Super Bowl Outreach 2013

I was blessed to have attended Super Bowl Outreach a week ago.  115 of us, from around the country, went to New Orleans, not to watch a football game, but to proclaim the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

(Just to be clear -- I'm not against football.  I enjoy watching it.  But for many, it is an idol, or certain players are idols.  And even for those of us who don't idolize it, we need to make sure it is kept in balance and not over-emphasized, because let's face it -- it's just a game, with no real eternal significance.)

We had some excellent speakers, and good fellowship.  It's not necessarily easy for a bunch of folks from different traditions and denominational backgrounds to work so well together.  Why did SBO 2013 work so well?  Because we all held a common understanding of the biblical gospel:  sin and salvation, Law and Grace, repentance and belief.  And that common bond in Christ far superceeded our various opinions on secondary issues.

Frankly, I have more in common with all the SBO attendees than I do with those who (on paper) are closer to my doctrinal distinctives, but who water down the gospel or care little for evangelism.

If you have the opportunity go in a future year (should the Lord tarry), I highly encourage you to consider doing so.

On the subject of open-air (street) preaching, please consider this excellent article from The Cripplegate.  CARM also has some good notes on the subject of on-the-box preaching.

Rather than write on and on with more details, I'll just post some video links that you can see.

• First, this 3-minute recap of SBO2013 is excellent!
• This young guy was perhaps the most vocal heckler we had.
• We had a prayer time each day, and at the end of the prayer time on the last day, we sang "It Is Well".  If you're looking for great vocals, we didn't have it -- but it did express our love for our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Finally, our church web page about SBO has a handful of pictures and embedded videos.

SDG,
Dave