Camp Meeting Memories
It happened at the end of a service at the Oregon Conference annual Gladstone Park camp meeting nearly 60 years ago when the main pavilion was a former Chautauqua lecture site where William Jennings Bryan once spoke. It had long since been replaced by a very large tent pitched on a prepared, paved area. The minister scheduled to give the benediction was George S. Belleau (pronounced “bellow”), who served as the conference Sabbath school director for a number of years.

The nervous young platform director for the service apparently became tongue-tied as he announced at the service’s close: “Elder Pray will now Belleau.” The congregation broke into laughter. Though many of us serving elsewhere on the grounds were not there, you can be sure we soon heard of this embarrassing incident.
—Duane M. Corwin, Roseburg, Oregon

Sound Bite
“Behind every heresy there is a hurt.”
—Roger Hernandez, ministerial director of the Southern Union Conference.

Adventist Life
I was responsible for arranging musical items for the divine worship service at Helderberg College, South Africa, during my tenure as head of the Music Department. As such, I often received requests from church members for a particular item they wished to hear. And so it was that a dear brother asked me one Sabbath to arrange for his favorite song to be performed—“Beautiful Isle of Nowhere.”

I could hardly contain myself, but realized afterward that there was a lot of truth in his request as the song, “Beautiful Isle of Somewhere,” really says nothing!
—Wilhelmina Dunbar, Heidelberg, South Africa

Share With Us
We are looking for brief submissions in these categories:

Sound Bites (quotes, profound or spontaneous)
Adventist Life (short anecdotes, especially from the world of adults)
Jots and Tittles (church-related tips)
Camp Meeting Memories (short, humorous and/or profound anecdotes)

Please send your submissions to Give & Take, Adventist Review, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600; fax: 301-680-6638; e-mail: [email protected]. Please include phone number, city, and state from which you are writing.

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This article was published October 11, 2012.