Warhorn Conferences: Recent Episodes
Warhorn Media
We host conferences on timely topics about once or twice a year. Past conference topics have included marriage, dealing with sexual abuse in the church, working thorugh conflict in the church, and living as a Christian in a post-Obergefell world.
The thunderheads are gathering. Unless God works a miracle, living in these United States will grow increasingly dangerous for Christians. We fear for our young ones, but our job is not to retreat and batten down the hatches. Jesus loved us when we were still His enemies, and this is His example for us. We must be salt and light. We must do our work cheerfully and openly. And we must provide hope. How do we do this when it feels like the darkness is closing in?
We live in a post-Obergefell world that increasingly hates God’s created order. And God’s people have real enemies. What are the practical, legal, and financial implications? Church leaders must be informed and they must be wise as we walk these thorny paths.
Scripture doesn’t condemn homosexuality just to condemn homosexuality. God made each of us a man or woman, and He means for us to live as men and women. As a pastor or church leader, how do you encourage and exhort your flock to take on the duties of their sex? What are some practical ways we can teach our flocks to embrace biblical sexuality—not just in theory, but in all of life?’
Sexuality is much bigger than body parts and where they fit. Any discussion of homosexuality must begin with a robust and comprehensive theology of sexuality. So just what exactly does the Bible say about sexuality in general, and homosexuality in particular?
In 1962 every state in our country had felony laws against sodomy. Today the sin of homosexuality is celebrated with parades, advocated by the media and arts, and approved by many of the leaders in the church and the nation at large. What happened? How did we get here? How did it happen so fast? Who dropped the ball and why?
This message was originally given by Pastor Tim Bayly on 2/19/2017 at Clearnote Church (Bloomington, IN) as part of the 2016 Shepherd’s Conference, The Enemy Within: Sexual Abuse in the Church.
In order to prevent sexual abuse, we must build walls to keep the enemy out. But even more importantly, we must work from within to build a culture of healthy intimacy, a culture of honesty and normalcy. And even then, we cannot rest totally secure. How do we best protect our children without becoming slaves to fear?
This message was originally given by Pastor Max Curell on 2/19/2017 at Clearnote Church (Bloomington, IN) as part of the 2016 Shepherd’s Conference, The Enemy Within: Sexual Abuse in the Church.
Victims of sexual abuse carry their scars with them their whole lives, affecting every relationship they have. This makes caring for victims of sexual abuse a delicate and lifelong work. How do we go about it with wisdom, compassion, and courage?
This message was originally given by Pastor Tim Bayly and Mrs. Mary Lee Bayly on 2/18/2017 at Clearnote Church (Bloomington, IN) as part of the 2016 Shepherd’s Conference, The Enemy Within: Sexual Abuse in the Church.
The church leader that wades into a case of sexual abuse without the insight, help, and wisdom of his wife is a fool. In this session Tim and Mary Lee talk about the integral role the wives of elders and pastors play in identifying and caring for victims of sexual abuse.
This message was originally given by Harry Schaumburg on 2/19/2017 at Clearnote Church (Bloomington, IN) as part of the 2016 Shepherd’s Conference, The Enemy Within: Sexual Abuse in the Church.
Sexual abuse can reign in families and churches unchecked for years while little ones suffer silently—unless there’s someone committed to exposing sin, someone who has their eyes open and knows what to look for. So what are the signs of abuse?
This message was originally given by Ezra Hale on 2/18/2017 at Clearnote Church (Bloomington, IN) as part of the 2016 Shepherd’s Conference, The Enemy Within: Sexual Abuse in the Church.
The Bible tells us God gave earthly governments the authority to bear the sword—to punish wickedness and reward righteousness. Although many of these authorities have turned from God’s ways, we must not only submit to those He has placed over us, but trust that He has done so for our good. So what are the legal ramifications of sexual crimes? What are the things that every church leader needs to know?
This message was originally given by Pastor Stephen Baker on 2/18/2017 at Clearnote Church (Bloomington, IN) as part of the 2016 Shepherd’s Conference, The Enemy Within: Sexual Abuse in the Church.
One of the reasons it’s so painful to bring sexual abuse into the light is that it requires pastors and elders to care not only for victims, but also for perpetrators. This is painful and difficult work, complicated by everything from legal ramifications to our own bad consciences.
This message was originally given by Pastor Tim Bayly on 2/17/2017 at Clearnote Church (Bloomington, IN) as part of the 2016 Shepherd’s Conference, The Enemy Within: Sexual Abuse in the Church.
Dealing with sexual abuse in your church starts long before you ever uncover an actual case of abuse. It begins with cultivating a culture of pastoral care in your church—a culture where pastors and elders deal with and expose sins of all sorts, and church members expect their pastors and elders to care for them, no matter how deep and shameful their sin or how terribly they’ve been harmed.
