TRACS Conference

Good evening from Nashville, Tennesee. This week I was attending the TRACS conference. TRACS is the accrediting agency for PIBC. I enjoyed the conference this year, especially the opportunity to network with other Christian college administrators. It is always encouraging to hear that other schools are going through similar things that we are and get some ideas about how they have dealt with these things. It was also good to have an opportunity to explore different ways that we could partner with some of these schools. There are several opportunities there. The first night we went on a river boat trip on the Cumberland River. I spent most of that trip talking with Dave Beck our TRACS representative setting up their accreditation reaffirmation visit for next May. I think it was a very profitable time. The lights of Nashville were also very pretty as we observed them from the river. I met our board chairman Bill Schuit (my roommate) and Steve Stinnette at the conference. We had a good time discussing several PIBC issues. While I thought the seminars this year were not as good as previous years, the networking opportunities made the conference worthwhile. The picture above was taken from the window of my hotel. It is not hard to figure out what the main denomination in Nashville is, is it?

Weekend in Scotts Valley

I have just arrived back in El Dorado, at my mom and dad's house, and will fly out to Nashville Tennessee tomorrow for the TRACS conference. I had been in Scotts Valley meeting with our friends at Gateway Bible Church and staying with my brother Doug and his family. I had a great visit with them as Doug and Diane took care of us Veeeery well.

On Friday and Monday I met with Jim Bartell and John McCabe to plan a Gateway project to help us renovate a house in Yap into a new PIBC Yap classroom, library, computer lab and office. Jim and John had a lot of good ideas about the project and brought a lot of enthusiasm into it. They are hoping to bring a small group of contractors out to Yap to work with local workers to get the job done in January-February. When we complete the project it will be a great benefit to PIBC and to the Yap church.

The main purpose of the trip was to speak at Gateway's service on Sunday. It was the first Sunday of "Missions Month" and I was honored to kick it off. They did a great job of raising awareness of the importance of each person in the church participating in missions, decorating the church and I was very encouraged by their obvious focus on the kingdom of God and extending it to the "ends of the earth." It was also fun to see so many old friends. Gateway has been supporting our mission work since we began in 1984 and we are very thankful for their faithfulness to us and to the mission. I was also encouraged by the enthusiasm of the Missionary Action Comittee (pictured left) as we discussed mission strategy over a delicious pizza after the service. Thank you pastors Dan and Fred for a great day. I am excited about what God is doing at Gateway!

I also had a chance to visit with old friends Jeff and Christy McKim. Jeff has been helping PIBC out with some grant writing and research so this was a good opportunity to touch base with Jeff on some fund raising opportunities. I spent Halloween with them at their house comparing grandchildren pictures and enjoying Christy's killer enchiladas.

If it wasn't so cold, it would have been a perfect weekend. I know the area needs rain, but why did it have to be so rainy (pouring) and cold when I was there? ;)

In Northern California

I flew from Los Angeles to Sacramento on Saturday fighting a nasty cold. On Sunday morning I was supposed to be speaking in two services at Gold Country Baptist but I awoke with no voice whatsoever. I figured since I came 8000 miles to be there I would give it a go and try to speak. The church elders prayed with me and I started to speak. My voice got stronger and stronger and I made it through both services. Afterwards, My voice went back to nothing for the rest of the day. I took Monday off and feel a lot better now. I had a great time at GCBC seeing a lot of good friends and receiving a lot of encouragement. PIBC owes a lot to GCBC as they support the Plaxtons, Mary Lou Carruthers and other short term projects and people in addition to us. It was great to have a Sunday to fellowship with them.

Tuesday I drove up to Redding with Joyce's mom and dad. I met that afternoon with Pastors John Murdock and Jacob Ngiraiblosch from Susanville and Palau. We discussed a strategy for training leadership for the many Palauan churches that are popping up all over the USA. I am hoping to get some of the young people in these churches out to PIBC in Guam. We will also work with the churches in the US to train Palauan leaders and hopefully send some PIBC people to speak at conventions and workshops in California and Texas. There are a lot of exciting things happening with the Micronesian churches in the States.

Wednesday morning I had the opportunity to speak at Shasta Bible College's chapel. It is always fun to be able to share about missions and opportunities to serve in Micronesia with the students there. They always have a lot of interest in what we are doing. The picture is of me with Dr. Keith Stone who is the missions prof there. In the evening I spoke at one of our supporting churches, 1st Baptist Redding. I got an opportunity to talk about missions with the kids in their AWANA club and then shared the vision of PIBC in the adult Bible study. It was good to renew relationship with Pastor Rob (pictured above) and the rest of the good people at 1st Baptist Redding.

This Sunday I will be speaking in the morning services at Gateway Bible Church in Scotts Valley.

Meanwhile Back on Guam

I am enjoying my time in Northern California and will post on that soon. Meanwhile Joyce sent me some pictures and news to report. First some sad news... Our dean of women, Ethel Laco (shown here 2nd from left, with May Vigil, Joyce and Melody Plaxton) was informed last week that her mother had gone to be with the Lord. When she made plans to go to the Philippines for the funeral she found that her visa would require her to stay outside the US for at least a year before she could come back. Though she was very sad about leaving her ministry here, she needed to be with her family at this time and so she left last weekend. We will really miss Ethel a lot. She did so much around the campus (Ethel always knows where things are and how things are supposed to be done), the students love her and she is a good friend. Please pray for her ministry to her family and, if God wills it, she would be able to come back to PIBC some day. Joyce says that everyone is already missing her. Please also be in prayer for May Vigil as she has flown to Hawaii for some medical treatment.

