This week we finished our proposal for a new graduate/seminary program and sent it to our accrediting agency, TRACS. If our proposal is accepted, PIBC would have a Master of Divinity and a Master of Arts in Religion programs. The current proposal would allow us only to offer the program only on our Guam campus, but we are in the process of a second proposal to TRACS which would allow us to open a branch campus in Honolulu and would basically merge the Hawaii Theological Seminary into PIBC. We hope to have all this done by this summer so the 35+ students in Hawaii can continue their program interrupted. We are also planning on having the PIBC undergraduate program taught in Honolulu.We plan to begin the Masters program on Guam this Fall with 10 students. We have already had several requests for applications from PIBC alumni, local Guam pastors and potential students from Burma, China, Philippines, Viet Nam and several other Asian countries. We believe this is a very important step in our mission to prepare servant leadership for Micronesia and the Pacific Rim. Please pray for us that we will be able to have the program accredited for this Fall and that we would be sensitive to God's direction for our expansion plans in Hawaii. Please also pray for potential students because, even though we will charge the same greatly reduced rate tuition as we charge for our bachelor's program, many of them will need financial help to study with us. If you would like to scholarship a needy Micronesian student please email me and I will be happy to give you more details about it.
3 comments:
Excellent work. I see that the school has so much academic progress and technological development (internet, buildings, etc...) Praise God for his blessings. I am very excited about the many things that God is doing. However, I am wondering about the spiritual health of the PIBC family as a whole but especially the students. What are some practical ways we are gauging the spiritual growth of students? We may have a good idea as to the intellectual ability of the students but what of their peer relationships, student-teacher relationships, church/community relationships, and relationship with the Lord? I understand it is a very subjective area, but I'm sure we can find ways to improve in order that we have a better idea as to how students are really doing in their personal spiritual lives. Maybe we can charge teachers to be more involved in mentoring, counseling, and discipling rather than just fulfilling roles of "the professor in the classroom." The issue that fuels my concern is the overwhelming number (I don't have exact statistics) of students, in recent years who, after graduation seem to have forsaken the Lord, as evident by the way they lead their lives. Not only do these graduates lead ungodly lives but they carry out some very profane life-styles with such audacity that it breaks my heart to think that they were once students of the beloved PIBC. It brings shame to the institution, to other PIBC alumni, teachers, but especially to Christ our Lord. Because PIBC is a one of a kind school in Micronesia it shines very brightly. There is that aura of a PIBC graduate that is just so captivating. People are attracted to graduates because other alumni have had a reputation of being God fearers and genuine agents of love. It is not so much because they had degrees or because they were smart. It is because, simply put, they practice what they preach. When a graduate turns away from that Christian life-style and lives in an ungodly way it sends shock waves throughout his/her respective communities. The impact is so great that I believe it cripples the ministry of the institution as well as the ministry of its hundreds of alumni who are faithfully serving the Lord (I have experienced this first-hand). If we choose to neglect this issue, then we actually perpetuate the seed which will defeat the very purpose of the school's existence which is to reach others with the gospel of Christ.
I think it is great news that PIBC is advancing and stepping into the international arena with the recent developments geared for Hawaii. However, I strongly urge PIBC that before we "show our faces" on the international plain, let us first look at ourselves and evaluate what kind of an image will we bring to the world. Are we going to settle to be just like any other school. Or are we willing to ask the hard questions and tackle the tough issues that will set PIBC apart as a place where the triune God truly works and raises true servant-leaders. PIBC must focus on where it matters most: "spiritual formation."
I'm sure you already know these things, and are probably already addressing them. Forgive me if I'm just ignorant and unaware of the school's efforts. I wish only to bring it to light so that we might not lose sight of this crucial matter: "the spiritual health" of students and the PIBC family. After experiencing other bible schools (mostly in the US), I feel that many of them have become academic giants, and fountains of theological knowledge, updated with the latest scholarship and technology but sadly enough, they have become home to a majority of students who could care less about whether or not their lives have a truly profound and life-changing relationship with the Lord Jesus. It is my hope that PIBC beware not to succumb to the post-modern tendency of accepting without due scrutiny, popular educational models/systems just because some believe it is the "21st century way" or because we're trying to be user-friendly and tolerant to other bright ideas. Let us not advance the school only physically at the expense of true discipleship. I pray alongside you my brothers and sisters of PIBC that this school, which God has sanctified as a preparation ground for his ministry for many years, continue to hold on, not to tradition but to devotion...not to advancement but commitment to the things "above"... the things that really matter.
I hope I did not come across sounding like I'm a judgmental, finger-pointing, full-of-himself kind of guy. I'm actually very lay back and easy going. But I am just communicating from a heartfelt concern for PIBC.
Sorry. I forgot to say that I also graduated from PIBC.
Hi Islander. It is always great to get comments from an alumnus. I would appreciate you emailing me and giving me some info about yourself. We are trying to make an alumni directory. I agree about the importance of spiritual formation. I do not think though that we need to choose between good academics and good discipleship. I think we need both and we always try to do that. I believe a Masters program is essential because we need to train pastors for the Chuuk church that will continue the discipleship of the people that PIBC has begun. That is really the job of the church and we are trying to train and disciple young people to be the leaders of the future who will do that discipleship. It breaks my heart when some of our graduates go the wrong way, but we continue to pray for them and we hold out hope that God will draw them back to himself. Perhaps as we can build a network of alumni, those alums who are walking with the LORD can make contact with those who are not and minister to them.
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