2011 Ohio Valley Lectures
Mark Mason
Several years ago, brother Terry Varner wrote an excellent brief history of the Ohio Valley Church Lectures that I recently found in my files and enjoyed reading once more. In it, brother Varner reminds us of its origin in the minds of some gospel preachers during a meeting in Sistersville, West Virginia, in late 1945 or early 1946. The names of Inman, Cooper, Dennis, and Smith involved in these early plans remind us of the great legacy left us by these good servants of bygone days. The first lectures were held in Marietta at Sixth and Washington Streets in August of 1946.
Think of the ways the truth of God’s Word has been promoted and upheld through these very lectures in the 60+ years since! We at the 36th Street congregation in Vienna are proud to host the Ohio Valley Lectures for 2011, August 8-11. The last time we hosted was 2002, and it seems as if the time has flown by since that event.
This year, our theme is “The World’s Greatest Texts.” In keeping with the great tradition of these lectures, we have assigned each of our speakers a well-known text of Scripture to preach from during his session. We will have messages brought from passages all the way from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 21:1-8. As you will notice in the ad accompanying this article, there will be four sessions each day, Monday through Thursday, beginning at 3:00 PM. The majority of our presenters are from the Ohio Valley region, although our evening sessions will feature brother Joe Wells and brother Keith Parker, both from Tennessee, but well-known to many of us for their good work in the Kingdom.
We hope you will pray for this effort over the next few weeks and that you will make every effort to be a part of these lectures. We would encourage you to bring your young people especially to the sessions by brother Joe Wells at 7:00 each evening; they will enjoy getting to hear him.
We will not be printing a hard copy of a book recording these lectures, but each person who comes will get a thumb drive with all the manuscripts and accompanying materials on them. We will also be publishing a web page for the lectures that will contain the same information for easy access. If future hosting congregations would like to use this medium as well, please feel free to contact us.
May God be glorified! -610 36th St., Vienna, WV 26105.