Sunday, February 27, 2005

9:29 PM One nice Calvary connection. After the service tonight, Bill Price came up to say hello. He and his wife live in Columbus, Ohio, and attend the Grace Brethren Church where Andrew Irvin grew up. There were at ten people at the service tonight from that church, and they all knew Andrew. One man said his son and Andrew graduated together from high school. They all asked to be remembered to Andrew and they all send their love. I told them that Andrew is doing fine at Calvary and we appreciate his ministry very much. 9:22 PM I’m writing this note from our room at Word of Life Florida a conference center located about an hour north of Tampa. Marlene and I arrived about 4 PM, and I spoke tonight to a large and receptive audience at the Harry Bollback Center for the Performing Arts. This is my 13th or 14th time to speak here and many longtime friends came up to say hello. Some live in the RV park, others come to the conference center for several weeks at a time. Lots of “snow birds” from up north spend the winter at Word of Life Florida. They have about ten weeks of conference ministry from January through mid-March. Last week Erwin Lutzer spoke here. This week I’m sharing the speaking duties with Dr. Woodrow Kroll of Back to the Bible. I’m speaking six times this week. I decided to do my series on Samson that I first preached at Calvary in 1990. The series had quite an impact and for years afterward, people talked about it. As far as I can remember, I don’t think I’ve preached it again since then. I’m reworking the material, thinking it through again, adding insights, updating illustrations, and so on. It’s a gripping story, and I think we got off to a good start tonight.