Big Bible blessings at the Barbican

The Evangelical Ministry Assembly, which has just finished, moved from its traditional home at St Helens Bishopsgate to the Barbican - and what a great conference it turned out to be.

The move, masterminded by PT Director of Ministry Adrian Reynolds, was designed to give space for the conference to grow, and the increase in numbers to around 1200 delegates over the 3 days has already endorsed the decision as wise.

But it was the quality of the content that remained the highlight. Vaughan Robert's expositions on 1 Peter in the mornings were nothing short of outstanding. Mark Dever, Paul Mallard, Rico Tice and Garry Williams all sparkled with enthusiasm and insight. And there was no hesitation in grasping some particularly difficult nettles in the afternoon seminar streams. I urge you to listen again to any and all of the sessions when the audio is released on the PT website.

As a professional conference goer and organiser, I particularly appreciated Vaughan's compelling restatement of the aims of PT on the third morning. Movements, organisations and conferences have an annoying habit of losing their way over time. It was refreshing to see that there is a real desire to reach out to, encourage and equip the many, many people in ministry who love the Lord Jesus and could be helped through the work of PT.

It was also great to see top-quality resources going out. My perception is that there are a lot of really excellent books being produced at the moment - it's often just hard to find them among the background chatter of poor quality or theologically compromised material.

We sold out of the three recommended books we had for the event, but you can order them direct from our website now at EMA prices (or better):

• Is God anti-Gay?: Sam Allberry's brilliant little volume is the right book for the right moment - a pastorally sensitive yet Biblically faithful treatment of the biggest question we face at the moment
• Serving without sinking: the Christian life is hard, and life in ministry perhaps more so. John Hindley helps us recognise compromised motives and rediscover the joy of serving Jesus.
• Messages that Move: exploding with practical help for preachers and Bible teachers of all kinds to improve their communication skills.