It was our fourth day on the road. We left Oklahoma, and later that day headed north into Kansas on I-35, south of Wichita. Since we did not have a Kansas map, we decided to stop at the Kansas state Welcome Center. I let Janie and the kids go into the center while I stayed with the van and trailer. While inside, Janie met a nice Kansan, a member of a local church that worked in the Welcome Center. After she inquired about our trip, Janie shared with her a little about our travel experiences and quest. She beamed up and asked if Janie knew about the major World evangelism Conference at Century II in downtown Wichita that was currently in progress. This was too much of a coincidence, so Janie quickly had me come in to speak with this woman. She asked me if I knew about the conference. “No, I don’t know about it, but I am sure I need to know,” I responded. Again, we felt this information was too valuable to ignore and had to be the work of the LORD. So with this sign, we decided that I should attend the convention that evening in hope of making a contact.
It was saturday night. We located Blasi Campground in downtown Wichita, and I was praying that I would find just what God wanted me to do and where He wanted us to go. Janie and I knew that I would have to go alone because the children could not be left alone in the trailer park. Matter of fact, I did not like leaving any of them in the trailer park but had no other choice. I put on my suit and headed downtown to the convention complex. Janie later informed me that as soon as I left the trailer park Kellie, our handicapped daughter, threw a fit and was almost impossible to control. In tight quarters, Janie had her hands full.
The World Evangelism Conference was organized by a particular denomination which is prevalent in the mid-West but was unknown to us in the Deep south. The convention included an exhibit hall with about 100 vendors who were displaying their merchandise for the attending missionaries. As I approached someone at the main registration desk, I briefly shared a little of our unique story with the first person I met, hoping to be directed to the proper person. With a bewildered look he said, “There is only one person I know that would understand the kind of faith walk you are on,” and he directed me to meet a gentleman that had just led a two-hour prayer meeting with the missionaries.
When they located him, the last meeting of the day was in session. He mentioned that he had not attended the last important speech by one of the main speakers because he had a feeling that God wanted him to remain in the nearly vacant convention center instead. When I shared my plight, he commented that it was good that I met him because he did not believe that many there would understand the kind of spiritual quest I was on. After a few moments of prayer, he suggested that I go to each booth and share my story with whoever would listen, and that he felt I would make my next contact within the vendors section. He also suggested that we investigate a certain church in Kansas City, MO that would be somewhat familiar with the spiritual journey our family was embracing.
I quickly determined to heed his advice. So, being in the convention center where the vendors were preparing to make their pitches to the missionaries as soon as the meeting ended, I decided to get a head start and advance to the first booth with the intention of visiting them all. Most of the missionaries were slow to migrate into the vendor area from the last meeting, so I pretty much had the arena to myself. I began going from row to row, side to side, speaking and listening for that special leading from the Holy spirit of God. As I shared the story of my quest I would understandably get the strangest looks and responses. It was as if I was speaking greek, and no one seemed to know how to act in response. Time marched on as I spoke with vendor after vendor, but still no sign! It was now getting late, and it was getting close to the time the vendor area would shut down for the evening. I was on the last row, and very discouraged. I did not want to continue going to the rest of the booths, it just seemed hopeless, but returning to the trailer empty handed was not an option I could live with.