Presentations at Pepperdine

I think it was probably 1987 when I was invited to give my first presentation at the Pepperdine Lectures in Malibu, California.  I’m pretty sure it was then because my father was still alive, and he was telling people that I was preaching in Dodger Stadium.  I did go to Dodger Stadium, but I went there to watch the Dodgers and the Cubs, not to preach.  My “preaching” was done in a university classroom, and there were probably about fifty people there.  From that point until 2001, I think I presented studies at Pepperdine four or five times.   My last visit to Pepperdine occurred in 2001, when Ann and I presented a class on “Mending and Messed Up Marriage.”

Prior to 1987 I had never been to Southern California before, and I was probably not prepared for the California culture.  Amazingly enough I ran into some people I hadn’t seen for many years.  One person I saw was a man named Vurel Vick.  Vurel led singing the night I was baptized in Clyde in 1948.  He didn’t remember me, but I certainly remembered him.  On one occasion a middle aged woman with gray hair came up to me after my presentation, and said, “I’m from Clyde and you’ve got to tell me who I am.”  Of course I drew a total blank.   She said, “My maiden name was Pat Sweikard.”   Pat was probably a seventh grader when I left home.   

The real surprise in California occurred when I was asked to speak for the El Rancho church in the Sacramento area.  During the course of my sermon I mentioned my Uncle Murl.  A lady came up to me and said, “If your uncle was named, Murl, then your father was Burl, and your mother’s name was Ruby.”    She had me pegged on all counts.   Then she explained that she had lived in Clyde when she was a teenager.  I actually remembered her family.  Their name was Honea.  Her family moved away from Clyde during her teen years, and that was in the early forties.  I could have been no more than eight years old.  

Pepperdine was a unique experience.   I had the opportunity to be in the home of the late Norvel Young, once president of the University, and I also attended a reception (several of them in fact) at the home of David Davenport, who was president of the university at the time.  I was really surprised to learn that he was a college president.  I had known him in Kansas City. He served as a youth minister in one of the area churches.  I never would have guessed that he would become a university president some day.  David is currently a research fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford.

Pepperdine didn’t pay the expenses of their presenters, but they did arrange speaking engagements for them at local churches, and the usually paid enough to take the sting out of the air fare.   It was a great blessing to spend time with some of these churches.  There was one such experience that I’ll never forget, and I’ll write about that next.