Saturday's Conference (part 1)

The conference on Saturday went from 9 AM to 9:30 PM, and if you could stay awake for the play Juliet, you could stay up till 10:30 PM. I didn't! (It wasn't Romeo and Juliet--this Juliet was about a Christian woman in Romania whose husband was imprisoned.)

On Saturday morning the speaker that impacted me most was Steven Khoury, a Christian Palestinian pastor. In Israel and Palestine, Christians are very much in the minority. There used to be a substantial Christian presence in Bethlehem, where Steve grew up--but most of them were Christian by birth and not by "second birth". Due to increasing pressure from Muslims, a lot of these Christians have emigrated to other countries. The remaining Christians are a double minority. They are hated by the Palestinian Muslims because they don't hate the Jews. And they're distrusted by the Israelis because they are Palestinian. I was impressed with Steve's message. He told a number of moving stories about miraculous salvations, escapes from death, and courageous Christians. For a guy who's about my age, Steve has really had a dramatic life. I brought home a copy of his book, Diplomatic Christianity. The basic premise of the book is that as Christians, we tend to be too diplomatic ("politically correct") when telling other people about Jesus: afraid to just come right out and tell them the truth about Jesus!

I was impressed by Steve, but I was even more impressed by what I learned about his father, Naim Khoury. In a way, Steve is simply living out what his father has built into him. Naim was the first in his family to turn from dead orthodoxy to a living relationship with Jesus. Naim is the one in his family who first became a lightning rod for persecution. Steve has grown up in the middle of it. Their church in Bethlehem has been bombed 14 times. At one particularly violent season they used to keep buckets of water at the front of their church so that when someone threw a Molotov in, they could just pour water on it and keep going.

Steven is now trying to start his own church up in Jerusalem. Actually he's started it up several times, but it is incredibly hard to get a permanent location. Whenever they find a place to rent, Islamic vandals attack it so badly that the landlords evict them.

You can learn more about Steven and his father by watching this short video on their web site.

At lunch, there was supposed to be a picnic on the grounds of OWU. I'd already paid my $5 for a ticket. But it started raining so the picnic had to be moved inside the gym. I got in line and noticed the line was moving very slowly. So I decided to go back to my room and drop off some of the things I was carrying and then come back and get in line again. Once again, God used a seemingly random decision to guide my steps. When I was almost back to the line, I bumped into Brad Heil, who is the director of Kids of Courage, VOM's children's curriculum. Last summer we'd worked together at the Kids of Courage booth in the Arizona Families for Home Education convention. Here's a picture of me with Brad's wife Diane at the booth.



And here's a picture of Brad with area coordinator Dave Clayton in Brad's office. (Brad is on the right.)



Anyways, Brad saw me walking by and invited me out to lunch. I gave my picnic ticket to a guy in line who didn't have one and we drove to Arby's.

This turned out to be "a God thing" because Brad and his wife are going through a tough time now on more than one front. He has a heavy workload (there are only two people in the Kids of Courage department, including him) and he and his wife are primary caregivers for his mother in law. It was amazing how similar his mother in law is to my mother's father, who just died earlier this year. We had gone through many of the same struggles with Grandpa that he and Diane are going through with "Mom", so I was able to really identify with the pressure he's under. It was great getting to pray for him and I appreciate Brad being so transparent about how he was really feeling. Perhaps in God's providence part of the fruit of this pressure may be the lives of children transformed by their encounters with Kids of Courage.

I later heard that the picnic wasn't all that good anyways -- not enough food to go around.

In the afternoon, Michael Wurmbrand got a chance to address the whole group. He shared more classic stories from his childhood. (And no, I didn't take this picture either.)



When he was 11, his mother was arrested. She never had a trial so she never knew how long she would be in jail. The policemen confiscated all of the household belongings, made a list of them, and made Michael sign the list. Then he was left on the street to fend for himself.

