My Pic With John Piper at a DG Conference
I attended the Desiring God 2007 Regional Conference last week in Sacramento. It was wonderful. As you can see below, I asked a friend to snap a picture of myself with Dr. John Piper to capture the moment. 
Click image to enlarge.
The theme of the conference was the Pleasures of God. Dr. Piper covered what some of them are, including:
- The pleasure of God in Himself as reflected in His Son Jesus Christ
- The pleasure of God in all that He does
- The pleasure of God in His creation
- The pleasure of God in election
- The pleasure of God in His fame
- The pleasure of God in bruising the Son
- The pleasure of God in the faith and hope of His people
- The pleasure of God in our obedience that comes from faith
- The pleasure of God in concealing Himself from the wise and revealing Himself to His people
The first few are absorbed upon God (as everything begins with God) making it a God-centered message, while the last few relates to us.
One of the most memorable moments of the event was when Piper reminded me of God’s sovereignty in electing sinners. He relates to the time when his son was going through a period of rebellion. He shared how, contrary to man’s natural inclinations, the doctrine of election was actually a comfort to him. He shared of his own prayer as a father for his son’s salvation, “Lord, you’re sovereign. Take him!” as opposed to “Lord, you’re sovereign… but my son over here has his own free will.” Indeed, we serve an omnipotent God Who is sovereign and supreme over all of life, Who is omniscient, Who is not dependent upon the will of man to accomplish His plans, and Who does all things according to the counsel of His will and for His own good pleasures.
I only wish the conference had been longer. It was also neat that all the books on the conference tables were sold for only $5, which is much, much lower than their normal retail prices. On the first day I came early and was fortunate to sit on the fourth row next to the middle aisle. At the end of the lectures, I was even brave enough to ask Dr. Piper a theological question and hand my copy of The Pleasures of God for him to sign. He replied, “Sure! I’d love to sign books.” He was so kind and humble. The overall conference was fun and edifying. And there is just something very exciting and electrifying to be part of a live Reformed conference, hearing God’s Word preached and in the presence of 2,000 other Calvinistic believers in the faith!
October 20th, 2007 at 7:18 pm | Permalink
Wow, Jess. Piper was really providentially blessed getting to have his picture taken with you!
October 20th, 2007 at 9:04 pm | Permalink
Hi Jessica,
Seems like the Conference was a blessing for you. I\’m happy you were able to go and learn in person from Piper. Out of curiosity, what was the \”theological question\” you asked him? What was his answer?
The next time he\’s in the area, I ought to check him out.
Haha – if you go with me, we won\’t do Taco Bell
October 21st, 2007 at 10:21 am | Permalink
Hola Jessie!
Girl-talk comments: Kamu keliatan manis lho dan kurusan dibandingin foto yang dulu, khas Asian beauty, ‘petite’
– I mean mungil, though I’m much mungil(er) than you 
, kidding Jess, kamu keliatan graceful kok, cuma… senyumnya keliatan agak grogi dibandingin senyum Dr. Piper yang santai (mesti belajar tuh dari dia gimana ngga grogi foto deketan sama orang cakep):D:D
On a more “serious” note: just a bit curious about how has this meeting with Dr. Piper in person affected you? Apa yang paling berkesan dari pertemuan ini in regards to your walk with God? And by the way, I’m not referring to that USD-5 book sales but perhaps to the electrocuted experiences, oopss…I mean, hahaha, you know what I mean (hopefully):D
To end this comment, I’m glad you share how humble and kind Dr. Piper is. Humility is kind of hard to find these days especially in communities of well-edified people (forgive me for being cynical
). Thanks for the sharing, it completed my Sunday for this week, God bless dear sister (((HUGS))) 
October 21st, 2007 at 9:02 pm | Permalink
Jessica, I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed the conference so much! Great picture with the two of you!
It is neat to hear that he was talking about the pleasures of God.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:27 am | Permalink
Lori wrote:
Thanks, Lori!
I also want to thank you again for those links you gave me on free seminary courses at Covenant. So helpful… I linked to them from my blog. I hope that you have been doing well!
Josh wrote:
Heh-heh… Actually I was providentially blessed that my picture is graced with his presence in it.
Michael wrote:
Hi Michael, the theological question was “Since God has forgotten the sins of Christians (e.g. as far as the east is from the west God has removed our transgressions from us), upon what basis is the Christian’s judgement before the great white throne?” There are several answers given by different theologians and preachers. John MacArthur’s take is that the Christians will be judged for rewards (e.g. there are different levels of rewards in heaven and those works that do not pass will be burned up). I asked this question for a friend because he wanted to know Piper’s take on it. Well, Dr. Piper’s response seems similar to MacArthur’s. But then he also mentioned in the end to me that this is a difficult question and that he needs more time to think upon it.
Grace wrote:
Hi Grace!
You’re too funny… Thanks for the nice comments… Ha ha ha, padahal aku sebenarnya lebih gemuk daripada foto yang dulu. 
Seriously. But thanks for the kind compliments, that makes me happy. 
