No Greater Joy

Smoky Mountains Shindig
September 10-14, 2014

This past week our family had the privilege to attend No Greater Joy's annual Family Conference. We had an incredible time -along with around 2,200 other people- attending the incredible sessions, fellow-shipping with other families who also loved the Lord and were seeking to serve Him, eating delicious food, playing volleyball and other organized activities, meeting other families and being inspired and challenged to press forward serving God in whatever ways He has called us to do so!  

It will take several posts to capture the week's events and even then I know I will not do it justice! We praise the Lord for the wonderful time He gave us together as a family and for the great work He is doing in and through the ministry of No Greater Joy!

North Carolina, Here we come!

Beautiful scenery as we drove....

The shindig was held at the 

Ridgecrest Conference Center in Asheville, North Carolina.

The weather was beautiful!

 We stayed in the "Royal Gorge."

The campus was large enough to accommodate

 3,000 people so we spent a lot of time......walking!

Practice sessions and impromptu jams 

were happening everywhere! We enjoyed 

pausing to listen as time permitted :)

                                                                              The Family!

Call us silly- but several of us enjoyed 

catching rides on this nifty little thing!

The main auditorium.....

......now packed with some 2,200 other people!

Amazing Speakers:

 Nathan Pearl-

 (M.C. and Keynote Speaker)

"Look! It's Mike Pearl!!"

Joshua Steele

Missionary to the Ukraine

 Special Music:

The Rodriguez family

on their way to the mission field of Mexico

The Meggs family

of Roanoke, Virginia

Mike Pearl playing his "saw"

(yes..this is a hand saw and fiddle bow)

The Keen children playing their violins 

and reciting scripture passages

The "soggy britches boys"

of Cane Creek, Tennessee

The children's choir practiced every day 

to sing for everyone on Sunday!

And Liberty was brave enough to join them!

(Lower left corner :)

And a World-Championship Knife-Throwing and Whip-Cracking Act! :

Mike Pearl has won several awards and gold cups in  

international knife-throwing  contests. He also won the 

gold cup for tomahawk-throwing in 2012! 

With a promise of more posts to follow........