General Assembly Memories
It's Monday morning and I'm "blogging" from Nashville, TN, where we stopped to spend the night on our way home from the 26th General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene. Wow! I wish you all could have been there, especially my brother Randy. He's going to the next one if I have to drag him kicking and screaming!
We arrived Friday afternoon and got Rachel registered for the World Quiz that would occur the next day. They gave her a special T-Shirt and badge along with arm bands for us to enter the hall.
From registration we went to the exhibit hall which was an event in itself. I kept running into people from days gone by and finally just pulled out my camera and started taking their photos. When I get home I'll put them all in my photo album so that you can go look at who I saw! I ran into many people from Louisiana who I hadn't seen in 20 years and that was so much fun!!!
The evening service was great. Dr. Jim Diehl was the speaker and there were around 20,000 people in attendance. I don't know if any of you have ever been to the RCA dome but it is huge.
After the service we drove out to Donna and Rick Ipock's house in Greenfield, Indiana. It was only a 30 minute drive from Indianapolis and we had no problem finding it. They have a beautiful new home and their children, Nyla and Neil, were so gracious in giving up their beds for us! We were treated like royality and we sure enjoyed out stay with them.
Saturday morning we got up and took Nyla with us back to the General Assembly. Neil had a ballgame so Rick and Donna went with him. We were to be there at 12:30 for the Blue Level Quizzing and it was amazing how many people came. There were over 1,300 Blue Level Quizzers and a total of 2,202 quizzers in all. That takes the record for the Largest Bible Quiz Ever. I was a little nervous because we had not had much time to study since Finals and Regional Quiz in April. I tried to study with Rachel on the way to Indianaopolis but she just wasn't interested and I finally gave up in frustration. I like for her to do her best but I don't get upset when she misses questions. The problem is that SHE GETS UPSET when she misses them. During round one, Eddie and I sat up in the grand stands and couldn't see how she did. At break time he went to check on her and she'd just missed one questions! Someone invited me down closer to the quizzers so that I could take pictures and then I could look back and see her. After each question I'd look back and she kept pulling the correct answer and was so excited. She didn' t miss any the second round and I've never seen her more excited. After the quiz we had to wait until they handed out 1,300 trophies and that took some time.
By the end of the quiz Rick, Donna, and Neil had arrived and found us. We found our way through the convention center, through tunnels and ended up in a Mall! I didn't even know it was there. They had Chick-Fil-A and it was reasonably priced. Everything at the convention center was very expensive. A small bottle of coke was selling for $2.5o in the machine.
From there we went back to the RCA Dome and stayed for the evening service. Dr. Cunningham was the speaker Saturday night and there were even more people there than the previous night.
After the service we drove back to Donna and Rick's and enjoyed a bowl of ice cream before hitting the bed. (Mine was lowcarb!)
Sunday morning we all got into Donna and Rick's Explorer and left for the RCA dome around 8:30 a.m. The service did not start until 10:00 but you have to get their early to get a seat or you'd have to sit in the nose-bleed section. The communtion service was very moving and there were between 30 and 40 thousand in attendance.
We all went out to eat together following the morning service and then went back to the Ipocks where we packed all of our things and headed back home.
We stopped in Nashville last night and will drive through the campus of Trevecca Nazarene University this morning. Anna plans on attending there one day and we'd like to see it. If we feel like it and have time, we'll stop in Huntsville, Alabama and tour the NASA Space Museum. The girls and I have never been there.
We wanted to stay for the service last night but it would have put us way behind. I heard that at the conclusion of the Sunday evening service the pastor and others involved in the "First Church of the Nazarene, Bagdad" were introduced along with the announcement that Iraq is our official 150th country of the church of the Nazarene. The standing ovation lasted about 5 minutes. That would have been a wonderful moment. I'm going to order the DVD of it so we can see it. God is Working around the world and people are being won to the Lord. What a difference He makes in the lives of men who trust in Him!! Praise His Name.
