USA – October 2005

Michael Penny

Sylvia and I had the great pleasure of visiting the USA in October, during which I spoke at a number of conferences and meetings, The first one was held at the Bible Fellowship Church in South Holland, Illinois during the first weekend in October. The theme for their annual conference was, as usual, Ephesians 3:8-11, “The untraceable riches of Christ”.

The speakers came from far and wide. There were Chris Butcher, from Harrisburg Pennsylvania; Rex Grant, from Logansport Indiana; Bert Hallman from Pewaukee, Wisconsin; and Jay McKinley from Kokoma, Indiana. Each of them spoke for one session. I gave three studies and my theme was prayer. My first session was dedicated to the Lord’s Prayer of Matthew 6; the second session looked at the prayers of the Acts Period and earlier letters; the last one concentrated on the prayers of the later letters. Rex Grant also moderated an excellent open discussion occupying the whole of Saturday morning in which various questions were posed and possible answers discussed.

From there it was a journey northwards, through Chicago and into Wisconsin where we stayed for ten days. During the first week studies were taken in Brookfield, on “Who is Jesus?”, and in Oakfield, on Philippians. Then came the Open Bible Fellowship’s Annual Conference held just outside of Milwaukee. Jerry Katon, from Naples in Florida, gave three studies on “The Stewardships of God” and I took five studies on “The Meaning of Miracles” which discussed healing, judgement, tongues, wisdom and knowledge  - see The Miracles of the Apostles which covers some of the ground I considered. The conference ended with an open session with questions being fired at Jerry and myself.

Then it was a plane journey south to Oklahoma, to Northside Bible Church where I gave four talks explaining how to “Approach the Bible” and illustrated these talks with the example of circumcision, the Sabbath, healing and prayer – see the first section of Galatians, for more information on circumcision, and also Saturday, Sunday and the Sabbath and also The Place of Prayer in an Age of Grace.

We then flew back home via Florida, stopping for a short vacation near Disney World. We would very much like to thank those who arranged and sponsored this trip, and those who provided transport and hospitality. Although we very much enjoyed the week in Disney World, the time spent with those of like precious faith was far more enjoyable, rewarding and memorable. We sincerely hope and pray we may return in the not too distant future.