When he was about 17, the police called him in. It turned out that the officers who had confiscated all of the furniture had made some money on the deal. They had deliberately written down inferior descriptions of the furniture they confiscated. (For example, a nice piano bench was written down as "piano bench with 3 legs".) They then sold the nice furniture on the black market and substituted damaged furniture that they'd gotten elsewhere. So, as things happen in Communist regimes, these officers later fell out of favor and were imprisoned themselves. Under torture they confessed to this furniture sleight of hand. Now at this point we would expect that the police would apologize to Michael and give him the nice furniture back. Nope. They told him he had collaborated with criminal theft against the government by signing the inventory. They said, "Since you are young we will have mercy on you and not put you in prison, but you will have to pay back the amount that was stolen from the government, with interest." This came to about $80,000 US. For the remainder of his years in Romania, they garnished 20-25% of his wages. He never would have gotten it paid off if his parents had not escaped from Romania and sent him the means to repay the debt.

Another anecdote: one of Richard's torturers told him, "You'll never get out of the country. You'll never see Westminster Abbey." Why he would specifically mention Westminster Abbey I have no idea, but the torturer was later jailed himself, and Richard later preached at Westminster Abbey.

Richard was preaching in a meeting shortly after his escape from Romania in 1966. A woman in the audience was crying almost the whole time. She came up afterwards and showed a clipping from a 1948 newspaper talking about Richard's imprisonment. She had prayed for him for 18 years without knowing what had happened to him.

A Romanian Christian (I believe his name was something like Kiefer Martin) walked 3 miles to a train station. When he arrived, he realized he had forgotten some important papers at home, but he didn't want to carry his suitcase all the way home. So he decided to hide it in some bushes and pray that God would protect it from being stolen (thievery was rampant). He returned home, got his paper, went back to the train station, looked in the bush, and his suitcase was still there. He was jubilant, thanked God, and thought, "Now I can handle it from here." He walked up to the ticket counter to get his ticket, set down his suitcase while he was talking to the clerk, and when he looked down his suitcase was gone! The lesson he learned was that we always need God--we are never truly able to handle life on our own.

The verse of Scripture that Michael highlighted for us was Job 1:9 -- "Does Job fear God for nothing?" He asked us whether there was something "commercial" about our relationship with God. Are we in it just for what we get out of Him, and not for God Himself? The story of Job is a reminder that the real battle is between God and satan. The question in dispute is whether we "fear God for nothing". May we say with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."

The second half of Saturday was even more important to me than the first, but you're going to have to wait to hear about it until my next post!

The Conference Starts

Friday night the conference started, and I will just be able to give you a small sampling of what we actually experienced that night.

First up were two brothers from Iran, both older, mature Christians. One of them couldn't speak English at all so the other translated.

He shared how he met Jesus with us. In the late 70's his son moved to the US and married a Christian woman. He was so upset that he flew to the US, determined to one way or another remove this dishonor from his family. Instead, he began to be impressed by their faith in Jesus. One day he prayed, "If You show me You're God, I will accept my daughter in law, and I will accept You."

Three days later he got a call from Iran informing him that the government had decided they'd made a mistake. After the overthrow of the Shah, the new regime had confiscated a large amount of money and the trucks he used for his business. Now they had returned everything to him! This was nothing short of a miracle and he realized this was the sign he'd asked for.

He has had numerous encounters with the police and has been beaten many times.

He told us of one new convert who rode 27 hours by bus -- each way -- simply to get baptized. This struck home with me because I know how sore I was after a total of 15 hours of sitting to get to Bartlesville. I can't imagine sitting for 27 hours just to get baptized!

It was hard to understand some of what he said, but one thing that did come through very movingly was when this white-haired man started crying as he talked about how good God had been to him. He is somewhat feeble and required assistance to go down the steps off the stage.

Next was a woman from the Marxist-controlled zone of Columbia, also speaking through a translator. She and her husband have been ministering there for 20 years. She told us numerous stories of Christians being killed by the guerrillas, and numerous stories of God miraculously protecting them from death. This is the mystery of God's providence that we can even see in Acts 12, where God allowed James to be beheaded but sent an angel to rescue Peter.

One story that was moving to me was when the guerrillas interrupted their church service, grabbed her husband and took him outside and started to lead him away. The men of the church followed. The guerrillas tried to push them back. But the brothers replied, "What you do to him, you must do to us." They let her husband go.

During the Friday night session, I actually got to meet and sit next to Daniel (DJ) Elkins, one of the 8 young people who went with VOM to Vietnam in 2006. Their experiences there are chronicled in the video "Underground Reality: Vietnam". This has become the best selling video VOM has ever released. For more details (and to view a trailer) you can visit this website.

