In early May I'm heading down to North Carolina with a few guys from my pastoral team to attend The Gospel Summit, "A two-day, unique conference environment for pastors and ministry leaders aimed to give a personal, inside, behind the scenes look at The Summit Church and gospel centrality."

I'm looking forward to learning from J.D. Greear's church and what gospel centrality looks like there.

You can learn more here.

Thursday and Friday, most of our pastoral team, joined by pastors from the Arlington and Fairfax Sovereign Grace churches, participated in a hands-on preaching workshop led by David Helm and others from The Simeon Trust. Named after 18th century British evangelical preacher, Charles Simeon, the Trust has served for over a decade, equipping preachers through a series of workshops across the country.

David describes the mission of The Simeon Trust: "We are a one-trick pony. We do one thing. We try to help people increase their confidence and ability in handling God's word. So that's why we exist--to increase someone's confidence in the word of God and their ability to handle it well."

In addition to receiving instruction for interpreting and preaching Scripture effectively, the pastors worked in small groups for practical application. Each presented a prepared text and received feedback from his peers on how to hone his preaching skills. They also heard expositions from me and my fellow pastor Matt Maka, and gave us feedback.

Kenneth Maresco, who helped organize the event, said, "We were very excited to have The Simeon Trust in because the work of pastors is primarily Word work, and these men are committed to training pastors to handle Scripture rightly. The members of our pastoral team and brothers from Arlington and Fairfax are being inspired to work hard in the Word. It's refreshing once in a while to pull away and have this kind of training as a staff so that we can continually improve in our ability to serve the people of God."

Thankful for God's hand on the ministry, David states, "We used to do one of these [workshops] a year with about 30-40 people. Now we do 19. This year we expect over 800 pastors will go through it. So, a lot of churches are being positively influenced at a grass roots level."

I'm really excited about this conference, and hopeful that many women from my church can attend. Here's an interview that Tony Reinke did with D.A. Carson, the president and co-founder of The Gospel Coalition, about the conference:

Explain for us the origin of the women's conference and how it serves the broader vision of TGC?

Don Carson: TGC aims to reform evangelicalism, putting the "evangel" (the gospel) at the center of our thinking and practice -- and that means focusing on Scripture, on Christ, on the cross and resurrection, on the God who redeems his people. If we are going to contribute to the reformation of evangelicalism, we must aim to teach women as well as men.

Is the 2012 conference primarily for a general audience of Christian women, or is it targeted to women who are formally involved in ministry?

DC: It targets all women who want to know their Bibles better, who want to encounter the living God through the great "theophany" passages -- passages where God displays himself in spectacular revelation. Nevertheless those who are formally involved in vocational ministry will be strengthened by exemplary teaching, and some of the workshops are aimed at helping such women.

What do you hope women will gain from this particular conference?

DC: From the plenaries, (1) a renewed vision of God and his sweeping purposes of redemption; and (2) for those with eyes to see, some models of how to handle Scripture faithfully and tellingly. From the Workshops, a wide variety of stimulating help for Christian women -- on their marriages, on how to lead Bible studies, on gospel outreach to people who do not look like you, on Scripture memory, on singleness, and much more.

The unfolding plan of redemption provides the backbone for this conference theme. How will biblical theology particularly serve women, and especially those in ministry roles?

DC: If we leap too quickly to personal application without reflecting on how any biblical passage fits into the Bible's grand history and plan of redemption, we almost always end up (however unwittingly) distorting the Bible. Worse, we lose sight of the way Scripture flows toward Jesus. The best application of Scripture takes place after coming to grips with how any text fits into the God-given big picture.

In the past you have talked about the difficulty of holding complementarian convictions (men and women are not interchangeable) and yet at the same time encouraging women to pursue ministry opportunities. In the last few years, where has your own thinking changed or been sharpened here?

DC: I don't think my views have changed much. On the other hand, I increasingly recognize that:

1. It is important not to become silent on the issue; it is possible for the complementarian position to lose by default.

2. We must so handle Scripture that the relevant passages are convicting, transforming, and seen to be for the good of both men and women, for God makes no mistakes. Recently Bob Yarbrough and I were the speakers at a conference for ministers dealing with these themes; the material will be available shortly on the TGC website.

3. It is very important that the complementarian stance not be reduced to a cheap parody, where all we are saying is "No!" I would love to see far more churches utilizing the gifts and training of women, whether in paid staff positions or not -- positions that are shaped by complementarian confessionalism and simultaneously encouraging, liberating, gospel-focused. Our churches could do with a lot more women in the heritage of Priscilla, Phoebe, Euodia, and Syntyche. (Why do we remember the latter two only for their bickering, and not only for their ministry of contending for the gospel at Paul's side?)

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The first Gospel Coalition National Women's Conference is scheduled for June 22-24 in Orlando, Florida. Women can register for $125 through the end of February, at which point the rate increases to $175. Students and women who live outside the United States can register for $100 (no deadline).