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Discoveries in the Holy Land
 Since returning from Israel I have been researching and writing about an exciting recent archeological discovery.
The book at the right details the discovery of a new "dig" to the northeast of the Dead Sea called "Tall el-Hammam." The Director of this dig, Dr. Steven Collins, believes this is the biblical city of Sodom, but other scholars are not so sure. Everything seems to fits the biblical story of Lot, but the city was destroyed later than we thought Lot and Abraham lived. The Bible is not wrong, so either our understanding of Genesis is wrong, or this is the wrong site for Sodom.
I did not visit this site on my tour of Israel, so to research my paper I visited Dr. Collins in Albuquerque. My paper evaluates the two best options for Sodom: Tall el-Hammam or another site southeast of the Dead Sea. What are my conclusions? Tall el-Hammam is by far the best site for Sodom. The other possibility is not even a close second. But this opens up a number of questions about our understanding of the chronology of the patriarchs in the Old Testament.
Right now I'm preparing a presentation on this to give at Dallas Seminary. I'll post my slides online when I'm done, and you can learn about this fascinating new discovery.
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Cru Conference and Travel
It was great to be with 6,000 other Cru staff in Fort Collins in July. We caught up with several New Zealand and Singapore friends while we were there. One of my former disciples, Roger Osbaldiston, is moving his family from New Zealand to Orlando to be the Vice President of Global Campus Ministry with Campus Crusade for Christ Int'l. Roger has been the National Director for our ministry in New Zealand (called Tandem Ministries) for seven years.
Our kids participated in the Cru Sr/Jr High program and really loved it. Diego experienced his first time witnessing in Estes Park. Ask him about it sometime. Addie squeezed in two college visits and loved the Colorado campuses. It was a good time to remember our vision and calling to missions and think about trusting God for our future ministry. Thanks for your support to enable us to attend. Most of the funds we needed for this trip have been given, but not all. So, if the Lord is still tugging your heart to give, it's not too late! (give.cru.org/0378434)
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