God warns that not many should become teachers, because teachers incur greater judgment. Elders will stand before God accountable for the people He has placed under their care. It should therefore be the ambition of every elder that he be innocent of the blood of all men.
Though few realize it, the central work of elders is to keep the peace in the church. Marriage counseling is keeping the peace. Seeing and exposing incest, child abuse, and heresy are keeping the peace, also. Sin and false doctrine oppress and divide the people of God and it is the duty of elders to restore shalom to the Household of Faith.
Elders are fathers over God’s household. To be an elder is to be a spiritual father. And to be a spiritual father over God’s household you must be a good father at home.
The plurality of the eldership is God’s wise and gracious blessing to His Church. No pastor ought to bear the weight of responsibility by himself and no church should want him to.
Preaching is an assault on the consciences of men, aiming to drive them to repentance and faith. It is an impossible and dangerous task--who has faith for it? We must humble ourselves and depend on the Holy Spirit to work as He’s promised.
God could have sent angels to preach, said Calvin, but He sent sinners. True preaching is humiliating, painful, foolish. But pastors are servants of the Word--dying men sent to dying people.
The pressure to trivialize preaching assaults pastors from all sides--from video venues to sacramentalism. Compare the role of preaching in the life of our churches with ages past and this becomes obvious. But the preaching of the Word has always been central to the life and worship of healthy churches.
Televangelists are not the only preachers doing violence to the Word of God in our time. Our pulpits are full of men who have been trained to conspire with their congregations to muzzle the Holy Spirit while appearing pious. Are you one of them?
The Church is an army, called to war and guar- anteed victory through the promises of God. But our weapons are spiritual and our enemies are not flesh and blood. How does the Church in America embrace God’s promises in increas- ingly hostile enemy territory?
The Church is mother to all those who are sons of God and adopted into His household. What does it mean for the Church to be our mother? How does she nurture her children in the faith? And how must we respond to her leadership, care, and authority?
The Church is the bride Jesus laid His life down to save and secure for Himself. In this covenant relationship, He is the head and she is the body. What does this mysterious union mean? How should the relationship between Jesus and the Church shape the way we think, the way we worship, and the way we live together?
The Church is a body of witnesses testifying to the dominion of Jesus Christ and calling all nations to be His disciples. What does it mean for the Church to be witnesses of Jesus in 21st Century America? How have we failed?
Fatherhood and authority are at the heart of God’s Creation. The Fatherhood of God defines us and the world He made. When our eyes are open, we see it everywhere.
Love led God the Father to send His Son to die. Love led the Son to obey His Father. Now through faith in His Son the Father has adopted us, once His enemies, making us His sons. The love of the Father for His Son is the love of God for us. The submission of the Son to His Father is our submission to our Heavenly Father.
The Fatherhood of God is based in heaven where the Father’s only begotten Son loves His Father and gladly does His will. When we pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we ask that the Father’s relationship to His eternal Son be reflected in our lives on earth.
God delegates every authority, thus hatred of authority is hatred of God. Man is out to kill the Father Almighty.
The Church’s power and hope come from the promise of Christ’s ongoing presence. Our ability to obey the Great Commission depends on the communion we experience with our Lord.
Being a disciple of Jesus Christ means being obedient to His commands. Evangelism that does not lead to obedience makes a mockery of the Great Commission.
The Great Commission depends on the local church doing its work. Without baptism, there can be no true discipleship. But what is baptism?
Our Lord commanded His church to think in terms of a global offensive. All nations must become disciples of Jesus Christ. We will never obey this command until we begin to think of the Church Militant.
The Great Commission is founded on the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. Modern American Christians do not understand authority, so they cannot understand the Great Commission.
How often have you heard the fear of the Lord in public worship? This session will show how true worship must always have a place for extolling not just God’s love, but also His holiness. If we want to honor God in our worship, we must resolve to praise Him for what He truly is, and to proclaim both fear and love as proper responses to the gospel.
This session will apply the first two sessions and show how fear and love relate to the practical aspects of our homes. In a Christian home, the children learn to fear and love God as they learn to fear and love their father. A child that has no fear for his father cannot love him as he should, nor can he love God as he must.
Fear of God does not end once a man comes to faith; it is refined as he is made more holy. In this second session, we will look at sanctification and the role that fear plays in it. Far from taking away our fear of God, the cross establishes it, and causes us to obey out of loving fear for our Lord.
There is no greater example of how fear and love meet than the cross of Jesus Christ. This session will discuss the penal substitutionary atonement, and how God satisfied both wrath and love by pouring out punishment on His own Son, for the sake of us who are His children.
NOTE: DUE TO AN UNFORTUNATE AUDIO ISSUE, THIS RECORDING BEGINS PARTIALLY THROUGH PASTOR BAYLY'S TALK.
