By the time you read this, I will be on my way to the Gospel Coalition Conference in Chicago, Illinois. I am sure it is going to be a great conference and I am looking forward to taking it in. I am there on a mix of business and pleasure–I’ll be attending some of the sessions and also attending various meetings, doing interviews, and a few other things that are set as reminders on my calendar (without which I’d have no hope of remembering them).
If you are a reader of this blog and are going to be attending, I’d love to meet you in person. You may well find me wandering around looking dazed and tired. But failing that, I will participate in a panel discussion at Band of Bloggers on Tuesday evening. And on Wednesday I will be in the bookstore signing copies of The Next Story. If you buy a copy of the book (or get one for free at Band of Bloggers) please drop by the bookstore Wednesday at 10:30 AM to get it signed. There’s nothing more pathetic than a book signing with no books to sign.
I hope to shoot a bit of video, as I did at last year’s Together for the Gospel Conference. If I’m able to do that, I’ll upload it to YouTube and link to the videos on my blog.
Of course the official videos of each of the plenary sessions will be streaming live at Desiring God.
Cruciform Press will be represented at the conference. We will not be there in an official capacity (i.e. we do not have a booth) but our books are available in the bookstore and each of the co-founders will be there. Instead of Cruciform exhibiting, we will be mingling, attending sessions, and using social media to broadcast our location whenever we are temporarily camped out somewhere in the McCormick Place conference center. We will be eager to talk with you about existing books, future books, and publishing opportunities. We will also have samples on hand.
Here, courtesy of my friend Darryl, are some benefits to not attending:
- You don’t face the imminent danger of D.A. Carson rapping.
- You won’t have to choose between the Acts 29 and PCA dress codes. Seriously, how do you pack for these things?
- You won’t face the difficult decision when packing of choosing between your ESV Study Bible (calfskin edition) or your iPad with the ESV Study Bible app.
- You won’t be crushed if you meet one of your Reformed heros and it turns out he’s never read your blog.
- You won’t get caught in a mad fight between those who believe in small pox inoculation (à la Jonathan Edwards) and those who don’t.
- You won’t have to worry about committing a major faux pas, like asking, “Can you tell me where the Bill Hybels workshop is begin held?”
- You won’t have to line up for dinner, or for John Piper’s autograph for that matter.
- You – yes, you – can help repopulate the doctrinally correct part of the earth if those pacifistic Anabaptists lay siege to the conference, and things go downhill from there.
