» News: The Gospel Coalition Wraps Conference

The Gospel Coalition grew out of a 2006 colloquium hosted by Tim Keller and D.A Carson in Chicago in which the issue of the relationship of the gospel to culture resulted in the drafting of a Reformed confessional statement on the subject. According to Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, part of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network, "The hope was to redefine a clear center for evangelicalism more akin to that previously articulated by men such as Francis Schaeffer, John Stott, and Billy Graham." This week, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School played host to the Gospel Coalition's first conference. Part of the conference's goal was to complete the drafting of this confession, along with a document expressing a mission statement for the coalition. See Mark Driscoll's comments after the first day of the conference. According to Driscoll, Mars Hill will fund the hosting online of the documents and seminars held at the meeting. RN will report further on the doctrine and mission of the coalition once the documents have been made public. Participants in the Coalition include well-known pastors such as John Piper, Tim Keller, D.A. Carson, Ligon Duncan, and Ray Ortlund.

Thanks to the reader who pointed us to this conference. RN is a shoestring operation at this point and we depend upon our readers to be our eyes and ears. We work hard to have unbiased, balanced content, but covering all parts of the Reformed world evenly is difficult at this point. If you have story tips or updates, please send them to the editor.

» News: Salon.com Covers Acts 29 Pastor Mark Driscoll

Salon.com published a feature article profiling Mark Driscoll and the Mars Hill Church. The article takes a political or sociological approach to Mars Hill, allowing the church to epitomize what the author calls the "Discple Generation" - "Within this movement lies something as old as America itself, and as terrifying and alluring as anything Orwell predicted; something that is at once political, emotional, deeply anti-intellectual, and more galvanized than you can imagine. I call this population of fierce young evangelicals the Disciple Generation."

The author, Lauren Sandler, focuses on Driscoll's emphasis of fruitfulness in marriage and his emphasis on "traditional" gender roles. Sandler represents Driscoll's soteriology as though Driscoll preaches legalism: "When Driscoll invokes his Lord, he describes an uncompromising disciplinarian who demands utter obedience from his followers in exchange for rescue from an eternity in hell."

Salon.com notes that the article is adapted from Sandler's book Righteous: Dispatches From the Evangelical Youth Movement.