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

I happened to be on the phone with someone who is coming to the BI this coming year when the power for much of Ontario and large sections of the US went out. Thankfully, the power returned to our campus at 12:42 AM after 8.5 hours.

We currently have 112 teenage campers and another 60 summer staff, not to mention staff families living on the property. We did get a generator hooked up to our water pump to provide some water for the camp after supper. We had had some discussions about having to send campers home early if the power was going to be off for a day. But the big question in our mind was, what should we do about the graduation ceremonies that we are supposed to have this weekend?

Thankfully, the power is back on and the graduation events for the first class of the Canadian Extension of the Word of Life Bible Institute will continue as planned. Sunday, August 17 will be the last day of the first year of our school. It has been an incredible year and the end of it has come too quickly!

While we will be sad to see the students who have become our friends leave this weekend, we are already busy making plans for the coming year. There are only 28 days until registration for the class of 2004.

Prayer Request:
After a few months of not having any symptoms, Naomi is once again experiencing the mystery numbness in the left side of her body. The doctors have ordered more extensive MRI tests to help determine what might be happening. Please pray for Naomi and I as we deal with this situation.

Answer to Prayer:
Naomi has started part time work with a temp agency here in Owen Sound. This is helping meet our needs as well as providing Naomi the flexibility to continue to do design projects for Word of Life.

With much fear and trepidation our student body was launched onto the streets of Toronto and Hamilton to share the Good News of Jesus Christ! We left Owen Sound on Tuesday morning and travelled to the campus of the University of Toronto for our first day and Wednesday on Yonge Street outside the Eaton Center. On Thursday and Friday we were on the streets of Hamilton.

Street evangelism was a new experience for many of our students and we used a variety of tools to share the Gospel. The main one was the paint board which was used to draw a crowd and share some of the basics of the Gospel while some of their fellow students waited to talk to listeners after the presentation. Other students handed out tracts or did a religious survey which opened the door for a conversation about God. After it was all over, we were able to talk to hundreds of people who would never go to a church or an evangelistic event, or likely don’t even have any Christian friends. We think that as many as eighteen people made decisions to trust in Christ alone as their risen Saviour!

I think that this past week really opened the students eyes to the lostness of our world, and how they don’t have to be afraid to share their faith with others.

Thank you so much for your prayers! It was such a blessing to be a part of this unique and challenging ministry.

We are shutting down all classes.

But just for one week!

Next week Naomi and I will be travelling with the entire student body to
the down town streets and parks of Toronto and Hamilton. We will be working
with the students as we share the Gospel with adults and children through
our Open Air Evangelism ministry. We will be using a variety of tools and
methods to share the Gospel with anyone who will listen. Our leader for
next week has 20+ years experience in taking teams to New York City and
other locations around the world.

We will be leaving Tuesday and will return to campus late Friday night.
Please pray for safety for us and the students as we travel and minister in
various environments in these two cities. Most importantly, pray that we
would be able to clearly present a Gospel message that would be honouring to
the Lord and that He would send hearts that are prepared to hear His Word.

Troy & Naomi Johnstone

This past weekend we had the privilege of having Naomi’s parents stay with us. They were down from Alberta to help us in our ministry with Word of Life. Naomi’s father, John Cross, and a co-worker of his were here this weekend to teach a 21 hour seminar on how to share the “Good News” by doing a one-on-one, objective Bible overview.

The seminar is based on the book The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, which was written by Naomi’s father a number of years ago. The book is written for people who know little or nothing about that most influential book of all time, the Bible. Our students were quite enthused by the simplicity and clarity of the seminar, which presents the most important theme of the Bible in a chronological approach, starting with Creation and continuing to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

For more information on the book, please call or email me, or go to www.goodseed.com

This week our students are studying the book of Proverbs with Dr. Roger Ellison, along with their regular classes of Bible Survey and Systematic Theology. Please continue to pray for our students as some of them are facing challenges with their ability to finance their year of Bible training.

Thank you for your many prayers on our behalf.