Hello from Word of Life

Twenty-four hours ago we were in Colorado Springs. Tonight we are at beautiful Word of Life Inn in Schroon Lake, New York. We are high in the Adirondack Mountains, north of Albany and south of Lake Placid.

I first came to Word of Life in the summer of 1971 when I was a student at Tennessee Temple College in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A group of us drove up together—I remember Bob Cosby and Tom Phillips were among the group. I spent the summer as a counselor at Word of Life Island—quite simply, a life-changing experience. We had some phenomenal Bible teachers. I remember John White teaching Nehemiah and Charles Ryrie teaching Romans. I was introduced to the Word of Life philosophy of combining lively music and high-energy competition along with solid Bible teaching. And we saw tons of young people come to Christ that summer.

As we were arriving in Schroon Lake this evening, Marlene said, “We have lots of friend here.” Really, the Word of Life folks are like family to us because we’ve been here so often. Stu Page picked us up at the Albany airport, I saw Ron Stansbury and Dean Ersig, and I ran into some folks from Michigan who were here when I spoke last summer.

So we’ve made it from Colorado Springs to upstate New York. I give my first message tomorrow morning when I speak to the summer camp staff at the Jack Wyrtzen Center.