PIBC Segment on Kuam News Extra

I had an opportunity tonight to be interviewed by Sonya Artero on the local news show Kuam News Extra, along with Elilai Haruzi one of our PIBC students, about the new programs and growth at PIBC. You can see the web archive of the program at http://www.kuam.com/kuamnewsextra/extra-thursday.wax. We are the second half of the program after a segment on the hospital volunteers. It will be up on the site for about a week if you want to see it. It was a great opportunity to allow PIBC to be better known around the island and we thank God for it!

California Trip - Still

As I mentioned in a previous post we headed down to LA on Monday April 6th. After our lunch meeting with Kevin we motored over to see Michael and Samantha's house to see Titus and Courage. The kids were excited to see us and we spent a very enjoyable afternoon. Mike and Sam are both taking classes at Talbot to prepare to come back to Guam and teach at PIBC. They plan to graduate in May of 2010 and we hope to have them back on Guam in the Fall of that year. Please pray for them that they will be able to manage family, school and jobs and be able to raise the support they need to join the faculty at PIBC-PIU. The highlight of our day was taking Titus and Courage to the park to feed the ducks and play on the playground equipment.

On Monday morning we met with two potential missionaries, Jen Rydzik and Eddie Chern. Jen would be coming as a remedial English teacher and writing tutor while Eddie would be working in our development office. They both are finishing up their bachelor's degrees this May. Please pray for Jen as she is already in the support raising process and for Eddie that God will give him direction as to whether PIBC-PIU is the place for him to minister. One of my goals for the next couple years is to develop a younger staff and getting a few 20 and 30 somethings to PIBC would be a big help.

After meeting with Eddie and Jen, we gave Mike and Sam a day off from the kids by taking Titus and Courage with us to visit Matt and Kristin (a big sacrifice on our part you know). They are expecting their first child in late May-early June. We had a great day just hanging out with them and relaxing. Titus always enjoys going to Uncle Matt's house. After we went out to dinner at the Soup Plantation (It was good. I had never been there before.) we drove back up to Mike's place through the rain. Yes. it was raining in Southern California. Joyce then got on the plane to return to Guam. I came back the next day.

Overall I think the trip went well and was very productive. Please pray along with me that God will supply the needed people and resources for PIBC-PIU to accomplish what he is calling us to do.

Palauan Susanville Conference #2

The main events of the conference took place on Saturday the 4th and began with a prayer time at 7 AM. The group from Houston and Killeen Texas had been driving since Thursday morning and arrived just in time for prayer and immediately joined right in. Breakfast (and all the meals) were prepared by the Susanville FSBC locals. It was a little weird to eat so much American food at a Palauan conference, but it was excellent. That was a great time for me to see several old friends and students from when we lived in Palau (see below) and to meet many new friends.

The morning meeting began at 9 AM (that was the scheduled time. It actually began at 10.30). After Jake opened with prayer the music started. Several groups came up and shared musically. We were in an American setting but the culture and music were definitely Palauan. I was then able to share with the group a little bit about the changes and growth at PIBC-PIU and invite the young people to take school materials. I gave out all my brochures and applications - they also copied several more applications and handed those out. I am not really sure how many took them. I spoke on making God's mission our mission as we reach out to represent God to the world in our daily lives and minister his blessing (Gen. 12.1-3).

I also introduced the Palauans to Jeff Brashears from Shasta Bible College. I invited him up to talk with the Palauans about training opportunities there. Of course, I want most of them to come to PIBC-PIU but I recognize that many of them have jobs and family on the US mainland and cannot come to Guam or Micronesia in the near future. As I mentioned in the previous post, there is a huge need for biblically trained leaders to disciple the many Palauans in the US who are trustiing Christ. There was a lot of interest in both schools.

One of the best things about the day was seeing many of my old students. Besides Jake who is pastoring I met several other Emmaus grads and heard about many more from their relatives. In the picture here, I am with Clifton and Fred. It was really encouraging to hear about how many of them are continuing to walk with God and have raised godly families. Many of them have had a hard time but God has not taken his hand off of them. Even some of the students that were expelled from school for various infractions back in the 80's said that it was the Bible verses and principles they learned at Emmaus that God had used in their lives to bring them to Him. One student even mentioned to me how God used what he learned at our high school basketball practice. It was good encouragement to keep spreading the Word because you never know what will stick.

The evening service went from about 7 PM to 12.15 AM. Again, there were many songs and testimonies, but the highlight of the evening was to watch Jake baptize 11 Palauans and hear their stories about how God brought them to commitment to Him. I got an opportunity to share with them about being disciples that follow and imitate Jesus. The service ended with long, but powerful testimony from a young man from Vancouver who shared about God's power over addiction and pride. It was about 15 degrees outside when the service ended but we went back to our rooms with a warm feeling. There were a lot of possibilities to think about as I headed back to El Dorado to my parents' place on Sunday afternoon.

Joyce in California

The original plan for this last trip to California was that I was going by myself. The plan changed when Joyce found out that her parents had sold their house in Shingle Springs and bought a house up in Redding California. We had enough frequent flyer miles to get her there and seats were open on the flight so we got the tickets and she was in California from March 24 until April 8th. It was perfect timing because the Japanese school on Guam was also on vacation. Most of the time there, she was at the Shingle Springs house getting everything boxed up for the move. She did get to go up to Redding on the day the Cundalls signed the papers for the house (right) and was able to see it. The picture left is of her in the back yard of the house. I know she got a lot of work done there and she also had the opportunity to speak at the evening service at Gold Country Baptist on Sunday the 29th of March.


