Papa Dan's Pastoral Days

PRAIRIE BIBLE INSTITUTE  J-K Dormitory If you have never been homesick, you won't understand, but if you have, then you know what it feels like.  In those first couple of days at Prairie Bible Institute, I was homesick, the only time in my life.  I had never been very far away from home before.  Forest Cliff Camp about 15 miles east of Sarnia, which was about 65 miles from Chatham, was the farthest that I had been away.  Now here I was, over 2,000 miles from home and I was going to be there for seven months.  Well, fortunately the homesickness didn't last long.  Once I began to meet fellow students and classes began, I was very much at home. Strange that I felt homesick seeing that I arrived on a Monday and never wrote to my folks until I received a note from the school office on the Friday stating that my folks had sent a telegram to the school to see if I had arrived.  That was long before cell phones and personal comp...

GO WEST YOUNG MAN, GO WEST The day after Billy Graham's opening day in his Los Angeles Crusade, I had my first day of classes at the Prairie Bible Institute, Three Hills, Alberta.  It was Monday, September 26th, 1949 that I found myself in a Bible Class, Bible One, a class of 300 Freshmen. Prairie Bible Institute Campus - 1949 First, let me back up two or three years.  One night at our young peoples meeting at The Salvation Army , we had Rev. & Mrs. Harold Depew.  Mrs. Depew was a sister to Dr. Oswald J. Smith, the speaker at Blue Water Bible Conference, under whose ministry I dedicated my life to go wherever the Lord should lead me. Mr.  & Mrs. Depew were missionaries with the West Indies Mission.  As they shared at that young peoples meeting that night I began to think that maybe that might be a place where I could serve God, as a missionary, and fulfill my commitment that I made to God at Blue Water.   Thereafter, ...

CHATHAM YOUTH FOR CHRIST 1946-1949 Leighton Ford, Dan, Billy Graham It did not take Leighton long, after being elected president of our Chatham Youth For Christ, to get into high gear.  The first Youth For Christ meeting in Chatham was held in October, a few days before Leighton's 15th birthday.  I remember an  early meeting was held in Kemsley Auditorium, above Kemsley's Flower Shop on King Street West.  I recently heard from Wayne Johnson, a friend of those years, who shared with me that the first Chatham YFC rally that he attended was in that auditorium and it was there that he prayed to receive Christ as his Saviour. To the best of my knowledge all the rest of the monthly meetings were held in the Chatham Vocational School Auditorium.  The rent for the monthly evening meetings at CVS was $15.00 per evening.  If the offerings did not meet the expenses re speaker, musicians, advertising and auditorium rental, Leighton's Dad was gracious eno...