Here's a picture of DJ in Vietnam as he prepared to deliver 50 pounds of Bibles (in his pack) to a national believer. (And no, I didn't take this picture!)




Daniel's life was greatly impacted by his time in Vietnam and it was neat to meet him and see how he's growing in the Lord.

After the Columbian woman, we had a choice of 4 breakout sessions. I chose to go to hear Michael Wurmbrand, son of Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand who founded VOM in 1967. Richard was an incredible man whose books and messages have greatly impacted me although I never got to meet him in person.

Michael shares his father's penchant for telling fascinating stories. Here are a few, not connected together in any particular way.

When he was a child, his father told him a story about a rich man who saw a beggar but only gave the beggar some moldy cheese. When the rich man died and went to heaven, he saw many people eating excellent food but he was forced to go off to a separate table which contained only... moldy cheese! The moral of the story was that we should give others our best.

A few days later his father was given, out of the blue, a really nice, expensive suit. He had one suit already but it was old. Michael said, "Now that you have two, you'll want to give one to Brother W" (a poor believer who had no suit at all). His father said, "And which one shall I give him?" Michael recalled the moldy cheese story and said, "You should give him the suit which you wish to wear in heaven." And so it was that Richard gave the new suit to Brother W just a few hours after receiving it.

When Michael was 11, his father was in prison. Michael was doing well in school and one day the school officials announced that he (along with others) would be awarded the coveted "Red Necktie" of the Communist Youth society at a special convocation. He excitedly told his mother the news. But she told him, "When it's your turn, get up and tell them 'I do not wish to wear the necktie of the government that imprisoned my father.'" This was very hard for him to do. He was angry with his mother at the time, but now he looks back on her courage with great fondness and love. He did as she told him, and it so shook the school that it ended the red necktie event there for several years.

Eventually Michael's mother was imprisoned too and he was left on the streets. It was a crime to help children of political prisoners. A 28 year old single young Christian woman took him in, as well as another boy in the same situation. Her 71 year old father had to go back to work to make enough money for them to have food. For this "crime", she later spent 6 years in prison and had physical repercussions from it for the rest of her life. After the Wurmbrands escaped from Romania they helped her to escape also. She never married, but spent the rest of her life in France and was active in VOM's work there.

Dinner with MacDonalds

No, I didn't say at McDonald's!

A new rep from New Mexico, John MacDonald arrived at OWU on Friday afternoon, too late for the team meeting. It was great to finally personally meet John and his 19 year old son Daniel (good name). They offered to take me out to dinner, and I didn't take long to accept!

Since I knew the restaurants in town slightly better than they did, I suggested we go back to the Chinese buffet (where I'd just had the team luncheon earlier in the day). The young guy at the counter was very happy to see me again. I think he was hoping I had brought another group of 19.

Here's a picture of John and Daniel in our booth.



I started telling them about the lunch with Mujahid. While I was in the middle of describing Mujahid's story to them, who should walk into the restaurant but three Muslim women! And where should they sit but in the booth right behind me! I was momentarily speechless, trying to figure out what God wanted me to do. I have only seen a Muslim woman in person a couple times in my life, and never more than one at a time. Now here were three, and in Mayberry USA, "Leave it to Beaver" Bartlesville, Oklahoma at that!

I regret to tell you that I do not have a heroic ending for this story. I didn't know what to do, so consequently I didn't do anything! Afterwards I realized that I could have paid their bill and left a note behind that said something like “I paid your bill because Jesus has paid for my sins – this meal is a gift to you from Him” or something like that. (Seems like I always get great ideas -- afterwards.)

The event was sobering to me. I sensed God was trying to show me the urgency of reaching the Muslim world with the love of Jesus. I missed this opportunity, but I hope it motivates me to pursue many more.

The Team Luncheon

I wanted to have a special luncheon on Friday for the reps from my territory (Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico). Some of them I had only met via phone calls and email. So, when I got to Bartlesville, I put my antenna up for a good place to have it.

I asked Lu to check into it while I was at the Area Coordinator meetings on Thursday. When I got to the meetings, I also asked Mr. B if he had any recommendations, since he lives in Bartlesville. He said, "Why not just have it in the side room at the Bistro where we ate last night?" That sounded good to me, so he made reservations for my group to have lunch there the next day.

