Chapel at PIU This Week

It is hard to believe we are already done with week 6 of the 2013 Fall semester. We are well into our class syllabuses and into the Fall activities. Next week is our Ministry Equipping Conference and we are planning for the student’s “K2” spiritual retreat at the end of the month. This week was another good, but rainy, week with two enjoyable times of worship in our Tuesday and Friday chapels. Tuesday chapel music and worship was led by a group of our female students. Our speaker was our new VP of Advancement and Interim Provost, Dr. Sam Mabini. Sam talked about how important it is to step out into new things and work hard to make the most of the opportunities God brings our way. 

Friday’s chapel music was led by our Dean of Students, Rob Watt. Our speaker was Pastor Tom Van Engen from Faith Christian Reformed Church. Tom was representing Prison Fellowship Guam and challenged the students to be involved in advocating for and participating in restorative justice. The essence of the change made through Christ has to do with reconciliation with God and with each other. Our prison systems certainly do not reflect that. We, as God’s people, should be involved in helping the prisoners experience reconciliation. Many of our staff and students have been involved in this kind of activity and we want to continue to have this influence on the community.

PIU Has A New Facebook Page

Pacific Islands University has had quite a presence on Facebook for a while, but until yesterday we did not have an official Facebook page. We now have one and you can find it here: (https://www.facebook.com/PacificIslandsUniversity) This will be our official page to announce projects, fund raising efforts and events. This will also enable us to get our message out in a focused way to potential students, donors and friends. Our first goal is to get 1000 people to like our Facebook page before the end of October. Please go on our page, “like” it, and invite your Facebook friends to “like it.”

Also our first project on this page is the PIU Van project as mentioned in my previous blog post. To find out more you can go to the “event page” for the Van Fundraiser and click on “get tickets.” OR you could go right to the van donation page on the PIU website. Either way we would appreciate your help and prayers for PIU and this project.

Update on PIU Van Project

One big difference between the students at PIU and those at an American Christian university is that most of our students do not have access to personal or public transportation. Thus, PIU needs to provide transportation for our students, not only for ministry and school events, but for their basic needs like food and necessities shopping, doctor and bank visits and other regular student needs. We began the school year with two old vans that we prayed would make it through the semester, but both broke down in the first week of classes. Due to the grace of our friends at Triple J Motors we were able to buy a new commercial van for the price of a family passenger van. However, we needed to raise $12,500 within 30 days of receiving the van. With the deadline of October 15th coming up next week we are still about $5000 short of meeting our goal. Please join us in praying for God to meet this need. If you would like to help us reach our goal you can make a donation by calling PIU at 671-734-1812, on line at http://www.piu.edu/advancement/donation/, or you can come by the office any time on weekdays.

Congrats Nino!

Congratulations to Nino Pate our colleague at PIU.

The following is from an article in the Pacific News Center of Guam. You can read the whole article here.

 

Guam - Mr. Niño Pate, Executive Administrator at Pacific Islands University, a U.S. accredited institution located in Mangilao, was recently recognized as an International Peer Reviewer by the International Associate of Multidisciplinary Research, IAMURE International Journal of Social Science. Mr. Pate was recognized for his valuable contribution to the internationally recognized journal.

The IAMURE International Journal of Social Sciences publishes new discoveries in social sciences with research contributions from members around the world. It is an international peer reviewed journal for scholarly contribution and reference for advocacy and utilization.
Mr. Pate, also serves as a faculty member at PIU, currently teaching MATH 102 College Algebra. He holds a B.S. in Statistics, a G.D. in Econometrics, and an M.S. in Econometrics from the University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP), Davao City, Republic of the Philippines.
Mr. Pate will complete an MBA from USEP in 2014, and is pursuing his Ph.D. in Development Research and Administration.
Pacific Islands University congratulates Mr. Pate for his achievements and recognition, and commends him for his continued dedication and work at the institution.

PIU Day of Prayer

Last Friday was the PIU “President’s Day of Prayer.” The day included an hour of prayer at 7 AM in pavilion, a prayer chapel and an evening hour of prayer. While prayer is always an important and frequent activity at PIU, we set aside a day each semester to devote ourselves to prayer for each other and for the mission and ministries of the school. This is also the day we especially recognize that the resources needed to make PIU successful can only supplied by the LORD. This year we combined the prayer chapel with a Guam Ministerial Association meeting on the PIU campus. It was a real blessing to have several pastors on campus to pray for for us and to allow us to pray for them.

In the morning hour we got together for an informal time of conversational prayer. (Right). Mike and Samantha led the more formal prayer chapel with worship music, classic prayers and group prayer for PIU faculty, staff, students, board and church community.

Ministry Equipping Conference Coming Soon!

Pacific Islands University is hosting its 4th Annual Ministry Equipping Conference: Ministry in Context. Understanding that many island ministry and church leaders have been trained in a Western context, this year's event seeks to help local church and ministry leaders contextualize their ministries to the cultures they are serving. Dr. Alphaeus Zobule, President of Islands Bible Ministries of the Solomon Islands, has successfully translated the New Testament of Scripture into his mother tongue and will serve as keynote speaker. He, along with PIU faculty, will assist conference participants in understanding the role of context in exegeting and interpreting Scripture as well share how he has successfully taken his Western education and adapted it to his culture and context.

Event info:
Thursday, Oct. 17, 6:15-9:00pm
Friday, Oct. 18, 6:15-9:00pm
Saturday, Oct. 19, 8am-4:00pm

Location: Palmridge Hotel, Route 8, Barrigada

Cost: $45 per participant, Early registration (by Friday, Oct. 11 @ 5pm): $40, Ministry couple: $75, Group discounts available

More information: 734-1812, www.PIU.edu--
Samantha Owen
Advancement Director
Pacific Islands University
172 Kinneys Rd., Mangilao, GU 96913
P: 671) 734-1812/7   F: 671) 734-1813

Tuesday Chapel 10/1/2013

Tuesday’s Chapel was another good one. The music was led by the guys’ dorm residents, Mason did some worship poetry (see video below) and PIU faculty member Peter Knapp brought us a very good message. Friday we will have our Fall semester prayer chapel. The public is welcome to join us in the PIU pavilion at 7AM for the the president’s morning prayer time, at 11AM for our prayer chapel or for our evening prayer time at 6.30 PM.

It took a little while for the guys to get going but once the director got them going they sounded great. Peter talked about how we erroneously make judgments about “who is in and who is out” and how God makes these judgments very differently. We were challenged to put our trust in Jesus, grow in relationship with him and keep him in the center rather than just focusing on having the right doctrine or a certain set of good works.

Some worship poetry from Mason.