Ministry Update – Quotes

“Thank you for helping me see God’s Word more clearly”

“.. all in all, this study has given me a head start on how to win people to the Savior”

“It has helped me think some more about how to share the Gospel and how to counsel someone who says ‘what must I do to be saved?'”

“It has shown me a new and good way of teaching the Bible and the importance of a foundation in the Old Testament to understand the New Testament”

“I believe my knowledge, understanding, and faith in the Bible have all been strengthened because of this weekend.”

“Besides teaching me how to present the Gospel and the message of the Bible rightly and effectively, it has enlightened my eyes, my hear my life. I feel as I’ve regained my joyous countenance and am no longer lost, confused or unsure. I’m better rooted and can’t wait to be fed more…”

These are some of the comments we have received from students after being taught the material found in the book The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus. This past weekend I had the privilege and blessings of being a small part of the team who taught this material to our student body as a part of their personal evangelism training.

The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus explains the the Bible chronologically from Creation to the Cross and is intended for someone who knows little or nothing about the Bible. John Cross (the author who also happens to be Naomi’s dad!) and another GoodSeed missionary, Gaetan Pilon, and I were involved in teaching this book to the students using over 70 visual aides.

On top of this, we were able to spend time with both Naomi’s parents and my mother, who made her first trip to visit our new home in Ontario. Naomi and I were thrilled that both her parents and my mom were able to be here at the same time as they haven’t seen each other since our wedding.

Thank you for your prayers during this very busy time as the new school year starts.

Troy & Naomi

P.S. For more information about The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, please visit the GoodSeed website http://www.goodseed.com

Ministry Update – Registration Report

Registration weekend is over and classes have begun for our second year of the Word of Life Bible Institute! Harry Bollback (one of the founders of Word of Life), Dr Wendel Calder (who is also teaching the book of James this week), and Pastor Wayne Heikkenin (former WOL missionary) challenged us from the Word of God and we heard many testimonies from WOL staff and a few alumni from last year who came by for a visit.

We have 20 women and 19 men enrolled for a total of 39 students for the 2003-04 class year. This is a big improvement from last year when it was a 2-1 ratio of women to men.

Where are they from?
Bermuda 1
Indiana 1
Korea 4
Manitoba 1
British Columbia 1
Ontario 25
Quebec 2
N.B. 2
N.S. 2

We have a very demanding schedule these first few weeks of with classes, orientation, and personal evangelism training. Please pray for the students that they will have the strength and endurance as they adjust to the new schedule, new roommates, etc.

In the next few days my mother and Naomi’s parents are arriving from opposite sides of the country. My mom is coming up to visit with us and attend an anniversary celebration for some friends, and Naomi’s parents are coming to teach our students a seminar on the Gospel of Jesus Christ using a book her father wrote called “The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus”. We look forward to having our parents here, especially when they can spend time with each other.

Troy & Naomi

Graduation

On August 17th we had our first Grad ceremonies, and the whole graduation weekend went very well. The Lord blessed us with some cooler weather so our gym didn’t turn into an oven as we had about 150 people attend the graduation ceremonies. Some of the local churches cancelled their evening service so that people could come out for the ceremony. Afterwards there was a very teary goodbye for our students. Several visitors made comment about how close the students were to each other and how they seemed like such a family.

Now we are only a few days away from the arrival of the class of 2003-2004. Naomi and I (and everybody else here) have been very busy as we plan for the start of the new school year. Registration is September 12th and we have a full weekend of orientation and chapels for parents and students. We are expecting between 40 and 45 students will be registering this year, and the men might even outnumber the ladies this year! Last year we had 24 female and only 12 male students.

Please pray:
For strength for us as we pull long hours
For wisdom to make the right decisions as we get the new school year started
For safety for the students and their families as they travel from BC, the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario, and our international students.

Thank you and God bless.

Troy & Naomi