When I got back to my dorm room that night, a note from Lu was on my door. She had made arrangements for us to have the meal at a Chinese buffet!

So, now I had to choose between the two. I'm giving you all this detail because later you'll see how God guided me (without me knowing it) to make the right choice.

I had been to the Chinese buffet in 2006 and liked their food (and pricing) better than the Bistro. I also knew that the buffet had better parking and location. On the other hand, Bistro had a side room for us to use, whereas the buffet was more or less all one big room. But I decided I would rather eat crow with the Bistro than having to make Lu eat crow with the Chinese. So, I called Mr. B, got the number for the Bistro, and the owner was very nice in accepting my cancellation.

I was hoping to give my reps the chance to hear directly from someone from overseas (a real, live persecuted Christian) at the lunch. I remembered how incredible it was when I got to have breakfast with Getaneh Getaneh from Ethiopia at the 2006 conference. (Here's a shot of Getanah after that breakfast.)



So I looked around the VVN banquet hall to see who was there from some other country. I only saw one foreign-looking family and they looked like they were from India. I thought, "Well, they would be OK." So I went over and introduced myself to the father and asked if he would like to bring his family to my team lunch. He readily agreed.

To my surprise, he turned out to be someone I was already quite familiar with. His name is Mujahid el Masih, and he co-authored a book with his ministry partner David Witt. David lives about 25 miles from me and worked for VOM for a number of years, before founding Spirit of Martyrdom earlier this year. David's father Bill Witt (himself a VOM rep) was the one who first suggested that I should become a representative for VOM. Mujahid lives in Colorado, and I had already been encouraging my reps in that state to get in touch with Mujahid and try to arrange meetings for him. (Sometimes churches are more receptive to having someone from overseas come and speak than having a local rep. In these cases, the local rep can tag along and help answer questions and distribute information about VOM.)

At the VVN banquet that night (Thursday) I handed out little hand written slips of papers to my reps who were there (a few were missing), giving the location and time for the team luncheon (high noon at the Chinese buffet). I gave one to Mujahid too.

When I returned to my dorm room after the prayer meeting on Friday morning, two unsettling events hit in quick succession.

First, Lu discovered the Chinese buffet owner had misunderstood. She had told him we would be there from noon to 2:30. He had thought we wouldn't arrive until 2:30. Because of the heavy lunch traffic, my team would not be able to sit all at one table: we would have to split up.

I seriously considered trying to switch the meal back to the private side room of the Bistro that I knew would still be available. But the idea of trying to contact all my reps with a new address (and the complex parking instructions) did not appeal to me, especially since I had less than an hour before the meal was to start. We would just have to go with the Chinese buffet and do the best we could.

The second interruption was a knock on my door room door at about 11:20. I was sitting at my desk, trying to call several reps who had not yet even heard that there would be a meal at all, when Mr. R and Mrs. B, both senior VOM staffers, came in to tell me there had been a mixup. I had to vacate my room and move into another dorm room because someone else was going to be using my room that night!

There was some humor in the situation. These two people, with obviously heavy responsibility for the conference, getting stuck with the allocation of dorm rooms. Mr. R actually helped me carry my baggage over to the new room. Mrs. B told me she had stayed in my new hall when she went to school at OWU years ago. (Here's a picture of Mr. R at the banquet the previous night. He is on the left.)



As soon as I had moved to the new room, I had to leave for the luncheon.

There were 19 of us all together, and we ate our lunches at 3 tables, then I had everyone move their chairs around and kind of form a circle in one corner of the restaurant. I introduced Mujahid and he stood up and began to share his testimony. It didn't take him long to get into full preaching mode. He was speaking so enthusiastically, extolling Jesus, that you could hear him throughout probably 1/3 to 1/2 of the restaurant!

As it turned out, there were 7 other people having lunch at the restaurant who were in Bartlesville for the VOM conference. They were from Arizona. (Coincidence?) Even more amazing, I recognized 2 of them. I had met them in the Tulsa airport at the end of the 2006 conference!

Here is a picture of us at the Tulsa airport in 2006:



And here we are at the conference in 2008:



When these 7 heard Mujahid start preaching, they moved their chairs over next to us to listen better!

He was born in a nominal Christian home in Pakistan, became a zealous Muslim as an adult, then had a genuine and powerful encounter with Jesus! He evangelized very boldly in Pakistan, despite the serious risks. Multiple times he was miraculously delivered from imminent death at the hands of angry Muslims. It was a powerful challenge to me to be more bold in evangelism.

