DANIA BEACH CONFERENCE

Zender & Sheridan enter the Great State. Governor
Scott does not know what he's in for.
(Click photos to enlarge.)

The conference at Dania Beach was a good time for everybody.

There is no way I would ever write this sentence with the phrase “was a good time for everybody,” except I am not in the writing mode now, and am being lazy about it. Because, you see, “was a good time for everybody” is an extreme example of not observing. It is not that I failed to observe at the conference, but that I am failing, now, to dig very deeply into my soul and mine the deeper impressions. Anyone who writes, “was a good time for everybody” instead of writing, say, “provided a platform of unity upon which believers bared their souls,” is tired. But take heart, because my energy is returning to Zender-like proportions.  

Yes, very soon, I shall once again write sparkling sentences for you, bringing to life heretofore unmined truths and sentiments. It’s what I do, and will do. But since I am in rest mode, the best I can do on this particular blog is, “was a good time for everybody.” (That statement is so poor, you see, that I spend two paragraphs apologizing for it, expending more energy than I would have fixing it.)

Don’t give up on me; I’m going to show you a thing or two in the near future.

In the meantime, here are some photos from the Dania Beach conference, which in fact provided a platform of unity upon which believers bared their souls:

Recording the "Zender/Sheridan Show" the day before the conference,
at the home of Waylan Dabbs, Coral Springs.

Sheridan schmoozes at the "Meet & Greet" on Friday night.

Dan Sheridan charms and enthralls the ladies with a
vast repertoire of Scriptural know-how.

Clyde Pilkington heralding the Word at Dania Beach.

Saturday night group meal at the hotel.
Sheree Morris departs by unorthodox means on the back of Regina Dabbs.
Clyde Lynn Pilkington III has a laugh; Ashley McKnight is mildly amused.

C3, Kate Horne, and Laura Johnston outside the hotel.
(Kate organized the Dania Beach conference; Laura came down from Alabama, and is
sponsoring the Birmingham meeting in May.)

Group shot outside hotel. Dan Baker at right. Josh McKnight, back left.

Nathan Pilkington relaxes at Waylan Dabbs' house.
This is the first time he has needed sunglasses in three years.

Laura Johnston and Sheree Morris enjoy the sun.

Terry Clemems, from Canada (he had never seen a palm tree), and
Clyde Pilkington. Aaron Locker's white legs grace the foreground.

Not sure whose leg graces the foreground in this shot. It's not mine, I know that.
I would never wear white-soled shoes like these. Please.

Clyde, Dan and Waylan talk theology on the patio.

Oops. Forgot this photo of Dan Baker (Sioux Falls, SD) and Waylan Dabbs, outside the hotel.

Regena Dabbs snaps incriminating photos of people relaxing.

Going over my notes for my last talk on Sunday.

At the end of the conference, with Laura Johnston and Kristine Baker.

Trying to out-schmooze Sheridan.

Some of the conference attendees at Tigertail Lake, site of the Dania Beach
Conference of 2013. Hope to be back next year.

Laura Johnston and Sheree Morris hang out for an extra day.
Sheree works on a vat of Margarita at Spazio, Ft. Lauderdale Beach.

I'm just a red wine guy.

Whether it's your birthday or not, Lester's Diner is a great place
for an inexpensive (read, "cheap") breakfast in Ft. Lauderdale.

I am leaving Florida tomorrow. I miss the gang in Pennsylvania. I wish we could all eventually move down here. I have found a place (Florida) where I believe I would eventually like to live. I just want to be warm until I either die or get snatched away. I like life, and there is plenty of it here. Things grow and fly and swim and crawl and sway in the breeze. It is life-affirming rather than death-affirming, and this suits my nature.

"It’s a good time for everybody," as tired people are wont to say.

© 2013 by Martin Zender

MEETING IN MORGANTON, NC

(This ain't Morganton.) Here are some of the attendees from the
Dania Beach conference. (Click photo to enlarge.)

Dear Friends, sorry for not writing in a while. This has been the first opportunity, really. Well, I fudged a little there. I’ve had a couple opportunities, I’ve just been exhausted. After the conference at Dania Beach, I lost my momentum and needed a break—from thinking, especially. (Thinking takes a lot out of a guy like me.) I didn’t realize how tired I was from traveling and teaching and all this gosh-darned cerebral activity.  I’ve been at it pretty much non-stop since the first weekend of December.  

I’m still in Florida, staying with a believer named Bob Wigden, in Sarasota. Clyde and the gang arrived back home about five days ago. I stayed on to see my son play baseball in Port Charlotte.

It has worked out pretty well, schedule-wise. Paul is leaving Ohio an hour from now, to arrive in Port Charlotte here on the west coast, tomorrow morning. His first game is Monday, and he plays at least once a day through the following Saturday, so I will be here until then, watching every game. (Paul is one of the starting varsity pitchers at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, OH. Pretty good for a sophomore.)

To tell you the truth, I am looking forward to just watching baseball and not thinking too much about the evangel. This means I won’t be doing the show for another week. (But stay tuned, because Clyde III will be posting two shows Dan Sheridan and I made in Ft. Lauderdale.)

