Monday, August 4, 2003

4:50 PM Turned out to be a fine day. The area around Gull Lake is mostly rural, with lots of back roads so I took off this afternoon and rode my bike for about 19 miles. When I came back, I walked down to the beach area and chatted with some of the folks. I have been struck this week by the friendliness of the people who come to this conference. Tonight I’m preaching the second message in the forgiveness series.

9:21 AM Rick Warren interviewed with Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, last year. Here’s a snippet:

Warren: There are a lot of pastors reading this who are facing the discouragement of criticism. Obviously you’ve had to deal with criticism all your life. How do you respond? How do you handle criticism?

Bright: Dead people don’t have any feelings. We’re supposed to be crucified. As a matter of fact, whenever I get hate-filled letters, I write them and tell them I love them. I’m not stressed over that. I always listen to criticism because I want to learn if there’s something I need to know. But I’m never troubled with those things because there’s only one person in this world I have to please and that’s Jesus — the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If I please Him, He’ll take care of the rest.

9:16 AM Dense fog hovers over Gull Lake this AM, so thick that until a few minutes ago, I couldn’t see the lake even I’m only 50 feet from the shoreline. Last night Janette Warren gave me a copy of the history of Gull Lake Bible Conference, written for the 75th anniversary in 1993. The list of speakers and musicians reads like a Who’s Who of evangelicalism: William Pettingill, Harry Ironside, M.R. DeHaan, Vance Havner, Lewis Sperry Chafer, Herbert Lockyer, Warren Wiersbe, Don Hubbard, L.E. Maxwell, Merrill Tenney, Cliff Barrows, Merrill Dunlop, Al Smith, Haddon Robinson, Tony Campolo, Diane Susek, Dick Anthony, David Brackley, Theodore Epp, David Jeremiah, Ron Blue, John Stott, Erwin Lutzer, Josh McDowell, Ravi Zacharias, John MacArthur, Joe Stowell, to name but a few. Next year John MacArthur and Josh McDowell return, along with Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis.

Here’s the Legacy Campaign prayer request for today: “Pray that we will be like trees planted by the water, bearing fruit in season (Psalm 1:3).”