Rather than telling you everything that Mujahid said, let me simply recommend that you listen to some of his messages online. You can find some on his ministry web site, and also on Sermon Audio.

We then had about 10 minutes of good solid prayer, where we prayed for Mujahid and he prayed for us.

It occurred to me afterwards that if I had held the meeting in the Bistro's side room, the others in the restaurant would never have gotten to hear Mujahid. Sort of the same mistake we sometimes make in church: we preach the gospel well within the church, but not out on the street where the unsaved are at.

The rest of the meeting was also very good but not worth describing in my blog. Here are a few more pictures. (For security reasons, I cannot show you any pictures of Mujahid or his family.)





Friday had been a powerful day for me already: the prayer meeting, and then the lunch with Mujahid. The day was not yet over, and the conference itself had not yet officially started!

The Prayer Meeting

Several weeks before the national conference, I was thinking back about the 2006 conference. I remembered that on Friday morning, after the Thursday night VVN banquet but before the conference officially started, there was no scheduled activity and I wound up having to "kill" some time.

What could my fellow reps and I do to use Friday morning of the 2008 conference well? Furthermore, it would need to be something that didn't require a lot of planning by the VOM staff in Bartlesville--they already had their hands full just planning the conference.

The idea hit me, hopefully from the Lord, that we could have a prayer meeting. I sent out some emails to other area coordinators and several wrote back enthusiastically about the idea. Bill Wos offered to bring his guitar and lead in some songs. But we would need to pick a location and format for the meeting quickly -- some time between when we arrived on Wednesday and the anticipated meeting time on Friday morning.

Last Thursday, while I was in the area coordinator meetings, Kathy checked with the administration of OWU to see if we could have the prayer meeting in a building right on the OWU campus. They were incredibly receptive. Initially they offered the use of a very nice performance hall. When the area coordinator meetings were finished around 3 on Thursday, several of the area coordinators and I joined Kathy to examine the meeting hall. It was beautiful -- but not what we wanted. Steep steps, fixed seating, narrow walkways all contributed to an environment more suited for a performance than a prayer meeting that we hoped would be very participatory.

We trooped down to the cafeteria. I remembered how bad the acoustics were there in 2006 when Russell Stendal tried to speak. But it was very open, level floored, plenty of room to move around, and lots of moveable chairs. Bill found a portable sound system. We checked with OWU administration and they heartily endorsed our new location.

So, a couple hours later at the VVN banquet, I announced that we would be having a prayer meeting at the OWU cafeteria "in the building by the pond" the next morning at 9:00. My announcement was the very last announcement made at the banquet so I was hoping people wouldn't forget. I stood by the doorway as people were going out, but only a couple of them told me they were going to come.

The next morning it was raining. When I arrived at the cafeteria at 8:30, only a couple people were there--area coordinators who were helping to organize the event. But people began to show up--eventually an estimated 50 to 70 of them! Even my very busy supervisor, Mrs. E, came--for which I was very appreciative.

Bill led in a few simple songs, and then invited anyone who wanted to pray to stand up and do so. He offered the use of the microphone at front for those who feared their voices might not carry. He gave a few simple reminders (like, "This is a time for just praying--don't preach, don't describe the prayer request to us first, just pray!") and then stepped away from the microphone.

For about 60 seconds, which seemed like about 5 minutes to me, there was silence, with no one up in front. I think that is one of the most moving sights to see in a meeting of believers -- no one in charge but God! There is a legitimate and very vital place for leadership in a meeting, but in this particular case I felt we were warranted in letting go of the reins. In order to become a VOM rep, people have to go through fairly extensive screening, so I was not too worried about someone "flaky" taking control of the meeting. I was, however, worried that perhaps no one would get up at all. Bill had told me beforehand, "Sometimes people are scared to be the first one up. You might have to get up yourself and be the first pray-er in order to 'prime the pump'." But for some reason, I didn't feel like I was supposed to do that. During that 60 seconds of silence, I was praying in my heart, "God, this is Yours. If this whole thing was Your idea, move someone to come up and begin the prayer time. I don't want to 'jump start' this thing with just my own human power and psychological tricks."

