Hello all:

I’m a little behind because I haven’t had easy access to a computer. I’ll try and catch up in the next day or so.

We have been commuting from Calabasis every day to the campus, because we registered two late and all of the rooms were already taken…and since I have both my four year old son and my wife in tow, things haven’t always been smooth or gone according to plan, but they have been fun.

We tried to make it to Richard Cherok’s lecture on Alexander Campbell, but missed it due to traffic. I ended up making it to Robert Hooper’s lecture of David Lipscomb, however. I had the chance to chat with Dr. Hooper for a few minutes before the lecture as we were both waiting outside the classroom while the previous lecture was wrapping up. Dr. Hooper’s lecture was very enjoyable, he talked about Lipscomb and how he is a man for our time today, which I very much agree with. Dr. Hooper announced near the end that his book Crying in the Wilderness: A biography of David Lipscomb, was going to be reissued next year, with a new introduction and some new chapters with current research. I’m excited about that and looking forward to getting a copy when it comes out.

After the lecture, I ended up having to spend a couple of hours working on Art History homework, so we missed the main lecture and several of the afternoon lectures. We made it back in time to hear Randy Harris give what he called an “unSermon” on “The Care and Feeding of Enemies.” The sermon was powerful…he started by reciting the Sermon on the Mount from memory, and then talked about why he couldn’t actually preach the text. Harris’ thesis was that man in incapable of loving his enemy, and that this can only be done with the love God through the Christian in the Holy Spirit. Harris rightfully asserted that without a deeper, biblical theology of the Spirit, we cannot truly understand or live the Sermon on the Mount. I wish my description of the sermon could give justice to what I heard.

After the keynote, I went to Bobby Valentine’s second installment on the Struggle for the Soul of Churches of Christ. Again, the lecture was excellent, and I learned alot more about our more recent history. On a side note, it seemed that throughout the week, I ran into Bobby Valentine every place I went, it appeared impossible not to, which was okay. I promise I wasn’t following you around, Bobby!

-Clarke