1984 Miracle Yearbook

Blbg® CcDnibconG, "Who can forget his chal- lenge to wholeness and godli- ness?" O ur President Dr. Dixon had told us, "You are really going to enjoy Dave Burnham." And enjoy him we did! We discovered that he had the ability to capture our attention early on and to hold it to his final syllable. His blending of humor and pathos,rhetoric and logic, wisdom and wit both tanta- lized and challenged us. By the time the week was complete, we felt as though we had a brush with reality and with God. We shall not soon forget Dave Burnham. In fact, let's check out our memory of him just now, Ready? Let's go! "We ran with him from a blood-soaked bedroom to the emergency room." Who can forget the account of his wedding day? Pants too short, cum- berbun too tight and too low, voice too squeaky! We will never see an- other cumberbun without inwardly smiling and reflecting on what hap- pened to him. And how about when he first met the girl who was to be- come his wife — how this football star impressed her with his fumbles and missed passes during a sandlot football game at church camp? Yes, we will remember Dave Burnham as a man with a terrific sense of humor. Who can forget his breadth of knowledge? Did we know that our fairy tales and nursery rhymes had his- torical antecedents; that English histo- ry was as interesting as he portrayed it; that the term love had so many shades of meaning? And how about his emphasis and insight regarding criti- cal thinking and integration at the col- lege level? We found him to be very well read in the liberal arts,a very per- ceptive thinker, didn't we! Who can forget his humanness? We agonized with him in his decision to marry the woman he loved even though she did not seem to fit the sup- posed model for a pastor's wife. We ran with him from a blood-soaked bed- room to the emergency room of an Akron hospital. We supplicated with him for his wife's life in the small chapel. We rejoiced with him in the birth of a son and in the sparing of his lover. She even looked beautiful to us through her matted hair and in spite of her puffy lips. We learned from him what true beauty and true love were all about! Do you remember when he felt threatened by his son's affections to- ward a youth pastor, preferring his to his dad's preaching? Will we not feel threatened by younger people com- ing to replace us? What would we have said to that marvelous athlete now lying in the hospital with two am- putated legs? Would we, too, not have wondered about moving from the well-established Chapel in Universi- ty Park in Akron to the newer Commu- nity Bible Church in Boca Raton? Yes, he showed us his humanity with its foi- bles and frailities. And we identified with him! Who can forget his challenge to wholeness and to godliness? From this point on we are committed to know, to love,to be,to do as never before. We must strive for academic excel- lence in every facet of life. We must make decisions in the will of God and commit ourselves to the results of those decisions. Yes, we will remember Dave Burn- ham — and be the better for it! By Mr. Warren David Burnham Conference Speake 154 Fall Bible Conference