Don’t worry, folks. I’ll be back with a vengeance, refreshed, once I return to PA. I want to spend most of the rest of the year writing, and hope to publish five more books by the end of the year, some of which have already been in the hopper for awhile. And of course I will still be doing the audio show five days a week. After I finish my commentary on Clyde's book, The Church in Ruins, I may be starting on the book of Revelation.

Thank you for your patience. God arranged for every detail of this, so I’m riding it out. I realize now how much I've needed to unwind my mind. I do miss the PA gang, but I’ll be back there soon enough, and back into the jaws of winter, and into the jaws of proclaiming the evangel.

Some photos for you

For now, here are some photos from the meeting in Morganton on February 29. I will have many more photos from the Florida meeting for you, a little later.

We loaded two vehicles for Florida—via Morganton, NC—on February 29 at 6 in the morning in the ice and snow. Naturally, 15 miles out of Windber, most of the snow was gone.

God bless you! I will post more Florida photos around the middle of the week.

MZ

WINDBER AND THE JOHNSTOWN FELLOWSHIP

Windber business district, early 1900's.
Nothing has changed.

Lots  of people descended upon our little town of Windber, PA, and then, a couple days later, they came to the Johnstown, PA airport for the meeting there.

I marvel at what God is doing in this little town here, drawing people to it. There is nothing special about this town. In fact, it is in many ways anti-special. Pennsylvania is not my favorite state. My deal is: I don’t love Pennsylvania, I love the Pilkingtons. I don’t love Windber, I love the Pilkingtons.

Windber is an old coal mining town named after a guy called, "Berwind"; somebody just switched his name around. It’s still a coal mining town. I don’t understand why anyone continues to live here, except maybe they were born here, and they’re stuck. Or perhaps they found a once-in-a-lifetime deal on three houses that used to be a funeral home complex, and thought it would be a great place to run an online book company.

As I live here, I am constantly reminded of Nazareth. Nazareth was a sad little “nothing town” in Judea where Jesus was raised. (Jesus is the One Who was born in the stable; you know, the Savior of the World.)

If it’s good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me. I say this to myself constantly, like a mantra. "If it's good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me."

There is a little burg just outside of Windber—it might be considered in Windber—called, “Mine 40.” That’s it’s actual name. Some people actually live in “Mine 40.”

“Where do you live?”

“Mine 40.”

I swear it happens. I am an eye-witness to these events.

Mine 40, circa 1905.

Mine 40 today.

I take visitors down there, just to let them experience it. No one is ever the same after visiting Mine 40. There is an overlook one can drive to, overlooking Mine 40. This is sometimes the desired alternative to descending into Mine 40.

Mine 40 was a hastily put-up coal mining community, built in 1905, that produced 800,000 tons of coal annually. (Just what it has done for us lately, I don't know.)

Someone in Mine 40 drives a white hearse; I’ve seen it in their driveway. In my opinion, this is a completely appropriate vehicle choice, under the circumstances.

                                                            *  *  *

People come to this house (these houses) because the spirit of God and the spirit of love are here. No one shuns anyone, either in here, or from here. (We are, oddly, the objects of shunning, but we ourselves shun no one. We are conciliated to all. Those who shun us have personal problems; they fight there own demons; they are miserable in their own right; they missed the Love Boat.) Besides this, there is good Biblical teaching here and the kind of fellowship people can’t find in too many other places.

Two authors live here, who have written good books about the glory of God. People like the books these authors write, and enjoy visiting the authors. The residents here drink wine and laugh; they are not religious at all. They are so incredibly hospitable, and people are drawn to that. Lots of people from different places are drawn to it.

The Saturday before the conference at the airport, we entertained 21 people here for dinner. I think we had 12 overnight guests then. People came from Connecticut, Virginia, Michigan, and Alberta, Canada.

The Best brothers, Gary and Jim, from Michigan.

Terry Clemens of Banff, Alberta, Canada.

Clyde and Doug Witherspoon, of Virginia.

Pam Spires of Virginia; Marian Hoover of Connecticut.

Clyde turned chef.

Cindy at the breakfast buffet table.

Clyde Lynn Pilkington III, Aaron Locker, Nathan Pilkington.

Cindy and Steve Hill.

At the meeting; Johnstown Airport.

My view from the podium. That's Win Allabough, second-from-right,
who played my therapist, "Dr. Winbigler,"  in Psycho Boy.

Another view from the podium. (A snowstorm is raging outside.)

Back in Windber: Clyde, a  cur, and Terry Clemens.

Marian Hoover; Pam Spires.

Dominic and Deb Capece, from the Philadelphia area.

We have now started a website enabling anyone to stay here, for free. If you need fellowship, or sound teaching, or counseling, or you just plain need a break from life and want to come to a place of palpable peace and lovely love for a day, or a weekend, or a week, come here. It’s free. Just bring yourself, as you are. Go to www.fellowshipinn.com and make a reservation. Find out when we’re all going to be here, and come here and taste for yourself what God has produced in the middle of nowhere.