Category Archives: lectureships

Red River and Orlando

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Riding the chairlift down to Red River

Time to break radio silence. I’ve been traveling lately and haven’t found the energy to update the blog. (Would say I haven’t had time, but you’d know that’s an excuse)

First, I spoke at the Red River Family Encampment, leading the three sessions in Spanish they had the Saturday before the workshop. Red River, New Mexico, is a lovely place, high up in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Carolina got to go with me, which made the trip that much better. The encampment always has wonderful speakers and inspiring singing, plus I got to participate in some interesting discussions led by Ralph Gilmore and Jeff Jenkins.

We returned last Tuesday night. Early Thursday morning, I left for the Equip Conference in Orlando. Steve Ridgell and I were teaching the evangelism track, each leading four sessions. It was nice to present in English for a change! Saw lots of old friends and heard some good lessons.

Now it’s back to the salt mines! Except for tomorrow’s holiday.

How’s your summer going?

Upcoming speaking events

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I’m looking forward to teaching at the Red River Family Encampment this coming weekend and next week. That said, I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing Lea Ellen Lawlis, the wife of the organizer of the encampment, Jerry Lawlis. Please lift him up in prayer during this hard time.

I’m leading three classes in Spanish on Saturday, using material from Church Inside Out. Then I’ll be presenting much of the same material in English on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

Later next week, I’ll be making a quick trip to the Summer Celebration at Lipscomb University. Forces beyond my control will prevent me from being able to spend much time there, but I will be at the Hope For Life breakfast in the Shamblin Theater at 7 a.m. Friday morning and will teach a class in the Shamblin Theater at 8:10 a.m. The class will also be focused on Church Inside Out. (Are you detecting a theme?)

If any of you plan to be at these events, I very much hope to get to see you there.

Reflections on the Tulsa Workshop

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Just some quick thoughts on the Monday after Tulsa…

  • People seemed to think that the level of teaching was high this year. (Not surprisingly, I heard this from people who didn’t attend my class) John Dobbs mentioned taking more notes this year than he had in a while.
  • People also felt that attendance was down. I haven’t attended enough to know, nor do I get to participate in enough to get a feel for it.
  • When attending a workshop as an exhibitor, it’s hard to attend many sessions. I heard Trey Morgan once, Amanda Sanders/Dusty Rush once and half of a Bobby Valentine class. That’s about it, as far as the Workshop goes.
  • I’m wondering how many groups find exhibits to be beneficial. Frankly, Herald of Truth does not get its money’s worth out of exhibits. Tulsa is one of the better places, but I still find myself spending most of my time reconnecting with friends at the booth.
  • Book sales at our booth were abysmal. The bigger book stores seemed to do better; I guess people like to do “one-stop shopping” when it comes to books. I do know that Boyd’s Books quickly sold out of Letters From The Lamb, so a few of those were sold.
  • One of the greatest benefits of workshops and lectureships is the chance to connect with old friends. I’m not brave enough to try and start listing; I’ll just say that it was a pleasure to visit with so many dear Christians.
  • I enjoyed visiting the Memorial Drive congregation on Sunday. I’d never been there before. Jim McGuiggan spoke. He’s a wonderful speaker, but I was especially taken by his gentle, loving nature as he spoke with people personally.

If anyone who was there wants to add anything, please feel free.

ACU Summit summary

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Interrupting the discussion on politics, let me comment a bit about ACU’s Summit. To be honest, for me, much of the value of such gatherings is the interaction with others. Classes and lectures used to mean more to me when I was younger; I still learn many things now, but seeing others is what I really look forward to.

A few people that I met/saw at Summit this year: Randy Hall, Reg Cox, Brian Sandine, Ken Mick, Jim McKissick, Don Middleton, Shane Coffman, Jerry Hill, Cory & Michelle Long, C.K. Holt, Mike & Mignon Riley, Andy Wall, Jay Guin, Katherine Gould, Bobby Ross, Erik Tryggestad, Milton Jones, Andy Baker, Mark Edge, Carlos Gonzalez, Paul Gonzalez, Gloria Gonzalez, Isaac Gonzalez, Tom Allen, Jerry Rushford, Mark Woodward, James Satcher… OK, I give up. There are too many to name.

The much-anticipated Shane Claiborne was excellent. Hearing him was a lot like reading his books, except that I don’t imagine him giggling when I read his books. Josh Graves did a good job, as did Reg Cox. Andy Wall was excellent, and Eddie Sharp did not disappoint. Steve Ridgell did a fantastic job with his class. Voces was wonderful in concert, though I wish they’d skipped the patriotic song (and the crowd’s response really creeped me out).

We had a good breakfast for Herald of Truth. I got to lead a bilingual prayer on Monday night (and my cat got to follow it on the Internet, as the photo shows. My wife says the cat stared at the screen throughout my prayer).

All in all, it was a great few days.

Summits and lectureships

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This week was Summit at Abilene Christian University. Working for Herald of Truth, I stay pretty busy during those times. We try to take advantage of such gatherings to raise awareness of our ministry. In Abilene, we had a booth in the exhibit area and an informative breakfast. Our staff also wore shirts with our logo on them during the week.

Still, I got to take in a few classes. Here are a few highlights:

  • Gordon Dabbs spoke on evangelism. I only got to hear one of his three sessions. In that session, he was discussing prejudices against Christianity that exist among non-Christians.
  • Reg Cox talked about building the church around small group gatherings. Their church has found a geographic organization to be the most effective for improved body life. (He ministers at a church in the Denver area)
  • Josh Ross, in the one session I heard, talked about a special Jubilee Sunday they had at their church. His description was quite moving. I highly recommend reading the account Josh posted on his blog last summer.
  • Jerry Rushford gave some fascinating descriptions of the lives of William Gladstone and Samuel Johnson. There are few things as captivating as a skilled historian talking about interesting characters from the past.
  • Donald Miller proved to be as skilled a speaker as he is a writer. His lesson about not expecting “mountaintop” experiences here on earth was timely and inspiring.

Next week I’ll be at Harding for their Lectureship. I get to speak each evening from Sunday through Wednesday on the book of Ecclesiastes. I hope to get to hear some other people as well; I hear myself far too often.

[Photograph by the amazing Tammy Marcelain. Check out her blog and also look at her photography website and Marcelain Photography blog. The last few years, most of the pictures of me and other members of the Herald of Truth staff have been taken by her.]