Annual Board Meeting #2

  Just a couple reflections on our recently completed board meetings. Board meetings can be difficult times because, since we are a small non-profit Christian college, we are always struggling with maintaining excellence with too little resources and too few people. We often cannot do what we want to do and sometimes we really have to stretch to do what we need to do. We never have easy solutions to our problems and we have to make difficult decisions. Sometimes there are issues that people disagree on. In those areas, nothing was different about this board meeting. We had to deal with all those issues. We do need to increase our financial resources so we can bring in the people we need to meet the needs of our students. All these difficulties were in front if us.

But this year I did not come out of the meeting worried (yes I sometimes succumb to that temptation) or feeling frustrated. Part of that is that PIU seems to have turned the corner with increased incoming student numbers and an upturn in donations. But the real reason for the difference, was the way our board worked with a godly optimism in tackling the issues in front of us. I can’t remember a board meeting when we spent so much time in prayer. I think it was also a blessing that the board members were able to spend more time with faculty, staff, students and alumni instead of being in one room the whole time. I was also encouraged by the board’s willingness to be more involved throughout the year as they headed back to their homes.

We still face some stiff challenges ahead. But we also have many opportunities. We were encouraged by the participation this year in our meeting of Senator Shelten Neth from Pohnpei as he brought to us the desire of the Pohnpeian Church to be part of PIU. We heard reports of what our graduates are doing throughout the region and what the PIU students are doing and plan to do. This year for me, the board meeting was a good time to focus on what God is doing through PIU and what He can do through us in the future.