Thursday, October 31, 2013

Worship of God Conference

October 31-November 2, 2013 – I’m finally posting some photos from the NCFIC Worship of God Conference in North Carolina!  The conference actually started with a “Burnings in the Soul” luncheon for the men.  The speakers prayed for the conference and shared some things that were burning in their souls.  I don’t have a photo from this, but there’s a great photo of Benjamin on the NCFIC blog: https://ncfic.org/blog/posts/burnings-of-the-soul-luncheon
(We’ve NEVER been able to get a photo of him smiling like that!)

The event was held at the Ridgecrest Conference Center – which is owned and operated by Lifeway Baptist.

View from the balcony of the main auditorium (used for keynote sessions.)


Dr. Joel Beeke during his message, recommending some books.

Break Out Sessions
Mr. Ford gave a couple of talks at the conference on the history of the public worship of God.

I filmed from the back and got a few photos.

There were several tables near the front that were just loaded with historical documents and artifacts.
Q&A

Discussion after the talks

We ate some Mexican cuisine during one of the breaks with friends


After dinner arm wrestle:



[Ben may kill me up for uploading this Smile]


It was definitely an enormous blessing to have such a large amount of our church family at the conference – and staying in rooms near one another.  We were able to have fellowship with each other almost the entire day, and we got to know one another a little bit better.
It was also good to have the support of our church family after hearing some very disturbing news during the conference.

Ridgecrest is a good-sized campus, and there’s always someway to have some fun and enjoy the outdoors.  There are several hiking trails from which you can see views like the one above.
Going on a late-night hike before going to bed
That’s an owl

There’s always something new to explore!

There are SO many stories that could be told…
I guess that’s bound to happen when you have friends in low places!


Trying to straddle and waddle
This is the second time that we’ve stayed at Ridgecrest, but it wasn’t until this year that I learned about their gymnasium and the nightly volleyball and basketball games that go on.
There are also volleyball pits, miniature golf, soccer fields, tennis courts, and frisbee golf.

I got the COOLEST bruise from landing on the plastic-tiled floor in the gym during a volleyball game.
There were so many great opportunities for fellowship!
After the closing session of the day, the entire campus was open for use.  As you walked around you’d see people playing and singing hymns together on their instruments or the grand paino, families sharing a late-night pizza, discussions on the conference, etc.  There were campfire get-togethers, card games, a bluegrass concert, volleyball games, and I even heard that there was some dancing…but don’t ask me how I’d know. Winking smile
I have NO idea how many people we squeezed into our little room.  At one point, it was close to 30.
No, they’re not praying and they’re not cold.  I think that they were practicing bird calls.

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This was the last night, and everybody brought their last bits of food and snacks that needed to be finished off before we drove home.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Hiking in NC (3/3)

October 30, 2013 – (Continued from Part 2) Today we’re exploring some waterfalls of North Carolina.IMG_9098
Hiking to the next waterfall
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View of the river from the bridge
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The game’s up Micah!  I found evidence carved into the bridge!
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I love these two shots
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The trail lead to this viewing area.
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We took a quick rest and got some photos of the waterfalls.
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From the front, you can see these two falls.
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The water then gushes around your right side…
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…until it rushes through the between the rocks behind you.
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Our next stop on the trail was this lookout point.
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This is the view from the lookout…the photos above were taken where that lady in red is standing.
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On the trail, heading to the lookout.
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Hanging out and enjoying the view
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Heading to the final lookout
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What an amazing view!