The silent spell was broken. A woman walked up to the microphone and read Psalm 23. I had never before noticed how appropriate Psalm 23 was as a prayer for the persecuted church. She was followed by another person... and another... and another...

There followed one of the most wonderful times of prayer I have ever enjoyed in my life. I really don't know how to describe it to you. It was glorious. It was passionate. It was joyful. It was victorious. It was utterly spontaneous.

About 10:00, we interrupted the meeting to transition to praying at various prayer stations that had been set up around the room. This gave an opportunity for more people to pray at the same time for various topics such as "The families of those persecuted", "The Chinese Olympics", "The persecutors", etc. At one part of the room, Mrs. E had set up a laptop with a recent video showing a 25 year old Christian woman being killed by her Muslim neighbors for refusing to deny Christ. I had never seen an actual murder before. It was gruesome, very sobering. But yet we could not see the end of the story: we could not see on the video her welcome into heaven, or how many of her neighbors may yet be converted due to her dying witness.

People ran out of steam on the prayer stations sooner than we had expected. We wrapped up the meeting around 10:30. Perhaps we shouldn't have interrupted the first part of the meeting so soon. But we were doing what we thought was best at the time, and God honored it in spite of our ignorance.

Many people commented afterwards on how much they enjoyed the prayer meeting. It was anything but boring. I am not sure what all the ingredients were that caused it to be such a blessing. But I think it had something to do with us all being "in one accord". As reps, we all shared a common passion for the glory of God to be advanced around the world through His suffering but victorious bride. We laid aside more personal prayer requests (bunions, backaches, finances, wayward children, etc.), which might be called "defensive prayers" and focused on prayers for the advancement of God's kingdom around the world, what we might call "offensive prayers".

It may have been just as well that the meeting wrapped up earlier than expected, because my next adventure was just around the corner, unplanned by me.

But wow, wouldn't I like to be in another prayer meeting like that one!

Great Meetings

When we rolled in to Bartlesville last Wednesday, the first thing we did was check in to the OWU dorms. They couldn't find the key for my room, so they gave me a better room. This slight alteration was to come back on me a couple days later. But in the short term, it gave me the chance to meet Dave and Jan from Iowa. Dave is the area coordinator for that state.


Dave and Jan are really a neat couple. They made a trip to southeast Asia earlier this year, and actually God timed it so they wound up in Burma (Myanmar) 4 days after the cyclone hit.

Our dorm rooms shared a common bathroom -- with no lock on the doors -- and I passed on the really handy tip that my Dad taught me years ago in a similar dorm situation. You take a piece of paper, write "Bathroom in Use" on the bottom, and stick it under the door to your neighbor's room when you are in the bathroom. Then when you're done, you pull it back and leave it on the counter in the bathroom for them to use under your door when they use the bathroom. Simple, and prevents a lot of embarrassing moments.

Dave, Jan, Kathy, and I (and a number of other area coordinators and VOM staff) congregated at a small bistro in downtown Bartlesville for an informal meal that evening.

Bartlesville has a very charming downtown that looks like something straight out of the 1950s.



Here are a few shots of people gabbing.


Next morning, we left at 7:30 for area coordinator meetings. It was really nice to get to meet others in person that I had talked with via email for so long.

In a conversation with one of the upper level VOM officers, I knew a person who fit a very unique job description he was trying to fill. This was one of the best things that happened to me that morning. I love "networking" in this way (although I must confess that usually my ideas don't work out as well as I envision). Hopefully this one will turn out to be of benefit to VOM and the people we serve. If so, it was certainly God who caused this connection to happen because it was unusual that this man mentioned this need in his conversation and it was unusual that I knew a person who may fit that need.

In order to maintain better continuity in my story, I am going to skip over the events of Thursday afternoon (I'll come back to them in my next post) and tell you about the VVN banquet. This is for all area representatives and area coordinators. Some of the upper VOM leadership such as Tom White came to this.

It was a great place to meet new people and hear inspiring stories of what God is doing.

Here are Mr. R, the man who coordinated the whole National Conference, and Mr. B who leads the VVN. Both of them worked very hard the last couple weeks.



I sat at this table. Brandon, the man on the right, turned out to be a fascinating high school history teacher who has an encyclopedic brain. The couple at left were missionaries in Africa.



