The Second Generation: Valerie J. (Schrack) Donley-Mure

In spring 1982, my parents attended their regional Child Evangelism Fellowship directors conference, which was at the Word of Life Inn. During the announcements one evening, the director of the Inn, Don Lough, Sr., talked about the ministry of Word of Life and said that just nine miles down the road was a Bible Institute where young people could learn the Bible in one year.

This was less than two months before my high school graduation. I was scheduled to leave the day after for two months of ministry with Child Evangelism Fellowship in western Germany, and I was planning to get home just in time to pack and leave for Liberty Baptist College, which I had dreamed of attending since I was 10 years old.

When my parents returned home, my dad said, “I know you have your heart set on going to Liberty, but while we were in New York, we heard about a one-year Bible Institute. You don’t have to go, but I would really like you to consider going there for one year first.”

I dismissed the thought, graduated, and went to Germany. But throughout the summer, I couldn’t get the Bible Institute out of my mind and prayed about what I should do. I decided to honor my father and go there for one year.

I had been involved in music, choir, band, and ministry my whole life, but I did not try out at the Bible Institute because I had no clue what “the Collegians” was. Then, the Collegians performed “Revelation” for the incoming student body. I said, “If that’s what the Collegians are, I want to be a Collegian! Too bad the tryouts are over.”

But my roommate said the choir director was “really nice,” and she said she would ask him if I could try out. Well, as they say, the rest is history. I was part of the Christmas musical and stayed to do tours the next year.

I would call home each week and tell my parents all about the visiting professors and what they were teaching. By the time I returned after the Christmas break, my younger sister, Merrilea, wanted to come for the next year.

After graduation, I went on tour with Word of Life, and that “really nice” music teacher and my friend, Brian Donley, asked me go to the banquet with him. We were married less than two years later and raised our six daughters across the street from the Word of Life Ranch.

Brian had a great love for the Bible Institute and the ministry of his beloved Collegians. We involved the girls any way we could. We wanted them to love the ministry of Word of Life as much as we did.

They knew they had to eat three meals a day, breathe air to live, and attend the Bible Institute when they graduated from high school. Although Brian passed away one month before our oldest daughter’s graduation and did not have his own daughters as Collegians, they all kept our desire for them to attend.

Word of Life Bible Institute is one of the best places for a person to set aside one year of his or her life to dig deep into God’s Word under the ministry of many top-notch Bible teachers. The impact lasts for eternity.

Click here to read about Valerie's daughter, Joanna, Class of 2013.

For more second generation stories, click here.