand; Soteriology), Thor Madsen (MBTS; Ethics), and Chiao Ek Ho (East Asia School of Theology, Singapore; Missiology).

9.  Abide Practicing Kingdom Rhythms in a Consumer Culture (DVD + Book) by Jared Wilson

Bible Study. Prayer. Fasting. Service. These are just a few of the spiritual disciplines of the Christian life. While all who abide in Christ agree about the essential nature of these practices, most of us live with a sense of frustration when it comes to consistently implementing them.

Because we’re living in the middle of a consumer-driven culture, one that is constantly pushing us toward anything that’s quicker, newer, and better, it’s a constant struggle to fit these spiritual disciplines in between everything else grappling for our attention.

But Jesus has a better way.

In Abide, author Jared C. Wilson examines key sections in the Sermon on the Mount, and helps young adults see how these practices subvert the rhythms of culture so deeply ingrained in us. That subversion begins to happen when we stop striving to do a better job at Christianity and start finding the rhythm of truly being a Christian.

Tired of trying and failing? Tired of being driven by performance? Then maybe it’s time to cease striving and start abiding. Maybe it’s time to find some rhythm.

10.  “A Habitual Sight of Him”: The Christ-centered Piety of Thomas Goodwin by Joel Beeke and Mark Jones

Thomas Goodwin (1600–1680) was a faithful pastor, Westminster divine, advisor to Oliver Cromwell, and president of Magdalen College, Oxford. In this book, Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones acquaint the reader with Goodwin through an informative biographical introduction. The remainder of the book, 35 selections from across the works of Goodwin, displays Goodwin’s constant attention to Christ in his various theological engagements. You will learn much about the life and works of this influential Puritan, and perhaps, be strengthened with a habitual sight of Christ.

11. Stray Recollections, Short Articles and Public Orations of James P. Boyce by Thomas Nettles

When the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary was founded in 1859, the single most influential person behind its establishment was James Petigru Boyce, the privileged first-born son of the second wife of a wealthy South Carolina entrepreneur, Ker Boyce. When the Seminary’s young life was threatened with extermination by the Civil War and the economic terrors that followed, many heroes emerged for reviving it, but, again, the one on whom it most singularly depended was Boyce.

This book comes as an effort to increase knowledge and understanding about the developing talents of Boyce and his persevering pursuit of theological education for Baptists of the South. To accomplish that, it includes some documents never before published as well as some that have been published in full and others in part.

12. A Call to Prayer by J.C. Ryle

Do you pray? This is the question Ryle puts before every reader. He shows powerfully and clearly that prayer is the means by which we obtain every blessing from God, but prayerlessness is the sure way to everlasting destruction.

Stay tuned for more information!