First Seminary Class

Saturday was a historic day for me and for Pacific Islands Bible College as we taught the first class session of our new seminary program. (You can read more about it on the PIBC web site) It was also the first time I have taught a course on the seminary level. I have six students in my Basic Exegesis course including 1 Palauan, 1 Chuukese, 1 Korean, 1 Chinese, 1 Filipina and 1 American. Two of the students are graduates of PIBC, two are ordained pastors and all are involved in ministry. I can already tell that it is really going to be fun to work with this group. The class meets twice a week. On Saturday we meet from 8 to 11.30 AM to do the "hands on" exegesis training (next Saturday we will work on observing structure and book charting) and then one other time during the week for 60-90 minutes to discuss the reading for the week. Tuesday night the class will be coming over to my house for dinner and to discuss The Drama of Scripture and the basic biblical theology of the Old Testament. Please pray for John Jim, Hedrick, Mia, Christine, Peng Li and Kent as they dig in to the scriptures and for me to be a good guide.

"Tarague Timeout"

We held our annual "start of the semester" Guam staff and faculty meeting on Monday afternoon. Normally I am not real excited about meetings, but this year we held our meeting at Tarague beach on Andersen AF Base, one of the most beautiful spots on Guam. Under the shade of the Norfolk pine and coconut trees we began the semester with a discussion of the school's culture, values, goals, mission and vision. As a multi-cultural, multi-denominational, multi-organizational institution it can sometimes be difficult to have clear communication and get everybody pulling in the same direction. There are also tremendous advantages to this diversity as many good ideas, that I never would have thought of in a million years, come from people with quite different perspectives. While there are challenges in this, I really enjoy working in an institution that looks a little like what the kingdom will look like.

Our discussion, of course after I did a little swimming in the warm ocean water and enjoyed the snacks, dealt with the foundational statements and beliefs of our ministry. We broke into several different, mix and match, groups and then came back together to discuss the issues as a unified faculty-staff. Part of this is in preparation for our self-study, but I think it is important to remind yourself periodically of what you are all about. God seems to be expanding the vision of PIBC both geographically and in its scope of programs and we need to make sure we stay grounded in His call. I am always amazed and excited by the high quality of people God brings our way to do the work here and am looking forward to another exciting semester. We value your prayers for us and for our students as the semester begins on Saturday.

Campus Is Almost Ready

Today was the the staff and faculty work day on the Guam campus to prepare for the official beginning of the new semester next Saturday. Several of the students that are already on campus worked hard today too. Several members of the Palauan Evangelical Church of Guam also helped. Now the flower beds are weeded (Above Left) and the summer growth is cleared away. Bill Wood and several of the students extended the walkway in front of the classroom to accommodate a handicapped accessible parking place (Upper right). The school provided coffee, donuts and sodas. I was not allowed into the construction projects or flower beds so I was the drink distributor and helped man a wheelbarrow and hauled away the weeds and other various forms of unwanted plants. At 10.00 our school team had a basketball game in the Guam church league. Most of our students are not here yet, but we scrounged together a team (I even played for about 12 minutes of game time to give the guys some rest). We came up short 85-64 but we had a lot of fun.


We are also working on preparing our classes and students. This year we instituted a pre-semester intensive study skills class for new students taught by Melody Plaxton. 8 students are taking advantage of this opportunity this year. We are also preparing our classes for the coming semester. I am almost finished with my syllabus for my Basic Exegesis and Interpretation class. Larry and Sharon Bock, new staff who are staying at our house are also busy. Below, Larry is pictured below hard at work preparing his two classes and Sharon is getting oriented in the office where she will be working. We are thankful for God's provision of new staff and we are still praying for more. Email me if you are interested to help us "build servant leaders" for the Pacific Islands!

ARA Libertad

Yesterday afternoon a group of eight of our PIBC staff got out of the office and took a tour of the tall sailing ship Armada de la República Argentina Libertad. The ship is used for training and stopped into Guam on its way around the world. It has already sailed around Africa, Southern Asia, Japan and Australia and will head back "around the Horn" to Argentina when it leaves Guam. We saw several of the Argentine sailors coming back from shopping trips loaded down with bags from Guam stores obviously enjoying their shore leave. We, especially Joyce, had a good time getting to know them. They were a pretty friendly group (200 men and 20 women).It was nice to get out of the office for a while and feel the wind "blow through the hair." It would be fun to be out there under full sail on the open sea. Well maybe not since I tend to get sea sick.

