Pepperdine

At the beginning of May, our entire team (minus Jordan) was privileged to present at the annual Pepperdine Bible Lectures. We taught a class entitled "New Strategies for New Fields in Africa: The Case of Angola." (The class is available for purchase on CD for those who are interested. Click here to order.) We had a pretty good turnout and were well received. We also hosted an informational breakfast one morning.

I cannot say enough good things about the Pepperdine Bible Lectures. I really hope that we are able to attend them again one day. They had an awsome children's program (which was also amazingly affordable), so Alex was occupied and entertained. And this meant that I was able to attend some classes and keynote sessions and participate in the worship times -- wonderful! Of course, for Rusty and I, it was also a time of reconnecting with many of our friends from the Northwest, as well as people with ties to Africa and Japan. And it's hard to beat the locale -- sunny Malibu, California. The Pepperdine campus overlooks the beautiful Pacific Ocean, and the views as we walked or rode the shuttle bus were just stunning. Lots of stairs, though! If you go there with children, don't take a stroller. I was glad we didn't bring ours. Alex either walked or rode in the Kelty backpack, and Stephen was happy in the sling.

Here's a picture of our team at Pepperdine, along with Charles Kambungo and Andre Banda, Angolan friends and future partners in ministry, who were able to travel to the U.S. to attend the Lectures and also a Church Planting Movements conference in Dallas. It was a real blessing to have them here.