A man’s heart deviseth his way:
but the LORD directeth his steps.
Proverbs 16:9
I have found this to be the case over and over in my life, and once again, there has been a change of plans. In talking to Gary Stairs, the Executive Director of Word of Life Canada, it was decided that I should continue to work on my deputation and paying off my Student Loan. The plan is to start full time ministry next Spring/Summer instead of this Fall.
Two years ago when I decided to go to the Bible Institute, I only had five months before class started – not enough time to set aside the money to cover the cost of tuition. At that time, I made the decision to get a student loan to cover most of the costs of the school. After I had completed my year of studies, I was in discussions with WOL about serving with them and the issue of my student loan was examined. It was determined that I would take the next year to work on deputation and pay off as much of the loan as I could. One month after that meeting, my father was admitted to the hospital and was in and out of a comma until his death this past January. It goes without saying that during this time I was not able to make additional payments on my loan.
With these issues in mind, it was recently decided by Gary that I should continue to work here in Alberta until Summer of 2002 to continue working on my loan and raising support.
The Lord has been faithful in helping me to do this by providing for me financially through many different people. A couple from the church here is allowing me to live in their basement rent-free and another family is looking after feeding this hungry young man. By His grace, I have been able to put down a significant amount on the loan already.
These additional months out here will allow me a little more time as I prepare for full time ministry. Right now my support is at 47% of my goal and I hope to be able to continue deputational work while here in the West. I have been able to make a number of contacts and have had the opportunity to share my ministry with a church. Please pray that I will have many more opportunities to share my ministry with others.
Another issue facing me and Word of Life Canada is that the ministry is virtually unknown in Alberta. In fact, there is a church here with the same name but with very different beliefs. Whenever I mention Word of Life, it is assumed that I am with this group until I fully explain the difference. I hope to be able to increase awareness of the ministry of Word of Life and the new school and put information into the hands of area pastors. Much of this will be foundational work for all of Word of Life’s ministries for others to build on as the ministry expands in this area. I have already had a few inquiries about the school and Word of Life in general and look forward to continuing this work.
It was also decided that some of the immediate needs of the B.I. project can be performed by me from here. In the coming months I will be working to contact prospective students as well as trying to track down Word of Life alumni that are residing in Canada.
It is my hope that the Lord will use me and help me to minister effectively during my time here in Alberta.
Thank you to each one of you who has kept me in your prayers. Many thanks also to you who support me financially. May God bless you all abundantly.