Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Chloe and Dad go to Pepperdine

On Sunday, April 29th, I went to worship with my home congregation, the San Jacinto Church of Christ in Amarillo, TX. Nothing unusual about that. The unusual part began sometime after lunch.

That afternoon, I said my good-byes to Michele and Aubrey and drove to Albuquerque, NM, where my daughter Chloe would be flying in from Hartford later that afternoon. I hadn't seen Chloe since my last trip to Connecticut in January. So I was excited about our reunion. I was also excited about our plans: We were headed for the Bible Lectures at Pepperdine University, a first for both of us.

There aren't many signs of civilization between Amarillo and Albuquerque. As it turned out, I didn't stop once. That worked out pretty well since Chloe landed about 15 minutes after I got to the airport! By the time she got off the plane and we picked up her bag, it had already been a fairly long day for the both of us. But I wanted to get as far west as Grants, NM by that night. It was time for dinner, so we decided to get something to eat near the airport. I asked a stranger where we should go to eat. "Go over to Central and have supper at Scalo," she said. She told us that it wasn't far from the airport and that the food was great. She was right. Here's the stuffed pork chop Chloe had.


By about 10 that night, we'd made it to Grants, where we spent the night. Sometime Monday morning, we made it to the Arizona border.


By the early afternoon, we'd made it to Flagstaff, AZ. And we were hungry. But we didn't want to eat at a fast-food place. We were looking for something a bit more adventuresome. So we drove around for a minute until we happened upon this place. It was really good . . . .


And we took pictures of each other. . . .



By the time we finished our leisurely lunch, we knew it had to make good time. We had to make it to the coast that night. So from Flagstaff on, it was serious car time. We stopped only a few more times and made it to Thousand Oaks, CA in good time. We got to sleep in the next morning, and since the Pepperdine events wouldn't start until later that day, we decided to go take a look at Beverly Hills. Here's the nice little "ristorante" where we had lunch on Beverly Drive.


Later that afternoon, we drove up the Pacific Coast Highway to the Pepperdine campus in Malibu. The California weather wasn't cooperating just yet. It was overcast and kind of gray. But it was beautiful anyway.


Once we got moved in to the dorm, we walked down the hill to Firestone Fieldhouse. There, we got to sing with hundreds of other Christians and hear a really fine sermon by Jonathan Storment. I was especially interested in one of the late-night sessions, the series by John Mark Hicks and Bobby Valentine. Their focus for the week was the great K. C. Moser in the context of his times. The first night was so good, I wound up going to all three sessions. Here they are on the first night.


After breakfast the next morning, I was ready to meet and to hear Tom Olbricht speak about the history of Bible lectureships. I really enjoyed taking in his two presentations on Wednesday and Thursday. . . .


Later, Chloe and I met up and went to the Harding School of Theology luncheon. It was great to see Dean Evertt Huffard for the first time in several years. I also got to meet fellow blogger Matthew Morine (purple shirt in the photo) and several others. We listened to Dr. Ed Gray who reminded us of the role and kingdom purposes of Christian counselors. His presentation featured an announcement regarding a new program of counseling studies at HST.


By Thursday, the clouds had mostly gone away, and the Pacific coast was drenched in sunlight. . . . .

Later that afternoon, we went further up the hill to where the graduate schools are. We found a nice patio where we just sat and read and took this picture . . . .


Friday morning, I got to hear Terry Gardner's really fine presentation on the life and times of Austin McGary. The Restoration Quarterly luncheon featured a talk by Doug Foster. He focused on four historic leaders among the African-American Churches of Christ.

That afternoon, we headed east. We spent the night at Needles, CA, and by Sunday morning, I was taking Chloe to the Albuquerque airport. It had been a great week for the two of us, one that we won't forget for a long time.

8 comments:

Stoned-Campbell Disciple said...

Awesome adventure with your daughter. One for the books. Loved the pix and the narrative. Our paths overlapped on part of the trip and I am blessed because it did. Thank you for the kind words about our Moser session.

Frank Bellizzi said...

Thanks, Bobby. I was really glad to get to see you again and to meet your lovely wife. I really enjoyed the "course" on Moser and his times, and I learned a lot. One thing that I especially liked: it was clear that you and John Mark were so up on what you were talking about, your delivery was very natural, easy to listen to. Again, well done!

Wade Tannehill said...

What a great father-daughter experience. I'm so glad you got to do this. Hope I make it to Pepperdine one of these days. All the talks relating to Restoration history sound right up my alley.

Frank Bellizzi said...

Hi, Wade. Great to hear from you as always. I do think that, thanks to Jerry Rushford, Pepperdine is the very best lectureship for people interested in Churches of Christ history.

Jenny said...

Glad you enjoyed your trip out here. Fyi, I also attended Terry Gardner's presentation on Austin McGary. (Maybe you were sitting behind me). And I wish I'd attended Doug Foster's lunch. Btw, overcast and gray is pretty typical for a beach city, especially in April.

Frank Bellizzi said...

Hi, Jenny. Sorry we didn't meet while I was in California. Yes, someone from there told me that the first two days were what they called the "May gray." We had a great time all week, but were so glad to see the beautiful sunshine on Thursday and Friday.

Susan K D said...

How wonderful for you and your daughter to spend a week together attending the Pepperdine Lecturship. You both will never forget your time together. John Mark Hicks spoke at the Kent Men's Retreat this year. How I wished I could have heard him speak. I'm not sure if who attended from So.Rd. Have a great summer. If you come to CT let me know.

Frank Bellizzi said...

Hi Susan. Great to hear from you, as always. Chloe and I made some great memories.

John Mark is one of my former teachers and I had the chance to visit with him. I told him what a special gathering it is at Kent and he was excited about it.

I don't plan on coming to CT this summer. First time in many years. Chloe is working on Martha's Vineyard and Ben is working full-time too. Abigail will come down to Amarillo. Next trip up there will be somewhere around the end of year.

All the best to you and yours. . . .