Here we are in Louisville, Kentucky...right down on the riverfront at the historical Galt House. It's connected by indoor halls to the Convention Center, which is where the evangelism conference, M-11, is being held. There are probably 3,000 Nazarenes here for this event...a small crowd compared to our General Assembly, which occurs every four years. This event happens annually, when there is no GA, I think. It's great to see so many faces we have come to know over the years. Being with "Family" is a huge part of the blessing of coming together.
The snow and ice storm started about 2 p.m. yesterday in Michigan, so we boarded the dogs at 4 when the kennel opened, and we headed out of town. Drove on slushy ice until we got down into Indiana a ways. Then it was dry the rest of the way here. We stopped in Indianapolis to visit a friend in a hospital there, and then drove on down to L, K, checking in around midnight. About 2 a.m. or so we got a phone call from the camp...they were without power. The ice was so heavy it brought down branches and power lines. In fact, about 30,000 people in the Kalamazoo area were without power, we heard.
This morning I spent time calling four of our widow ladies on the camp grounds to make sure they were okay. Thank goodness the power was restored by noon...not quite a 12 hour outage. Still, when you live alone, and you have no lights or heat, it can be a cause for anxiety. People from all over the grounds were helping one another and even ended up having a pot luck at supper time, even though the power was back on. We have one building which has a generator and holds about 200, and some of the people without power had gathered there today. So glad we have a community that watches out for one another, especially when we are gone!!
We have a camp booth set up in the exhibit hall here at our convention. Looks very nice. We spent the afternoon visiting other booths and talking with friends from around the country. We were taken out to dinner this evening by Compassionate Ministries, which was a treat for us!! The first plenary session was at 7 p.m. tonight, with Bishop Timothy Clarke from Church of God Anderson. He was powerful!! He spoke on the valley of dry bones and how God ordered Ezekiel to preach to them, and how they were filled with the very breath of God. We need a fresh anointing of God, we need to be filled once again by His Holy Spirit, and then we need to stir up others. What a motivating speaker he was...and what an uplifting time of praise and inspiration we had tonight. Wow...wish I could hear that kind of preaching more often!! It just makes me want to shout and get excited about what God is doing and can do if we step forth for Him.
Had some ice cream with friends before coming back to our room for the evening. Tomorrow we will be in workshops and at the camp booth, plus two plenary sessions with guests speakers. I am enjoying this time of renewal and revival!!
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