This picture has an interesting story. At the 2006 VVN banquet, my friend Carl (who was with me) saw this Frank Lloyd Wright building across the street from where the banquet was held and said, "I think it's ugly." We chuckled so hard over his comment that this year I got this picture. It's too small to see, but the sign I'm holding says "Carl's Favorite Building."



A woman sitting to my left at the table (I didn't get her picture) was from Lima, Ohio. I asked her if Stanley Tam, the Christian philanthropist who gave his business to God, is still alive. She said he is indeed alive. He has turned over management of US Plastics Corp to one of his son-in-laws, but he didn't like doing nothing, so he has started a small woodworking shop. People can just come in and talk to him! To read a great message by Stanley Tam from 2004, click here.

One other interesting story: during the VVN banquet they recognize each of the area coordinators with a round of applause. As I was wait for my name to be called, my cell phone rang. It was one of my area reps whom I had been anxious to hear from. My name was called, I stood up, with the phone against my ear, still talking to the rep. Everyone clapped. The rep on the other end, oblivious to what was going on said, "Hooray for whoever that was!" I said, "Actually, they were clapping for me!" It must have made me appear very hard-working, to even take a call when I was in the limelight. Ha ha!

The Trip to Bartlesville

I'm going to break my account of last week's events into several posts because telling the whole story all at once would take more time than I have to write (or you have to read!).

I left home at 5:50 AM last Tuesday. An hour's drive brought me to Dick and Lu's home in Flagstaff. Lu has been a VOM representative for over a year and a half now. Kathy, a VOM rep in training, had arrived at their house the night before. We pulled out about 7:30 AM in the Dick and Lu's red 2007 Chevy Impala.



Dick and Lu drove us all the way to Amarillo, TX the first day. The first part of the trip was the rather sad Indian reservation areas, where the only signs of prosperity are from the casinos. May God bless the faithful few Christian workers who labor to spread the love of Jesus among the Native Americans.



I had never been in a car with XM (satellite) radio before. I have to agree it's very nice to have a radio that is advertisement-free (and even tells the name of the song being played on the console) but I'm not sure I'd be willing to pay $12 a month for it. (Must be some Scotch in me.)

On the drive, I skimmed pieces of a Christian History and Biography magazine Dick had about China. One part about John Sung really struck me. When John Sung got on fire for Jesus, his seminary authorities thought he had gone insane and had him committed to an asylum. During the 193 days he was in the asylum, he read through the Bible 40 times. Wow. It's no wonder God was able to use him so powerfully. I'd like to read more about him, I don't know much.

Although flat, I found the grasslands of north Texas quite beautiful this time of the year.

We had dinner at a Cracker Barrel in Amarillo. I have to confess, I'm not sure if I've ever eaten in a Cracker Barrel before. If I did, it was a long time ago. They've done a nice job of creating a country "atmosphere" in their store/restaurant combos. I don't know if this was something about the culture of Amarillo or the culture of Country Barrels, but I noticed that most of the patrons were dressed conservatively. Not elegantly, but there were few T-shirts and a lot of collars. I do happen to be partial to collars myself so I felt very at home in Country Barrel. :)



Oddly, it seemed to me there were also a greater than average number of signs for strip bars across that region of the country.

We had a good night at the Quality Inn, then left about 8:30 AM.

About 40 miles east of Amarillo is the little town of Groom, Texas, where the largest cross in the western hemisphere is located. It's 190 feet tall.



You can see my own pictures of the cross (and the surrounding "stations of the cross", Calvary, empty tomb, abortion memorial, and gift shop) on my photo album at http://picasaweb.google.com/CharacterComputing/TheCrossInGroomTexas

There is also a much more professional set of pictures on the official Cross web site.

I got to drive across most of Oklahoma. To a guy from the desert, Oklahoma looked gorgeous, and it only got better the further east we went. I felt like I was driving through the pages of Country magazine. God has really blessed our country with some beautiful territory. You know, we could have all been born in Chad and stared at sand and mud for most of our lives. We're also really blessed, I realized, with great roadways. Anyone who's traveled to a third world country can tell you, our road system (and the general compliance of drivers with traffic laws) are a tremendous privilege.



We pulled into Oklahoma Wesleyan University in Bartlesville, Oklahoma around 4:30 PM.





And that's where things really started getting interesting. But you'll have to wait for my next post to find out.