G3 Conference 2023: Day 1

By Elizabeth Prata

My friend and I went early to the conference this morning. We are in a hotel across the street, it only takes 5 minutes to walk over there.

Once inside the cavernous building, it takes a minute to actually get to where we’re going. We passed the Answers in Genesis booth along the way.

The Answers in Genesis folks at #G32023 are having a wonderful time, their joy is evident! That ministry sure has been a blessing to me.

The bookstore was fairly empty as we arrived at about 8 am. The first speaker wasn’t scheduled until 9, so we felt in no hurry while browsing around. Books are 40% off!

We are a religion full of readers. This is the checkout line at #G32023 bookstore. I promised myself I would not buy any books! I lasted 2 minutes. I bought 2 books! The guy said “You should have bought John Owen’s Temptation: Resisted and Repulsed first!” I fell over laughing!

Below, Virgil Walker, Executive Director of Operations for the G3 Conference, and one half of the duo of Just Thinking podcast, welcoming the 8200 attendees and opening the conference.

Josh Buice was first up, speaking of God’s sovereignty in a heartfelt and biblical sermon.

The song worship is glorious. The leader is Matt Sikes, who is Discipleship and Worship Pastor at Pray’s Mill Church. The songs selected are strong hymns and the musical accompaniment includes an orchestra composed of cello, or oboe, piano, and violin. It’s wonderful.

Immediately after the singing was Owen Strachan, preaching on The Sovereignty of God and Perseverance of the Saints. I really enjoyed this one.

Time for lunch. Despite G3 having provided food trucks and food vendors, the lines were incredible. My friend and I anticipated this, and had brought our own food. We sat in the large hallway people-watching and munching on our snack-y lunch.

Next up in the demanding and packed schedule were breakout sessions. The rooms hosting the various sessions to choose from are small, and only accommodate about 200 people. I fervently wanted to attend Carl Hargrove’s talk on “How Does God Govern the World by His Providence?” So I got there early. Not early enough. Not only was every seat taken, people were sitting on the floor, standing in the doorways, and spilling into the hall. I stood hesitantly at the doorway desperately looking for a seat, but none were to be had. None, that is, until a kind younger gentleman offered his. I demurred at first, but he insisted, and he sat on the floor in front of his wife.

We went right into another breakout session. This one was highly anticipated, not just by me, but most of the conference, it seemed! It was Erin Coates’ “Godly Women remain Faithful in Suffering”. Every bit of floor space was taken by a sitting disciple, all seats taken, tons of people at the doors and in the hall trying to listen. And if they did hear, they received a blessing, because Erin’s talk was stupendous.

Once again, we swept into the hall when Erin concluded and set off at a fast pace to the main auditorium for Phil Johnson’s sermon, “Love that will not let me go.” I love Phil’s preaching. I really, really do. He is my favorite preacher, along with John MacArthur (who will be speaking Saturday morning by video). Phil spoke on 1 John 4:19; We love because He first loved us.

The Hall was filled. I had a very hard time finding 2 seats together. What a blessing to be among like-minded people who are all there to hear about the excellencies of God!

By now it was a bit after 5:00 and we were tired and hungry, having missed breakfast. The free breakfast offered at the hotel was eaten by hungry Christians and was wiped out completely by the time we got there. The hotel later apologized and said they will be better prepared Friday morning. And our lunch was cheese stick, almonds, and carrots.

There was one more speaking session to be had, by Steve Lawson, and the premiere of the move Cessationist. I really wanted to see the movie. But we were both tired, hungry, and bleary from the day. I’d gotten up at 4:15 am, and she had gotten up at 5:00. Long day. We packed it in, headed for the hotel, ate our supper and decompressed.

Tomorrow is another G3 day!