This is the 2nd of my posts about last week's Chuuk trip. The remote Tol island of Chuuk state was the original site of Micronesian Institute of Biblical Studies founded in 1976. This became the Chuuk branch campus of Pacific Islands Bible College when PIBC was founded in 1991. Last Wednesday we went across the Chuuk lagoon to the campus in much the same way the original teachers of MIBS did, by a 1/2 to 2 1/2 hour, depending on the weather, ride in a small motorboat.
Tol and the entire Faichuuk area of Chuuk are basically without any infrastructure. There is no power, water, sewer or other major utility. Just recently, spotty cell phone coverage was brought to the area. Though the government has been working on it for us for about a year there is no internet access. PIBC has produced its own water and septic systems and supplies power to the campus with a generator that runs from 6-10 PM and a small solar system that powers some of the buildings. One can imagine the challenge that this provides to running a modern accredited institution of higher education. The campus is one of the most beautiful places in the world, but also one of the most isolated. While this isolation builds tremendous
camaraderie on the campus, it also provides the dedicated staff there with challenges few other colleges face.
As Brandon, Brad and I went across the lagoon on Wednesday, I was thinking about these challenges because our ministry there has hit a crisis point. It has always been difficult to recruit qualified teachers and staff for Chuuk and now we are threatened with the prospect of severely cutting back our program there for the Fall 2008 semester. At this point we have only 2 full time faculty and 1 administrator committed to be there next fall. We are also losing our finance manager and academic dean. The school has been operating for about two years without a maintenance director and the needs there are critical. Finally we need 2 more Bible/theology teachers and an English teacher to continue the campus at its current level. I would appreciate your prayers for our Chuuk campus for God's direction and provision.
We also have a great opportunity there. Chuuk is currently in the process of upgrading its elementary and secondary teachers. The first step will be to make sure that all Chuuk school teachers have at least an AA degree. The deadline for this is this November. There are about 400 teachers that need to be upgraded. Because this is too big a job for just the public schools and PIBC is the only college already in Faichuuk, we have been asked by the governor and Dept of Education in Chuuk to help upgrade the education of the teachers. We have already been doing this for the Christian school teachers in Chuuk and have recently added an education minor to our Bible major. We are seriously accepting this challenge and are beginning to work on an "education AA degree." We could also use someone who could be based on Tol, teach at PIBC and work with the government to upgrade the teachers. What an opportunity to be able to teach from a biblical world view as we train teachers for the public schools in Chuuk. We have some money to pay for this but we need the qualified people.
Again, please pray about these challenges and opportunities. If you think that you could be the person to meet this challenge please email me and let's talk about it!
This is the 2nd of my posts about last week's Chuuk trip. The remote Tol island of Chuuk state was the original site of Micronesian Institute of Biblical Studies founded in 1976. This became the Chuuk branch campus of Pacific Islands Bible College when PIBC was founded in 1991. Last Wednesday we went across the Chuuk lagoon to the campus in much the same way the original teachers of MIBS did, by a 1/2 to 2 1/2 hour, depending on the weather, ride in a small motorboat. 
Tol and the entire Faichuuk area of Chuuk are basically without any infrastructure. There is no power, water, sewer or other major utility. Just recently, spotty cell phone coverage was brought to the area. Though the government has been working on it for us for about a year there is no internet access. PIBC has produced its own water and septic systems and supplies power to the campus with a generator that runs from 6-10 PM and a small solar system that powers some of the buildings. One can imagine the challenge that this provides to running a modern accredited institution of higher education. The campus is one of the most beautiful places in the world, but also one of the most isolated. While this isolation builds tremendous
camaraderie on the campus, it also provides the dedicated staff there with challenges few other colleges face.
As Brandon, Brad and I went across the lagoon on Wednesday, I was thinking about these challenges because our ministry there has hit a crisis point. It has always been difficult to recruit qualified teachers and staff for Chuuk and now we are threatened with the prospect of severely cutting back our program there for the Fall 2008 semester. At this point we have only 2 full time faculty and 1 administrator committed to be there next fall. We are also losing our finance manager and academic dean. The school has been operating for about two years without a maintenance director and the needs there are critical. Finally we need 2 more Bible/theology teachers and an English teacher to continue the campus at its current level. I would appreciate your prayers for our Chuuk campus for God's direction and provision.
We also have a great opportunity there. Chuuk is currently in the process of upgrading its elementary and secondary teachers. The first step will be to make sure that all Chuuk school teachers have at least an AA degree. The deadline for this is this November. There are about 400 teachers that need to be upgraded. Because this is too big a job for just the public schools and PIBC is the only college already in Faichuuk, we have been asked by the governor and Dept of Education in Chuuk to help upgrade the education of the teachers. We have already been doing this for the Christian school teachers in Chuuk and have recently added an education minor to our Bible major. We are seriously accepting this challenge and are beginning to work on an "education AA degree." We could also use someone who could be based on Tol, teach at PIBC and work with the government to upgrade the teachers. What an opportunity to be able to teach from a biblical world view as we train teachers for the public schools in Chuuk. We have some money to pay for this but we need the qualified people.
Again, please pray about these challenges and opportunities. If you think that you could be the person to meet this challenge please email me and let's talk about it!
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