Saturday, November 08, 2008

Reading and Writing

Actually, Writing and Reading would have been a better title...but it just doesn't sound right. Speaking of not sounding right, I had the opportunity to listen to a man that pays very close attention to the way things sound.

Barclay Newman and his wife Jean were the keynote speakers at this month's meeting of the Ozarks Chapter of American Christian Writers. Rev. Newman has written Bible Commentaries, Bible dictionaries, books and children's books. He was also lead on the team of translators for the Contemporary English Version of the Bible. A big part of this translation includes translating the original text into the thought patterns and speech patterns of today. Since the Bible is a book best read aloud, how the translation sounds when read was also of important consideration.

Mrs. Newman is the illustrator for the children's books as well as the manager/secretary/agent for the business. Both were very interesting speakers and it was quite a privilege to meet them.

I think that much of the club was more interested in Mrs. Newman's information that dealt with the publishing of their books (this is a writer's club) than with Rev. Newman's Bible work. For me, I could have listened to the stories and subtleties that went into the Bible translations for the entire time. Kudos to the team that secured this month's speakers.

This evening, at Hopedale Baptist Church, I heard author, lecturer, pastor, past President of Southwestern Theological Seminary and the go-to guy on Sunday School growth, Ken Hempill, D. Min., PhD.

Wow! What a day for listening to a couple of great Christian authors. In the morning I plan on purchasing several of Dr. Hemphill's books (signed of course) since he will be at our church for the day.
I can't wait to hear what he has for us tomorrow!

John

3 comments:

Sicilian said...

Sounds like food for the soul. . . . have not had any of that good stuff in a long time.
Ciao

Mike said...

So, your writing a book.

Unknown said...

John,

I know both of all three of those people quite well. Actually, the Newmans are some of my heroes! I can remember when they were translating the CEV. Cool people indeed!

Dr. Hemphill was my president at Southwestern Seminary in Ft. Worth. I have a great memory of him in the Recreation Center, but that is DEFINITELY not something that needs to be talked about on your blog!! Ha! Actually took several years to get those out of my head and now you brought them back--thanks man!

Seriously, he wrote a book called "The Bonsai Theory of Church Growth" that was instrumental in my calling to plant a church. He is a really good man, for sure.