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It’s one thing to know we should fight. It’s another thing to actually do it. Which fights are worth having? Which fights are necessary? Which hills are worth dying on? And when should “love cover a multitude sins”? Are there things that a pastor should just . . . let slide? The ability to discern when to fight—and when not to—is one of the most crucial things a pastor must develop.
The office of elder was instituted in order to mediate conflict among the people of God. But as elders mediate conflict, conflict arises among the elders as well. It is the pastor’s job to lead his elders through the divisions that come from shepherding the flock. This is among the most difficult and demanding things a pastor must do.
There’s a reason the Bible says a lot about conflict in the church—about quarrels and divisions and biting and devouring. Churches are messy places, full of sinners. And where there are sinners, there is conflict and strife. It’s the job of every pastor to deal with conflict among the sheep—to preserve peace and unity without sacrificing the true righteousness to which God calls his people.
The world is at war. It has been that way since the Fall of Man, and it will be that way until the end of time. This is by design. Our God calls Himself the Lord of Hosts, which is to say, the God of armies. The story of the world is the story of the victory of Jesus Christ over Sin and Death and Satan. Yet as modern evangelicals we have it in our head that conflict is bad, and that, if we ever have to fight anybody at all about anything, we’ve somehow failed. But Scripture tells a much different story. What does the Bible teach us about the nature of conflict?
The world is at war. It has been that way since the Fall of Man, and it will be that way until the end of time. This is by design. Our God calls Himself the Lord of Hosts, which is to say, the God of armies. The story of the world is the story of the victory of Jesus Christ over Sin and Death and Satan. Yet as modern evangelicals we have it in our head that conflict is bad, and that, if we ever have to fight anybody at all about anything, we’ve somehow failed. But Scripture tells a much different story. What does the Bible teach us about the nature of conflict?
When we worship, we don’t worship alone. We are united in spirit with the church across the ages. Our job is to honor our fathers, to stand on their shoulders, to improve upon the work they’ve done before us.
We worship God in holiness, but His holiness is unequivocally, universally overwhelming—even paralyzing. Isaiah saw it. So do we. Yet a broken spirit and a contrite heart He will not despise. How do pastors and leaders cultivate faith—true faith—in their people, for worship?
Style is divisive. No one thinks they’ve chosen a style of worship. But try to get red, yellow, black, and white to worship together, and it’s not always doctrine that divides us. Dancing? Drums? Monotone? A capella? Harmony? Soft or loud? Short or long? Worship always reflects the style of the predominant class and ethnicity of the worshiping congregation. Also whether the church is led by its men or its women. Choose your style carefully.
We were made for worship, and our worship is to be “in spirit and in truth.” What does this mean? What place should the Word and the sacraments have? What truths of God’s Word need to shape our liturgy today? Our singing? Did the Reformers prescribe a uniform liturgy?
We were made to worship God Almighty for all eternity. This is the work God made man for—the primary job we were made to do. Speaking of heaven, the poet John Donne wrote, “Since I am coming to that holy room, where, with thy choir of saints for evermore, I shall be made thy music; as I come I tune the instrument here at the door, and what I must do then, think here before.” What will worship in heaven be like? And what does that teach us about worship on earth?
In corporate worship, does your congregation only sing pleasant and peaceful parlor songs, or is there martial music as well? Does the music of your corporate worship speak of the fear of God and the coming Judgment? Does it only comfort the afflicted, or does it also afflict the comfortable? Does it speak of sin, battle, Heaven, and Hell, or does it avoid these themes, speaking only in soft, assuring tones? In this session, the Good Shepherd Band will present and illustrate biblical worship that exalts Jesus Christ in His fullness as Prophet, Priest, and King.
Today’s evangelical knows forgiveness comes from God’s grace, but too often he knows nothing about the grace of God’s Law or the life of repentance. Learn why proclaiming forgiveness without concern for repentance produces “cheap grace,” and why “grace” today has become a cliché used to avoid dealing with the gaps in the wall. Learn how true grace is costly enough to confront our sin and strong enough to conquer what we want to conceal.
“Contextualization”—or the process of making Scriptural interpretation relevant to a modern setting—is precisely what everyone must claim to understand and do in order to join contemporary discussions of being “missional.” But who’s doing what kind of contextualization? When the gap between Scripture and our society is clear, does contextualization mean an intentional advance or a studied retreat? Do we try to camouflage the gap, or do we stand precisely there, wielding the Sword of the Spirit? Come and learn why the faithful soldier of Jesus Christ contextualizes by igniting himself with zeal for God’s truth at the precise place where the battle rages.
Scripture says that to be a Christian is to enlist for battle. But it’s one thing for a Christian to be a soldier in name; it’s another for him to stand and fight precisely where the battle rages. God has called us, charging us to repair the breach in the wall and to realize that truce with the enemy is not an option. Join us as we see how to stand firm at these gaps in the wall—and to recognize where the gaps are in the Church today.