Here are Joyce and Melody Plaxton under the Argentine flag. And of course Joyce managed to make some new friends!

Over The Weekend

One of our (fun) responsibilities is helping to orient new staff. Part of that responsibility is showing new staff the island, so this past weekend we gave the Bock's the island tour. Normally on this tour we make several stops at incredible cliff-top vistas, tropical pools full of fish, easy hikes without much sword grass, world war II battle sites and other scenic spots. Normally all of this is under a bright sun and blue sky. We were hoping for that Saturday as we headed out for the Bock's tour, but soon-to-be tropical storm Nuri changed our plans. There was so much rain the mission car almost became the mission boat. We were able to stop at the Inarajan pools for lunch for about an hour before the deluge hit. We drove around the southern end of the island and saw it through a curtain of water. The rain took a break long enough for us to get out of the car at the Asan Overlook (pictured - this is where the US troops reinvaded Guam in 1944). We were all set for a historical presentation by a friendly young park ranger dressed as a WWII marine but, as the drops started to pound our head, we made a quick dash for the car to escape the next dunking. We plan to try the trip again soon.

Sunday after church we went to the house of Mike and Judy Albin, the pastor of Bayview Baptist Church. Mike is a Dallas Seminary grad. So in the picture you can see Larry Bock (DTS 2008), Me (DTS 1992) and Mike (DTS 1971). As far as I know we are all the DTS alumni on Guam, or even in the Western Pacific. We enjoyed some good barbequed cheeseburgers, good fellowship and the incredible view from the Bayview parsonage. I plan to be at Dallas Seminary November 10-12 to try to recruit more faculty from there.

New School Year Preparation

We are working hard to get the campus ready for the new semester. Our orientation class for new students begins on August 19th and the semester begins for all the students on August 30th. My first graduate level class, Basics of Exegesis, will begin on Saturday morning of the 30th. Most of the faculty and staff are back from vacations and summer support raising so today was our first Guam campus faculty and staff meeting. You can see, it took two pictures to get everyone in, that our staff has continued to grow. We are hoping for about the same amount of students we had last year (65 in the dormitories and about 100 overall). We never know until they actually arrive. We had one student that we had no prior communication with show up this morning with a completed application packet. We had him through the admissions committee and accepted by the end of the day. It was good to get everyone together again and talk about the vision for the year and get things ready for start of the school year. It seems like there are about a 100 unexpected things that pop up as we get ready.

One of the big jobs is getting the dorms ready. Joyce has been working on the guys' dorm the last couple weeks along with some of the summer students and some volunteers. This week they have been working on the main women's dorm. It is amazing how much damage and wear a group of college students can produce on a building. Today was the day to air out the mattresses and set off the bug bombs. (Joyce is pictured with both here.) Every year it seems like we won't get things done on time but we always seem to be ready even if it is close. One year we were still putting beds together with the students waiting there holding their suitcases in the doorways of their dorm rooms. We will be having a big work day on the Guam campus August 23rd at 7 AM to make the final touches to have it ready. We would appreciate everyone who can come up and give us a hand to get the campus ready to go.

The Bocks Are Here!

Larry and Sharon Bock arrived on Guam at 2.00 AM on Wednesday. Joyce and I, and Brad Boydston were there to greet them. Larry is a new faculty member who will be teaching two Bible classes on our Guam campus and Sharon will be working "where ever I can be most help." Larry is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary (All right, another DTS alum on Guam!) and they have been living in Longview Texas, the last few years. The picture is of the Bocks and us in the Guam airport parking lot. They will be staying at our house the next few weeks so we will have room mates for a while. We will be giving them the island tour tomorrow and they are starting to get over the jet lag. We are excited to have them here as a part of the PIBC family and we would value your prayers for their good adjustment to the climate, culture and college (couldn't resist the three C's).

By the way, our trip to the airport to pick up the Bock's was our 67th airport trip of 2008.