Testimonies of the Underestimated Gospel

by Al Mohler, C. J. Mahaney, Carl Trueman, Darrin Patrick, David Platt, Greg Gilbert, J. D. Greear, J. Mack Stiles, Jeff Purswell, John Piper, Kevin DeYoung, Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever, Matt Chandler, Matt Schmucker, Michael Lawrence, Mike McKinley, Peter Williams, Russell D. Moore, Thabiti Anyabwile

Al Mohler is the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. You can find him on Twitter at @albertmohler.

C. J. Mahaney is a pastor of Sovereign Grace of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky.

Carl Trueman is a Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania.

Darrin Patrick is the senior pastor of The Journey in Saint Louis, Missouri. You can find him on Twitter at @darrinpatrick.

David Platt is the lead pastor of McLean Bible Church in Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @plattdavid.

Greg Gilbert is the Senior Pastor of Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. You can find him on Twitter at @greggilbert.

J. D. Greear is the pastor of Summit Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. You can find him on Twitter at @jdgreear.

Mack is the director of Messenger Ministries Inc., a think tank working to develop healthy missions. He and his wife, Leeann, have traveled and lived many places before landing in Erbil, Iraq, in July 2017, including 15 years in Dubai, UAE. Up until recently, he was the pastor of Erbil International Baptist Church. Mack resides in Louisville and is a member of Third Avenue Baptist Church.

Jeff Purswell is the Director of Theology and Training of Sovereign Grace Ministries in Louisville, Kentucky.

John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org, and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis. You can find him on Twitter at @JohnPiper.

Kevin DeYoung is the senior pastor of Christ Covenant in Matthews, North Carolina. You can find him on Twitter at @RevKevDeYoung.

Ligon Duncan is the chancellor and CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary. You can find him on Twitter at @LigonDuncan.

​Mark Dever is the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D. C., and the President of 9Marks.

Matt Chandler is the lead pastor of The Village Church in Dallas, Texas. You can find him on Twitter at @MattChandler74.

Matt Schmucker was the founding executive director of 9Marks. He now organizes several conferences, including Together for the Gospel and CROSS, while serving as member of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.

Michael Lawrence is the senior pastor of Hinson Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon.

Mike McKinley is Senior Pastor of Sterling Park Baptist Church in Sterling, Virginia.

Peter Williams is the Warden of Tyndale House and a member of the Faculty of Divinity in the University of Cambridge.

Russell D. Moore is the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. You can find him on Twitter at @drmoore.

Thabiti Anyabwile is one of the pastors of Anacostia River Church in Southeast DC. You can find him on Twitter at @ThabitiAnyabwil.

February 29, 2012

9Marks asked all the T4G plenary and break-out speakers and panelists to provide us with a one sentence answer to this question:

What were the human means and instruments of your conversion?

 

Thabiti Anyabwile: I was converted during the preaching of Exodus 32 in a Sunday morning worship service.

Matt Chandler: I was converted by the witness of a good friend.

Mark Dever: I was converted by reading the New Testament and by the witness of Christian friends.

Kevin DeYoung: I was converted through the instruction of my parents and by the sitting under the preaching of the word Sunday after Sunday from the time I was born.

Ligon Duncan: My mother and two faithful, Bible-believing, gospel-preaching pastors were the Spirit’s primary instruments in quickening me to repentance unto life and saving faith in Christ.

Simon Gathercole: I went along regularly to a friendly Christian group at my boarding school, where eventually I heard a talk on Revelation 3:20 and knew Jesus was speaking to me.

Greg Gilbert: I was converted by hearing a sermon from a visiting preacher at my church when I was nine years old.

J.D. Greear: I was converted through the faithful teaching of a biblical church, the consistent witness of my parents, and a crisis moment regarding the assurance of my salvation brought on by my Sunday School teacher.

Dave Harvey: While the day and hour of my conversion is unknown to me, the gospel proclamation of an open-air preacher, the witness of Christian friends, and the life of a Christian community all played prominent roles in my story.

Michael Lawrence: I was converted by hearing the gospel from my mother and faithful Sunday School teachers.

C.J. Mahaney: As an eighteen-year-old immersed in the drug culture, God sent a newly-converted friend to share the gospel with me; by the grace of God I put my trust in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for my sins and was gloriously saved from the wrath of God I richly deserved.

Mike McKinley: I was converted as an eleven-year-old when I heard the gospel for the first time from a Sunday School teacher.

Albert Mohler: I was converted by the faithful preaching of the gospel by a pastor, and by the constant gospel encouragement of my parents.

Russell Moore: I came to know Christ as an adolescent, walking and looking up at the stars on the road outside my house in Biloxi, Mississippi, while reflecting on the gospel I heard preached and taught in my home congregation, Woolmarket Baptist Church.

Darrin Patrick: I was converted by reading the Bible and hanging out with some guys who were like me, but not like me.

John Piper: Since I have no memory of the first time I trusted Christ, I take my mother’s word for it that my sister had spoken to me at the age of six concerning my soul, and I came to my mother who knelt with me at a motel in Florida where I received the Lord Jesus and put my faith in him.

David Platt: The Lord converted me through the influence of Bible-believing parents and a Bible-teaching church.

Jeff Purswell: The compelling witness of a community of believers at Berry College prepared me to respond to the gospel that I had long heard but by turns ignored and doubted.

Matt Schmucker: I was converted during my senior year at the University of Maryland through hearing an open-air preacher after listening to him for three years.

Mack Stiles: While pursuing what passions and pleasures I could scrape out in the world, I landed in a cheap hotel at a skiing and mountain climbing school in Zermatt, Switzerland where God used a fellow seventeen-year-old named Robert Smith to share not only the gospel but his life with me; after reading a tract which Robert had given me (from “The Cross and the Switchblade”) I bowed my knee to Christ in Robert’s room above a bar, and from then to this day have called Jesus my Savior, Lord, and Hope of the world.

Carl Trueman: I was converted through the witness of a charismatic friend, hearing Billy Graham preach, and reading Jim Packer.

Peter Williams: My parents explained and modeled the gospel, and public preaching particularly drove it home for me even before I was a teenager.

 

Learn more about the April 2012 Together for the Gospel conference here.