Monday, July 14, 2003

3:48 PM Had two very good services this AM. The crowd at the Inn listened very intently as I spoke. The Campground (as the name implies) is a much more informal setting—outdoor, open-air tabernacle, lots of families, sort of a cross between a county fair and a tent revival. During the school year Wayne Lewis is the Associate Academic Dean for Word of Life Bible Institute; during the summer he runs the Campground with amazing enthusiasm. In both places, I got the feeling that there will be some serious work done by the Holy Spirit as the week goes forward. After the 11:15 service, we stayed and ate lunch at the Campground, meeting quite a few old friends along the way, including a number of folks in the Northeast who read the sermons via e-mail every week. This is the only time during the year I get to meet most of them. Saw Phil and Blossom Woodrow and Mike and Barb King of Buffalo along with Carl Putzer and a few others. Mike Bush of the Inn asked if Marlene and I would speak to the Inn staff supervisors on Wednesday AM, so that makes 19 speaking times this week. But why not? We’re only here once a year. The weather in Schroon Lake is gorgeous—clear, mountain air, a little breeze, lots of boats and skiers on the lake, low 80s. Marlene has been reading several novels and I’m reading my anthology, Reporting World War II. In a little while, we eat supper with Harry and Millie Bollback and then I speak at the Campground at 7 PM.

8:55 AM Last night I spoke at Mountainside Bible Chapel for their Sunday evening service. Before my message, they took the Lord’s Supper together. It was a wonderful experience for me to be in the pews and not officiating behind the table. I realized that it has been many years since I’ve been part of a Lord’s Supper service where I was not one of the officiating ministers. No matter how much you try not to, when you sit behind the table, you tend to focus on the details of the Lord’s Supper—when you sit, when you stand, what to say, and so on. I found it very refreshing to sit in the pews and take part as a member of the congregation and not as a leader.

After the service, Marlene and I found a little Mom-and-Pop pizza joint and ordered “Garbage Bread"—pizza ingredients surrounded by pizza dough and baked in an oven. Very tasty.

This AM I got up early and took another long walk through Schroon Lake. Then I drove down to Word of Life headquarters in Pottersville to do devotions for the staff. Word of Life sets up the schedule so that both Bible teachers speak twice every morning. Stan Toussaint speaks at 9:30 AM at the Campground (about 9 miles south of here) and I speak at the Inn at the same time. Then he drives to the Inn and I drive to the Campground and we repeat our messages at 11:15 AM. We’re free all afternoon. Tonight I speak again at the Campground at 7 PM. I’m doing my “Total Forgiveness” series this week. Those messages drew a big response when I preached them at Calvary. I’m curious to see how it goes when I preach them back to back this week.

Spent time with Harry and Millie Bollback, Joe and Melva Jordan, saw Rick Warken (who helped us deliver “Anchor for the Soul” to Ground Zero in 2001), and saw Stu Page and Tom Davis from the Bible Institute. After 12 or 13 years speaking at Word of Life Florida and 4 years here in Schroon Lake, we’ve made a lot of friends and it’s good to renew those friendships this week.

:54 AM Here’s the Legacy Campaign prayer request for today: “Pray for prompt completion of the project without delays.”