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.

Yesterday I was talking on the phone to John who really wants to come to our Word of Life Bible Institute. There is a gentleman who is going to pay the complete cost for John’s education at Word of Life. The complication is that John is in India and is having problems getting his student visa to come to Canada! Each morning our office staff gather to start the day in prayer and we often pray that John will be able to come. Please pray with us as there are less than two weeks left before the start of classes!

The last few weeks have been very busy around campus. After our summer camp was over, work teams started to arrive and things began happening. A few days ago there were trenches criss-crossing the grounds as people were out laying cables for our phone system and computer networks that we will need to go between the buildings. A number of our buildings are getting major renovations done to their interiors to make them more suitable for student use or for more office space. This kind of work will be going on right up until registration day to make sure our facilities are ready for our first class.

Everyone is quite excited about the changes that are happening and the new focus the Bible Institute will bring to our campus.

Thanks for your prayers,

Troy & Naomi Johnstone