Duffy Robbins spoke at general sessions 2 and 5. In his first talk he spoke from Philippians 2:5-11 on Authentic Passion. Jesus’ passion was a little bit irrational (v6), excessive (v7) and costly (v8). Youth Pastor’s are called to authentic passion and Jesus is the model of that passion.
In his final talk he spoke from Psalm 46: Be still and know that I am God. He helpfully showed the violent context of the Psalm, and yet the response of being still and knowing that God is in control. It was a great passage with which to finish the conference.
Duffy is a gifted communicator. Unlike some others at the conference, Duffy opened the Bible, and spent time explaining the Bible. His insights were refreshing and stories amusing.
NYMC Live Blog: #1 – Live Blogging; #2 – Getting here, #3 – Josh Griffin, #4 – My Place on MySpace, #5 – Thanksgiving, #6 – Josh Griffin Podcast, #7 – Tim Hawkins and trusting God, #8 – The danger of assumptions, #9 – Forge and the emerging church, #10 – The Skit Guys.
I agree that Duffy stood apart from many other speakers in opening the Bible and not using the passage as a pretext, (as we are all tempted to do, and which I confess I am guilty of from time to time…) However, I would question his exegesis of Philippians 2. Is this a passage primarily about passion? Is it about us at all? Are we called to have the same passion as Jesus – or to be sure that we are in Him, and the passion we have is actually the life of Christ in us and spilling out of us like streams of living water?