Final Recap of Capitol Hill Weekender

Some final thoughts about Mark Dever's weekender...

• Capitol Hill Baptist has 70 trained preachers waiting for an opportunity to preach.
• Mark Dever knew every one of the 54 weekender's names by the second day.
• Had lunch with Mark and Connie Dever at their beautiful Capitol Hill home on Sunday.
• I picked up a copy of The Onion in downtown DC. It was Starbucks-out-the-nose funny.
• Dever holds a 2-hour critique session of Sunday with staff from 9:00 to 11 PM (pic below)
• Dever's worship leader John Hardin used to open for Caedmon's Call. Very good singer.
• Dever defined expositional preaching: when the point of the passage is the point of the message.
• The Sun night members' meeting was unlike anything I've ever seen - a level of involvement in each others' lives that actually made me uncomfortable. But intriguing.
• Capitol Hill has 800 attenders and a $3.3 million budget. Astounding.
• I gained a strong appreciation for how and why they do ministry, but think there are some fundamental misunderstandings of seeker churches that create biases.

Comments

[Chris S.]

It's interesting that one could say that "expositional preaching is when the point of the passage is the point of the message." Seems to me that a passage could be bringing a different point to me depending on the situation in my life. There also seem to be an astonishing number of passages in the Bible that seemingly have no point other than being part of the overall narrative.

[Ben Arment]

Chris there is a variance among expositional preachers over how big the passage is. Dever admittedly uses larger passages. He's famous for his one book of the Bible messages that have turned into 2-volume survey books. Likewise when I was a pastor, I spoke expositionally, but not verse by verse, and I had no problem coughing it in a series that sounded topical.

[Ben Arment]

I meant "couching" not "coughing". My iPhone was rebelling :)

[david]

ben,

this has been a great series! i've really enjoyed watching you work through the tension you encountered.

i find myself really attracted by dever and some of his peers, but am not completely convinced they are "missional" enough.

i'd love to read more of your thoughts if you ever want to email a little.

[Terrace Crawford]

Interesting stuff. Thanks for taking us inside through this series and giving us the scoopie.

[BrianD]

"The Sun night members' meeting was unlike anything I've ever seen - a level of involvement in each others' lives that actually made me uncomfortable. But intriguing."

Ben, I would love to read more about your thoughts on how their members interact with each others' lives, and your take on Dever's definition of church membership. What intrigues you, what do you like and what are you wary of?

[Matt]

Ditto to BrianD's comment. Also, your definition of "seeker church biases"
I'm struck by the overwehelming number of young adults surrounding Dever...
Are there any old people in his church?

[Jamie]

David,
How do you define "missional."

Ben,
I am interested in what you meant by the "level of involvement ... made me uncomfortable."

[Ben Arment]

the importance of membership at chbc is off the charts. very admirable, but with 800 attenders, it seems they have to police the terms of the covenant pretty heavily to keep its priority.

for example, they discipline members for non-attendance. Keep in mind, they have great love for each of their members, but again, there are too many for the staff to exercise deeply personal care.

also, they discuss the spiritual struggles of members in the context of hundreds of members at their bi-monthly membership meeting. Again, done with great care, but I found myself feeling really uncomfortable. I would rather trust the elders to deal with it and build care systems throughout the church for an attender to engage in.

The places where that might seem possible were core seminars on Sun mornings. The one I attended felt like a waiting room. No one talked to each other. All eyes up front. No care. And small groups are limited to members only.

Granted, DC is a highly intellectual context, so a more personal approach might flop among all those government workers. In fact, I know it would.

This is much too big of an issue for me to handle in the comments section, and I'd rather not post about it. I encourage you to attend a weekender and discover for yourself... very intriguing.

[david]

Jamie,

i'm using missional in this context to represent an external focus which is the antithesis of being inwardly focused.

very few churches i am aware of have developed a healthy balance in this area. my experience is that the churches who would align themselves with a "dever-mentality" (not necessarily dever himself) are more apt toward inward focus than external focus.

just a generalization, not a judgment.

[gail]

it was great seeing you on sunday ben!

[Jamie]

I am still not sure what is meant by external focus. I would say that churches that align with Dever are externally focused, but my guess is in a different way than you would define it. But I don't want to assume what your meaning is.

[Eric Schumacher]

Ben,

It was great meeting you this past weekend. Thanks for your open ear and encouragement.

I hope your conference goes well.