The Shiloh Church hosted the Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference last week. As it came to an end, I was repeatedly asked if it met my expectations. My answer is that it wildly surpassed my greatest expectations!

I am thankful to the Shiloh pastors and staff for leading the charge and making sure we were ready. It is a joy to be yoked in Christian service with you!

And a special thanks to all of our Shiloh volunteers for your labor of love.

We were blessed to have great speakers serve us in this conference…

• Albert Mohler charged us to preach the word from Nehemiah 8 and John 9.
• Ralph Douglas West preached an encouraging word from Hebrews 13 and gave us wisdom about biblical preaching and pastoral ministry.
• Bryan Loritts challenged us to finish well (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
• Bryan Carter taught on preaching for spiritual transformation in belivers and in the church.
• Karen Waddles taught on biblical womanhood.
• David Helm taught through his new book, Expositional Preaching.
• Ray Pritchard taught on practical matters of sermon preparation and delivery.
• Mac Brunson reminded us to be thankful for the hope of our salvation in Christ (Hebrews 12:18-29). And the First Baptist JAX choir rocked the house!
• Charlie Dates taught on doing word studies and the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament.
• Romell Williams preached about the ministry of preaching (Romans 10:14-17).
• Maurice Watson talked about the scandal of unexpected outcomes (Matthew 11:1-6).
• Joe Pace taught on the relationship between music and preaching in corporate worship.
• Cameron Triggs led a session on expository preaching to youth and young adults.

We were blessed to have great vendors and sponsors that enabled us to make the conference all the most special for our attendees. Thanks a million!

I am also grateful for all who attended Cutting It Straight. There are many conferences with strong support because of an established track record. This conference is a newborn baby. And no one really knew what it would look like when it came out of the womb. Yet you trusted us and sacrificed to come to Jacksonville for this new conference. I hope we honored the trust you placed in us.

And thanks for those who joined the conference online, via our live stream. (All main sessions are recorded and available on CD or DVD).

It is our prayerful goal to do Cutting It Straight again September 22-24, 2015 (Tues-Thurs).

We are planning several new features for next year’s conference. First, we plan to have a track for pastors and ministers wives. Likewise, we plan to host a worship conference at the same time, led by Joe Pace.

Check out Word & Worship with HBC2 & Joe Pace. 

Stay tuned for more details. Pray for this beginning work. And make plans to join us for Cutting It Straight 2015.