John Piper to the emergent types: a deep affection
Tuesday, October 3, 2006 at 1:06PM The Desiring God 2006 Conference audio is up and it's free. In the introduction to his message, John Piper speaks directly to those attending the conference who are emerging:
My guess is that there are a lot of emergent types here who are quietly watching, looking, and came to see what we would say. I think what I want to say to you is that my son Carston turned 34 yesterday. That's give or take within a year of Mark Driscoll's age. So I'm aware that I am old enough to be the father of probably half the people in this room, including those of you who aren't seeing it our way.The way I want you to hear this is that I have known, I have tasted, what it's like to have a son who is not where I wanted him to be, and still be his father, deeply his father. And that's kind of the way I feel about all of you. A lot of you are not where I want you to be, and I can still feel a very deep affection for you. So I want that to be the feel of this morning's talk.
Update: He says emergent in his talk; Stephen Shields wonders if he is making a distinction between emerging and emergent? My sense is no, he is not using it to refer to the Emergent organization - but I could be wrong.
Reader Comments (4)
What's interesting is that I can take this from John as a father figure while still wondering, "Do I always agree with my dad?"
daryl, I *almost* blogged on what piper said until I saw that he said "emergent" and not "emerging." Driscoll considers himself part of the emerging church and I'm pretty sure piper doesn't have a problem with him! :) Can you change your title? blessings, Stephen
i am listening to it now, trying to answer the same question. i am guessing he is referring to emergent village and/or those with a "postmodern" mind.
Darryl, Gotta say I love your blog! Between your posts and the excellent blogroll you have, I stay well plugged in to so many great discussions on the emerging church and other issues.