Yesterday's chapel, after some lively action songs, was devoted to faculty, staff and students sharing their stories about how God had provided for them in the past. Even though PIU does its best to keep costs just a few hundred dollars above what the Micronesian students normally receive in federal and state financial aid, many of them struggle to pay their bills. Thus the purpose was to encourage students, who have school bill payments coming due soon, to trust God for provision and, at the same time, look for opportunities to be responsible for their own finances. Joyce and I were asked to share our story (ancient history I know) about how God provided for us through our time at Dallas Seminary back in 1988-92. We shared about how God gave us both opportunities to work to support ourselves and how God a few times "dropped money out of the sky." It was a good reminder to me that God also has the finances of PIU well taken care of. Meluat, one of our students shared how God provided for him to go to Thailand on a missions trip and one time even provided laundry soap!
Anne Stinnette shared about she and Steve raised support when they first came to the mission field and a few of the minor miracles that God did as he brought them out to the islands. Hopefully all of this encouraged the students to keep trusting God through the difficulties of studying while being on the financial edge all the time. As they learn to trust God through this, they are being prepared for future ministry. So many times in the past we have seen God meet the students needs in amazing ways and we are confident that He will do so again.
We were also excited to receive our first Rising Tide annual fund contribution this week. The purpose of our new Rising Tide fund is to supplement the PIU annual budget so that we can hire needed administrators, faculty and staff that cannot be covered by tuition revenue. About 1/2 of our staff are supported missionaries or volunteers, but as PIU grows and widens our class offerings our need for more staff grows. Our goal is to find 500 Rising Tide team members who will give an average of $1000 per year to enable us to bring in the people we need to do the work God has called us to do. If you would like to contribute to the Rising Tide fund or the student scholarship fund and help us keep excellent Christian education accessible to the people of the Pacific islands send me an email at dowen@piu.edu for more info.
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