Annual Conference
In the Fear of the LORD
"Be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long."
Proverbs 23:17 Come and learn to tremble. Register NowSomething has been lost. Not recently - gradually. Quietly. So quietly that most did not notice it leaving. The fear of the LORD was once the atmosphere in which the people of God lived and moved. It governed their worship, shaped their decisions, sobered their speech, and produced in them a quality of life that the world could not manufacture and could not ignore. It was the beginning of wisdom. It was the whole duty of man. It was the air that the godly breathed.
And we have forgotten how to breathe it.
In the Fear of the LORD is a conference built on a single conviction - that it is time to fear the LORD again. Not the fear that paralyzes. Not the fear that drives men from God rather than toward Him. But the fear that begins with who He is, reckons honestly with what He has done, and produces in the soul of the believer a sustained, cultivated, holy trembling that the scripture calls the beginning of everything.
We will begin where we must - with God Himself. His holiness. His Godhead. His eternal power. His wisdom and prudence. His absolute and unrivaled majesty. From there we will not flinch from His wrath, nor from what it meant for a nation to stand at a distance beneath the law. We will meet the risen Christ on the island of Patmos and hear Him say Fear not - and understand why those two words change everything. We will sit with the wisdom writers who called the man who fears always the happy man. And we will close where Paul leaves us - in the dispensation of grace, brought near by the blood of Christ, and called to perfect holiness in the fear of God.
This is not a conference about a concept. It is a conference about Him.
Come and learn to tremble.The Arc of the Conference
Before there is a doctrine of fear, there is a God worthy to be feared. Session one does not begin with our response - it begins with Him - His holiness, His Godhead, His eternal power, His wisdom and prudence, His absolute and unrivaled majesty. There is no other like Him nor any that can be likened unto Him.
The attributes of God established in Session one do not remain abstract for long. When men in scripture truly encountered the living God - Isaiah in the temple, Peter in the boat, Manoah on the threshing floor, Job from the whirlwind, Daniel by the river, John on Patmos - the response was not theological reflection. It was collapse. Unworthiness. The instinct to flee. The certainty of death. It is the only real, right, and honest response to who He is.
At Sinai, God drew near to His people - and the people trembled. Session three examines fear as a governing principle of Israel's economy - the bounds about the mount, the veil between, the priest who entered once a year lest he die.
On the island of Patmos, John fell at the feet of the risen Christ as dead. Session four is the turning point of the conference. The fear that torments is cast out not by familiarity but by love. Perfect love transforms fear without abolishing it.
The first four sessions have laid a foundation - the character of God, the creaturely response to His holiness, the fear that governed Israel under law, and the gospel transformation that turns terror into trembling love. Session five opens the floor. Guided questions drawn from the first four sessions give way to open Q&A, allowing the truth of what has been taught to be pressed, examined, and applied. This is not a break from the conference - it is the doctrine doing its work in real time.
The wisdom literature of scripture does something remarkable - it celebrates the fear of the LORD. Not as a burden to be endured but as the very beginning of wisdom, the mark of the godly, and the secret of a flourishing life.
Paul does not leave the fear of God behind when he steps into the dispensation of grace - he redefines what it looks like to live it. Brought near by the blood of Christ, the freed man still trembles. Not from bondage. But from knowing who freed him.
Three Days, Seven Sessions
* Schedule subject to change. All sessions hosted by Twin Cities Grace Fellowship.
Meet the Teacher
Josh Strelecki has served as Pastor-Teacher of Twin Cities Grace Fellowship for fifteen years, where he is committed to the careful, expositional teaching of the Word of God rightly divided. He is the founder of Beholding Christ, a multi-platform teaching ministry built around the conviction that a sustained, fixed gaze upon Christ - through the Pauline epistles and the whole counsel of scripture - is the means by which the believer is transformed, grounded, and equipped for godly living in this present economy of grace.
Charlie McQuillan serves as Pastor of Grace Works Bible Church in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Brandon Smith serves as Pastor of Christ Life Bible Church in Roseville, Michigan.
Adam McGath serves as a teacher at Twin Cities Grace Fellowship.
Plan Your Stay
Twin Cities Grace Fellowship has secured a discounted hotel rate for conference attendees. More information on the hotel, rate, and booking details is coming soon. Check back for updates.
Come and Learn to Tremble.
"Be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long."
Proverbs 23:17