We had taken a group of young people on a mission trip to Mesa, Arizona. It was in the heat of summer. The little church where we conducted Bible School in the morning and preaching at night was hard to cool. It was running out of room with 150 children there for VBS. Our Young People were doing most of the work. They were older, more mature youth and could do it well. One young man preached at night. Gordon is still preaching. Charles Ries did the music. He works with the Radio and TV of the Southern Baptist Convention. Early one morning all the guys went to a baseball park where the New York Giants had spring training. We had a softball game on that field. No one ran us off. It was great fun.
Following the week of VBS and revival we left Mesa for a couple of days at Flagstaff, Arizona. One day we all went to Sunset Crater Volcano Monument. Several of us climbed the black sand to the rim of the crater. It was difficult but worth every minute for more than the view. On the rim the guys sat down for rest and serious talk. One of our young men was not a Christian though he had helped in Bible School. He was a big, bright, red-headed guy who later became a colonel in the military. As we talked about the week, God and creation and being born again , Gary said what we were praying to hear, "I am ready to take Jesus as my Saviour". He prayed and we prayed and we sang a song and that volcano rim became a mountaintop experience! Coming down from the rim was one long exciting joyful slide. Going up had taken almost an hour. Coming down took two or three minutes. I think that is the most unusual conversion site I have experienced. God will meet you anywhere, even on a volcano's rim.