Well, keep us in your prayers as we head back home. I'll get the photos up as soon as I can.
Love, Beth
We arrived Friday afternoon and got Rachel registered for the World Quiz that would occur the next day. They gave her a special T-Shirt and badge along with arm bands for us to enter the hall.
From registration we went to the exhibit hall which was an event in itself. I kept running into people from days gone by and finally just pulled out my camera and started taking their photos. When I get home I'll put them all in my photo album so that you can go look at who I saw! I ran into many people from Louisiana who I hadn't seen in 20 years and that was so much fun!!!
The evening service was great. Dr. Jim Diehl was the speaker and there were around 20,000 people in attendance. I don't know if any of you have ever been to the RCA dome but it is huge.
After the service we drove out to Donna and Rick Ipock's house in Greenfield, Indiana. It was only a 30 minute drive from Indianapolis and we had no problem finding it. They have a beautiful new home and their children, Nyla and Neil, were so gracious in giving up their beds for us! We were treated like royality and we sure enjoyed out stay with them.
Saturday morning we got up and took Nyla with us back to the General Assembly. Neil had a ballgame so Rick and Donna went with him. We were to be there at 12:30 for the Blue Level Quizzing and it was amazing how many people came. There were over 1,300 Blue Level Quizzers and a total of 2,202 quizzers in all. That takes the record for the Largest Bible Quiz Ever. I was a little nervous because we had not had much time to study since Finals and Regional Quiz in April. I tried to study with Rachel on the way to Indianaopolis but she just wasn't interested and I finally gave up in frustration. I like for her to do her best but I don't get upset when she misses questions. The problem is that SHE GETS UPSET when she misses them. During round one, Eddie and I sat up in the grand stands and couldn't see how she did. At break time he went to check on her and she'd just missed one questions! Someone invited me down closer to the quizzers so that I could take pictures and then I could look back and see her. After each question I'd look back and she kept pulling the correct answer and was so excited. She didn' t miss any the second round and I've never seen her more excited. After the quiz we had to wait until they handed out 1,300 trophies and that took some time.
By the end of the quiz Rick, Donna, and Neil had arrived and found us. We found our way through the convention center, through tunnels and ended up in a Mall! I didn't even know it was there. They had Chick-Fil-A and it was reasonably priced. Everything at the convention center was very expensive. A small bottle of coke was selling for $2.5o in the machine.
From there we went back to the RCA Dome and stayed for the evening service. Dr. Cunningham was the speaker Saturday night and there were even more people there than the previous night.
After the service we drove back to Donna and Rick's and enjoyed a bowl of ice cream before hitting the bed. (Mine was lowcarb!)
Sunday morning we all got into Donna and Rick's Explorer and left for the RCA dome around 8:30 a.m. The service did not start until 10:00 but you have to get their early to get a seat or you'd have to sit in the nose-bleed section. The communtion service was very moving and there were between 30 and 40 thousand in attendance.
We all went out to eat together following the morning service and then went back to the Ipocks where we packed all of our things and headed back home.
We stopped in Nashville last night and will drive through the campus of Trevecca Nazarene University this morning. Anna plans on attending there one day and we'd like to see it. If we feel like it and have time, we'll stop in Huntsville, Alabama and tour the NASA Space Museum. The girls and I have never been there.
We wanted to stay for the service last night but it would have put us way behind. I heard that at the conclusion of the Sunday evening service the pastor and others involved in the "First Church of the Nazarene, Bagdad" were introduced along with the announcement that Iraq is our official 150th country of the church of the Nazarene. The standing ovation lasted about 5 minutes. That would have been a wonderful moment. I'm going to order the DVD of it so we can see it. God is Working around the world and people are being won to the Lord. What a difference He makes in the lives of men who trust in Him!! Praise His Name.
Well, keep us in your prayers as we head back home. I'll get the photos up as soon as I can.
Love, Beth
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