Friday, February 24, 2012

PIU Board Meeting Day 2

Day 2 of the PIU board meeting was administrative report day. Billy Kuartei, our board representative from the Palauan Evangelical Church, opened the day’s sessions with a devotion from the story of the 12 spies in the book of Numbers. In that story Israel missed their moment of opportunity because they failed to look at God’s promises and focused only on the problems. He challenged us to be the minority that stepped out in faith to accomplish what God is calling us to do. This was appropriate for the day as each report honestly presented the challenges we face at PIU along with the amazing things God has done through the school this year and the great opportunities that are in front of us. One phrase that kept popping up in the conversation was that “we have gold in a paper bag” at PIU. That is, though the school does not look like much in terms of physical plant (which needs great improvement) we have a tremendous faculty and staff, solid academic programs, our alumni are making successful contributions to their communities and lives are being changed.

I was encouraged by the Board members’ commitment to be involved in prayer for the school and to “put feet and hands to their prayers.” As Nino Pate (left), our Executive Administrator shared our financial situation and Lisa Collins, our librarian who is also coordinating our recruiting and fund raising efforts, discussed advancement of PIU the theme was that our needs are great and our opportunities are great. I would appreciate your prayers as we attempt to raise about $80,000 over the next few months to fund our operating needs and recruit students from all over the Pacific region for our summer programs and Fall semester.

The evening ended with a barbecue dinner for board members and students to get together and have some fellowship, but my camera battery went dead in the afternoon and I didn’t get any pictures. It was a fun evening program.

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