The impetus of this conference comes from the ultimate reality of God.org.

The impetus of this conference comes from the ultimate reality of God as the supreme value in and above the universe.

God is absolute and eternal and infinite.

Everything else and everybody else is dependent and finite and contingent. God himself is the supreme value.

Everything else that has any value has it by connection with him.

God is supreme in all things.

He has all authority, all power, all wisdom, and he is all good to those who wait for him to the soul that seeks

him.

And his name as the Creator and as the Redeemer and ruler of all is Jesus Christ.

In the last four years, 9-11, tsunami, Katrina, and 10,000 personal losses have helped us discover how little the American Church is

rooted in this truth.

David Wells in his new book, Above All Earthly Powers, Christ in a postmodern world just published a week or so ago, says it like this. This moment of tragedy, referring to 9-11, this moment of tragedy and

evil shone its own light on the church. tragedy and

the church and what we came to see was not a happy sight

For what has become conspicuous by its scarcity

And not least in the evangelical corner of it is a spiritual gravitas or weight, one which could match the depth of horrendous evil and address issues of such

seriousness.

Evangelicalism now, much absorbed by the arts and tricks of marketing is simply not very serious anymore."

End quote.

In other words, our vision of God in relation to evil and suffering was shown to be frivolous.

The Church has not spent its time on the energy that it takes to go deep

with the unfathomable God of the Bible. Against the overwhelming weight and seriousness

...