Quiet..

It is very quiet on campus right now. The students have left for a weeks vacation before the start of Spring Quarter. Even some of the staff are gone on March break with their kids. While I am not used to the quiet, it is a great time to catch up on some projects for the BI.

Winter Quarter was a busy one for our students with classes and Snow Camp on the weekends and for us as I was taking an evening course in homiletics here at the BI. I really enjoyed studying how to research and prepare sermons, but it also ate up quite a bit of time.

I’m going to have a hard time staying out of the classroom during our Spring Quarter.. there are quite a few great classes and seminars coming up. In April, Answers in Genesis will be having a creation seminar on campus for our students. Here are some of the professors and the courses they will be teaching this coming quarter:

• Dispensational History and Daniel – Dr. Renald Showers has served in the pastorate and as a member of the faculties of Lancaster Bible College, Moody Bible Institute and Philadelphia College of Bible. Dr. Showers is on staff at Friends of Israel and has authored numerous books and magazine articles as well as produced teaching videos.
• Church History – Dr. Tom Taylor served on the faculties of Faith Seminary and Biblical Seminary for thirty years as Associate Professor of Church History and Old Testament. Retired emeritus from his official position, he has taught church history at Word of Life Bible Institute since 1971.
• Revelation – Dr. Jimmy DeYoung is a well-known prophecy teacher in North America and Europe. Dr. DeYoung became the VP and General Manager of New York City’s first Christian radio station for 5 years. Since 1991, he and his wife, Judy, have been residing in Jerusalem where they work as journalists. Dr. DeYoung has written books, produced videos and has a weekly radio broadcast, Prophecy Today.
• Genesis 1-11 – Dr. John Whitcomb earned his BA from Princeton University. For 39 years he taught in the Department of Old Testament and the Department of Christian Theology at Grace Theological Seminary. He has lectured around the world and authored numerous books and produced audio albums and video courses.

Please be praying for our students as they continue to grow in the knowledge of the Lord.
Troy & Naomi

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

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.