Emang sih, aku waktu itu sedikit grogi…sampe kamu aja bisa tau. Mesti belajar gimana ngga grogi foto deketan sama orang yang godly seperti John Piper. 
Oh ya, btw, kamu tuh cocok banget pake rambut pendek yah… kalo aku gak bakal pantes.
And yes, I do remember it’s the same picture I saw from before. 
Yes, I’d like to share more about how Piper’s lecture on God impacts me personally in a future post. I’ve been a bit tired and worn out due to some circumstance this past weekend. But I hope to be able to post more stuff into my blog. Writing helps me think better on a lot of things. Hope you’re well.. Talk to you again next time, sis.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:34 am | Permalink
Oh hi Michael, I forgot to add/insert in my previous reply… woohoo, no Taco Bell.
We all know the only thing worse than Taco Bell is McDonald’s. Oh wait, even McDonald’s is slightly better than Taco Bell. 
October 26th, 2007 at 1:11 am | Permalink
Beautiful pic!
He’s humble and meek in person, different from the authoritative figure while preaching
I met Carson this week in Kuala Lumpur and managed to get a pic w him too
October 31st, 2007 at 8:57 am | Permalink
Happy Reformation Day, Jessie!
November 1st, 2007 at 2:30 pm | Permalink
lucky woman…get to meet Piper!
Ken
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:24 am | Permalink
Hi Jessica! Remember me? we met at the conference! great site. keep up the work!
November 2nd, 2007 at 8:37 pm | Permalink
Hey! That looks just like a picture I took of a woman who looked just like you… and John Piper! At the same conference!
Wow!
What are the odds ?
*snicker*
November 8th, 2007 at 11:40 am | Permalink
Hi sis, how cool is that! I would love to meet John Piper and other contemporary heroes of the Faith that have been used by God to affect my walk. Praise God for the impact that the conference had on you… and thank you for sharing what you shared with us!
Grace and peace,
Jenn
November 13th, 2007 at 5:06 am | Permalink
Quiet here… anyone seen Jess? She must still be on cloud 9!
November 15th, 2007 at 9:17 am | Permalink
Jess, bagus font-nya yang baru! Aku juga suka font itu tapi sayang ngga bisa selalu dibaca begitu kalau di tempat lain yang ngga install model itu
November 15th, 2007 at 10:51 pm | Permalink
Okay, here’s my delayed replies to your comments…
Thanks for your mighty patience. 
Lynn wrote:
Hi Lynn! Yes, of course I remember you. Wow, nice to hear from you! Thanks for visiting!
I checked out your blog, too, and will soon comment. Btw, thanks for letting me and my friends sit on your row during that 2nd day of conference. We actually arrived later than we planned, so yeah, I was glad that we got a spot on your row. 
It was great meeting you!
BlackCalvinist wrote:
A ha ha ha… Hilarious.
Thanks Kerry, for your fine skills in photography. 
See, what would I have done without your help! Not to mention, your high-tech expensive camera. 
Thanks again. 
Jenn wrote:
Hi Jenn! Very cool, indeed.
Yeah, in the future I’d love to meet other heroes of the faith whom God has used to impact my life as well, like John MacArthur, James R. White, Joe Morecraft III. By the way, I really enjoy visiting your blog too…so it’s really nice to hear from you! 
Anon wrote:
I’ve been hiding. ha ha, just kidding. I’m here, I’m here… Sorry for the delay in responding… But I do plan on getting back to posting again soon.
December 18th, 2007 at 8:34 pm | Permalink
Jess,
Few months back I read somewhere that Dr. Piper was contracted with cancer. How was he when you then?
December 20th, 2007 at 11:14 am | Permalink
Hi Maddi,
Thanks for your visit.
About Dr. Piper, yes, he did have a surgery sometime ago, and thank God it went well! He’s recovered from it and the doctor said they removed the cancer successfully. So he was doing pretty well when I met him at the conference.
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:45 pm | Permalink
Nice photo! Speaking of photos, will you send our photos of Josh’s visit ? See ya!
–ciao!
February 17th, 2009 at 1:22 am | Permalink
Hi guys
It is so wonderful to see young Christians passionate about christ and reformed theology…
I am living in South Africa, where most of the churches are what I understand to be Charismatic, I have just recently come a cross guys like Paul Washer, John Piper etc through youtube, I have been reading a lot of Spurgeon Sermons,and some Whitefield material. I’m at a point where I’m seriously considering leaving my local church due to what I now percieve as erroneous opreaching, they preach the health and wealth prosperity gospel. the problem is that I feel lonely now because everyone else is sattisfied with this false preaching that is going on at my church. I have no one to fellwship with, I don’t know of any local church that I can go to. I feel lost. Your advice in this regard will be greatly appreciated…
February 26th, 2009 at 10:35 pm | Permalink
Hey, I would like to inform everyone that I have managed, with God’s grace and guidance, to a few baptist churches in my area. I guess I wasn’t looking hard enough.
Grace and Peace to all