I joined her on March 30 and we flew down to LA on April 6th. Between those dates I saw her only a couple days because each of us was pursuing our own business there, but we were able to spend one day together in NorCal. When we got down to LA we met with Kevin Elwell at the Denney's restaurant right next to LAX. Kevin taught all three of our kids at Trinity and GICA on Guam and was the youth pastor at Yigo Baptist when I was pastor there. He is now the youth pastor at the 1st Baptist Church of West LA. We were excited to hear that he is bringing his youth group to Guam this summer to do a VBS at Bayview. Later that afternoon we got over to Mike and Samantha's place and got to spend some time with the grandkids. Joyce flew back to Guam on the 8th and I flew back the next day. I think it was good for her to get away, but now she is trying to find a way to get back this summer to see Matt and Kristin's new baby and to see Missy in Texas.

Susanville Palauan Conference #1

The other main reason for this trip to California was to speak at a Palauan church conference that took place at the 1st Southern Baptist Church of Susanville. The pastor there is John Murdock, who led a mission trip to Palau last summer, and his daughter, Daisy, is a student at PIBC. Palauans from all over the Western US came to the conference. I thought it was odd that so many Palauans live in a cold place (It was 15 degrees outside after the end of the Saturday night session at 12.15 AM, note the snow on the mountains). Many of the Palauans came to Susanville to attend Lassen Community College and many more came there to join family members. Now the Palauans are a significant minority population in the area. I saw several of them working in the hotel where I was staying. They like the rural, friendly atmosphere in the area and the Baptist church has certainly been a good host so that the Palauans have been well-integrated into the congregation.

After driving up from Sacramento, I was met in Susanville by Jacob Ngiraiblosch. Jacob was one of my high school students at Emmaus in Koror back in 1984-5. Now Jacob is the traveling pastor for the Palauan fellowships around the USA. He travels to oversee congregations in Susanville, Sacramento, Stockton, Portland OR, Vancouver WA, Killeen, and Houston TX. It is a huge job and they are looking for some more people who can lead. There is a bit of a revival going on among the Palauans on the US mainland and they are looking for some people who can disciple all the new believers. I am hoping that some of our PIBC grads may be able to help there. Pray for Jake as he leads these groups and as he makes plans to finish his bachelor's degree to get more leadership training. I also met Felix Alib who serves as a pastor to the Palauans in Oklahoma and Texas. He was one of the speakers for the conference and spoke with a great deal of entusism and deep commitment. I was encouraged to hear his stories of Palauans (many of whom I knew) coming to Christ in the US Midwest. Felix also desires more training. The picture here is from our dinner together on Friday night. I will talk about the Saturday events in another post.

Development Planning Meeting

A few months ago, our PIBC board made a decision to hire Mickey Beckham as a consultant to develop a fund raising plan for the school. Mickey came well-recommended from our accrediting agency, TRACS, has been in the educational fund raising business for many years and has raised raised a large amount of money for several schools. Over the last few months he has been interviewing people that are closely, or even loosely, related to the ministries of PIBC to determine whether or not we are a good candidate for this type of fund raising program. The need is for both capital funds and regular annual fund donors. Originally, Liebenzell Mission International put about $1.5 million in to start the Guam campus. The campus has now grown way beyond the original plan in both numbers and program so a new infusion of funds for expansion is needed. In addition, we can no longer completely staff the campus with missionaries raising their own support. We need to have funds available to pay, especially local, staff and faculty.

So last Thursday and Friday, Steve Stinnette (our VP of Advancement) and I met with Mickey near the Sacramento airport to go over the rough draft of his final report. Mickey was very excited about our potential to raise funds from several sources and gave us a plan to do it. Most of our students (from Guam and Micronesia) are from under-served minorities and so we qualify for some types of government grants. We will also be applying for foundation funds. Our most immediate need is to find donors to raise an annual fund that would be mainly for the purpose of paying the faculty and staff we need to maintain and expand programs. Our goals will be to find enough donors to raise up $500,000 per year in annual funds over the next five years. Our capital funds goal will be $5 million over the next five years. I laugh (see Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 17-18) as I write this, thinking about the enormity of the number. But, the need is definitely there, I believe this is what God is calling us to as a school and He is able to do the impossible, and now we have a strategy to do our part in what He is leading us to do.

Thank you, Mickey for your help and we would appreciate your prayers as we move forward with this plan.

California Trip Post #1

I haven't had time or access lately to update the blog on what I am doing so the next few posts are "catch up." I left Guam Monday the 30th and arrived at Sacramento airport at about the same time. Joyce and my parents picked me up at the airport. She had been there already a week helping her parents get ready to move - thank God for all the airline miles we accumulate, they paid for her trip. After a day of rest (I got about three hours of sleep during the 20+ hours of flight and airport time) we went the next morning to meet old friends Ang and Steve Leuice at Starbucks in Placerville. Steve and Ang were co-workers with us in Palau in the 80's and on Guam in the 90's. Our kids pretty much grew up together. Steve pastors Camino Community Church, one of our supporting churches. I guess we had a lot to catch up on because we talked for about three hours without even realizing that that much time had gone by. We were glad to hear about what God is doing in their lives, although I must admit, I did try to recruit them to come back to Guam.