Each Spring, Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. sponsors a four-day event known as the Annual Bible Lectures, with keynote sermons based on a particular biblical book or theme.
This year, May 1-4, 2001, the theme was “Shaped by the Cross,” with a focus on First Corinthians. As many as 6,000 persons packed the University Fieldhouse for worship and key addresses. Hearts raised, many hands raised, and the roof practically raised as well with old-time, four-part harmony, a cappella singing of traditional hymns and contemporary praise and worship songs.
Besides the main lectures, some 200 or so classes ran throughout the day and evening on a spectrum of biblical and spiritual topics. I had the privilege this year of presenting three one-hour classes on the theme “The Fire That Consumes,” which involved a detailed biblical and historical study of the doctrine of final punishment. (For information concerning tapes of all lectures and all classes, go to www.GaylorOnline.com or call David Gaylor at 615-361-3611.)
It was a great pleasure to meet dozens of gracEmail subscribers from across the USA and from as far away as Ireland! Following this event, Sara Faye and I enjoyed a weekend visit with my brother and sister-in-law Benjamin and Susan Fudge and family of Upland, Calif.