I’ve been asked by the folks at Vintage 21, a church in Raleigh, North Carolina, to put in a good word for their upcoming conference: Advance: Resurgence of the Local Church. Here’s their vision for the conference:

Christ promises to build the Church, and that no force will prevail against it. Yet, the local church has been heavily battered in battle. Sadly, churches in America are in steady decline, with over 4000 closing their doors and 500,000 members leaving each year–never to return. This is not what the Lord desires. The Apostle Paul tells us that ” . . . through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places”. The local church is called to lift-up Jesus so that all the world might see Him. The local church is called to make known the Gospel and to be the vehicle of redemption for the world. Led by local churches, Advance09 is a conference committed to the resurgence of the local church for the glory of God. Our aim is to equip attendees with the Gospel so that the local church might become all that Jesus calls it to be. At this conference, we hope to ensure that on our watch and in our time we honor Jesus and see the resurgence of the local church. Advance09 is open to anyone: pastors and lay-leaders; church members and regular-attenders. We invite you to join us in this Great Cause.

They’ve gathered an impressive array of speakers, including John Piper and Mark Driscoll. (That’s a combination I would like to see!). If you register before April 17, you can get a discount.
I became aware of Vintage 21 a few years ago through a series of videos they created. These are some of the most creative, funny, insightful, and well-known of all Christian videos on the Internet. Many if not most of my readers will have seen them. But if you haven’t, I’d encourage you to check out the Vintage 21 Jesus series. You can see all videos in the link below. Together, they last only about nine minutes.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDSj8sv0uKs]