Here is a picture of Joyce's ESL class at PIBC. She and Kent Boydston team teach the class. Joyce is especially enjoying getting to know her Taiwanese students who include Pastor Wu of the Guam Chinese Christian Church, his wife and daughter. This semester has been a change for Joyce to move from teaching kindergartners to teaching ESL to older students at the Japanese school and to adults at PIBC. Kent is also teaching a group of students at the Korean Presbyterian Church. It is a good way for PIBC to reach out to the church community on the island and provide some help and to get to know Christians on the island outside of the Micronesian communities.

Nice Week at Biola

I spent my first few days on the mainland staying with Michael and Samantha and the kids near Biola in La Mirada. Of course this means I spend a lot of time playing with the grandkids, but I also have been able to talk to some other people. I had a good lunch with Dennis Dirks, the Dean of Talbot Seminary. We talked about possible ways Biola and Talbot could work together. Then Michael and Samantha introduced me to several Talbot faculty members. I, of course, emphasized the opportunity for these teachers to come out to Micronesia and write their books while sitting under a coconut tree, and teach a couple classes for PIBC. There seemed to be some interest in that.

Last night I had the opportunity to interview a couple young people, Jen Rydzik and Eddie Chern, about the possibility of coming out to PIBC next Fall to teach in our remedial program (mostly ESL) and work with our students. I appreciated their enthusiasm and commitment to service for Christ and the church. We are praying together to see where God will lead us in this, but I'd love to see some energetic young people like them at PIBC. I brought my camera to take a picture of everyone at the meeting, but as usual, I forgot to take the picture. After the meeting I went back to Mike and Sam's place with a sore throat. I woke this morning with no voice whatsoever. I'd appreciate your prayers that it would come back before I speak at Gold Country Baptist this Sunday.

Titus has been helping me out with my morning coffee run to Starbucks. Here is a pic of him there. I notice that when I bring him we seem to get more free samples...

I am in California

I left Hawaii last night and arrived in LA this morning at 5 AM. I had a good meeting in Hawaii with Randy Furushima, the president of HITS and am still hopeful that we will be able to run our programs in Honolulu and work with the faculty and students of HITS. I was a little disappointed that I did not get a chance to meet and talk with more of the people there. The picture is from the window of my hotel room in Honolulu. I am now at the house of my son Michael and his family. I have been enjoying renewing my relationship with my grandson Titus and granddaughter Courage. We have already read several books together, "rocked out" on Titus' new guitars (pictured), raced through the apartment and "shot" each other. Courage tries to get involved in all this and looks like she will take off crawling at any moment. My meetings here start tomorrow. I would appreciate your prayers for God's guidance.

Trip to the Mainland

I am starting to pack for my annual trip to the US mainland. I will be leaving early Monday morning. The main purposes of this trip are recruiting, fund raising, partner building, project coordination and meeting with some of our supporting churches. I will be gone from Guam October 20 to November 21. At least Joyce won't be by herself while I am on this trip. Larry and Sharon Bock are still staying with us (They have already agreed to stay for another semester in the Spring.) Joyce will also have some of the female students over for "relationship building" (cookie baking, girl-movie watching etc.).

Here is my schedule for the upcoming trip. If you are near one of these stops I'd love to meet with you. Maybe we could grab a cup of coffee together or something.

October 20-21: Honolulu Hawaii - Meeting with Hawaii Theological Seminary students, staff and administration. We are still working out plans for PIBC to acquire HITS.
October 22-25: La Mirada CA - I will be staying with Michael, Samantha and the kids and meeting with people from Biola/Talbot and some prospective teachers from Southern California
October 26: Speaking in the AM service at Gold Country Baptist Church, Shingle Springs CA.
October 26-27: Staying with my mom and dad in El Dorado CA.
October 28-29: Redding CA. Speaking at Shasta Bible College Chapel in the AM on the 29th and at First Baptist Redding Wednesday evening service. On the 28th I will be meeting in Redding with the leaders of the Southern Baptist group that came out to Palau last summer.
October 30-November 3: Scotts Valley CA. I will be meeting with the mission group from Gateway Bible Church to plan a mission trip/project in Yap and will be speaking at Gateway in the morning service on the 2nd. I will also meet with a friend who is working with PIBC on some grants and publicity projects.
November 4: Fly to Nashville Tennessee
November 5-8: TRACS Conference in Nashville.
November 8-12: Dallas Texas. I'll be staying with my daughter Missy, recruiting faculty at Dallas Theological Seminary and visiting alumni and friends of PIBC there.
November 13-14: Columbia International University recruiting English and Bible faculty.
November 14: Visiting friends in Winston-Salem North Carolina
November 15: Fly back to LA and back to Michael's house in La Mirada
November 16: Go to church with Mike and Sam and work with them on a possible mission trip for their church to Micronesia.
November 17-18: San Diego CA to visit Matt and Kristin; recruit at San Diego Christian College and talk with them about some cooperative efforts.
November 19: Back to LA and spend the day playing with the grandchildren
November 20: Fly back to Guam