Why am I here? A message from the chancellor.

By Don Lough, Jr.

In the rush of life, it’s all too easy to lose sight of the fact that God has placed us on this earth for a purpose. Philippians 2:15 reminds us that God has strategically placed us “in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation” and that we are to “shine as lights in the world.” We are not here simply to exist. Our lives should be all about taking every opportunity to show and share the difference that Christ can make in life.

I was reminded of this truth while waiting for a flight a few months ago. I couldn’t help but notice a businessman just a few seats away. He was sobbing uncontrollably as he talked on the phone. It was clear that he was coming to terms with some very difficult news. To be honest, my first instinct was to find another place to sit. After all, this man really needed some privacy, right?

Then I was reminded, “Why am I here?” I knew this had to be a divine appointment. With my heart pounding, I slid next to the man and asked, “Sir, are you going to be okay? Would you mind if I pray for you?” His hostile response caught me off guard: “No — I don’t believe in God!” I said, “Excuse me, sir, I don’t know what you are going through, but God does exist, whether you believe in Him or not. Matter of fact, God loves you, and it’s pretty obvious that you need Him right now.” With words punctuated with profanity and sobbing, he began to unfold his story. He was highly educated and a successful robotics engineer. He admitted to me, “Until today, I thought I was God.” The devastating phone call had come from his son, his pride and joy, who was a professional athlete in the National Hockey League. He had called to tell his dad that his career was likely over and that he was on his way to rehab and prison for possession and use of drugs.

I responded, “Sir, I have some more bad news for you. God, in His Word, says that not only are you not God, but you are not even good” (Romans 3). I continued, “You said you don’t believe in God, right? Has it occurred to you that God put us together today? I could’ve sat in any number of seats in this airport. My being here at this exact moment is no accident. God has to exist!” He nodded affirmatively and replied, “You got me.” I prayed for him and his son and gave him a Gospel tract before we parted ways. While I’ve not been able to reconnect with this man, there’s no doubt that this was an assignment from God.

Of course, we all have work to do, places to go, and people to meet. But the primary reason we are here is to represent Christ and to “hold forth the Word of Life” to this world that so desperately needs Him. I’m convinced that God puts divine appointments on our calendars every day. Our responsibility is to recognize and seize these opportunities to share what Christ has done in our lives.

From heartache to a full heart: Lori Beth Blaney, Class of 1988.

In December 2006, Lori Beth Blaney, Class of 1988, was in a Georgia hospital. She and her family had been in a car accident, hit head-on by a teenager from the local high school. Everyone made it out alive except for one: Lori Beth’s unborn daughter, whom she and her husband would later name Rachel.

The day after the accident, in an almost unspeakable state of grief, Lori Beth had to deliver her stillborn baby. After the birth, she didn’t see much of the hospital staff — they seemed to avoid her. No one looked to ease her despair, and she was left alone without much help to deal with her loss.

“I felt like I had a hole that needed to be filled,” she says.

As time passed and Lori Beth’s sorrow threatened to swallow her up, she felt God laying something on her heart. She was painfully aware of the lack of support for mothers in her situation and felt God leading her to do something about it.

“I didn’t want to do it at first,” Lori Beth says of creating Rachel’s Gift, the faith-based nonprofit that would emerge in 2008. “I’m more of a worker bee and not one to start something from scratch.”

But after much lost sleep and time spent arguing with God, Lori Beth knew what she was supposed to do.

She started by reaching out to other moms dealing with the loss of an infant, women who felt isolated during the grieving process. She did extensive research and connected with counselors and nurses to help understand how best to work with parents in crisis.

Four years later, Rachel’s Gift now works with seven (soon to be eight) Georgia hospitals to provide grief assistance for parents and families experiencing infant loss. It also helps train nurses and caregivers to address issues that families face while dealing with such tragic situations.

Testimony Corner: Marisa Irizarry, Class of 1986

I made the decision to accept Christ at age 7 during a Vacation Bible School program at a friend’s church. The program definitely stuck with me: I currently help lead VBS with the youth ministry team at the same church where I was saved — Quinton Baptist Church in Quinton, New Jersey.

I’ve had a heart for ministry since that young age, and I’m still amazed by the opportunities God has given me over the years. Growing up, I found many ways to show Christ’s love through community service and share His Word through visitations as a teenager.

During my junior year of high school, my youth pastor took our group to Word of Life Snow Camp. I remember watching the counselors and thinking, “If the same God lives in them that lives in me, then why am I not as happy as they are? And if this is the place where they came to become that happy and joyful, I’m coming, too, because I want what they have!”

I enrolled in the Bible Institute right out of high school and moved to Schroon Lake with that renewed faith and inspiration that can only come from a fruitful mission trip. I had spent the summer sharing the Good News in England, and I felt God calling me to do missions overseas as an adult. The Bible Institute was the first step.

During my time at the Bible Institute, I grew so much spiritually. I didn’t have a breadth of the reality of Scripture in my life during my childhood nor in my teens, but through my courses I gained a deep biblical knowledge that continues to support my decision making as I minister to youth.

My Bible studies and Quiet Time with my Savior would influence my heart and inspire me to reach out with Jesus’ hand and affect the world. I joined the Open Air Evangelism ministry and remember Jack Wyrtzen talking to us about having a vision and then doing it: “Stop praying about it, and just go do it!” So, some of my friends and I started a campus outreach. We would go to different college campuses every Monday, hand out tracts, and talk to people.

After finishing Second Year at the Bible Institute, I went to Appalachian Bible College and earned my degree in Bible and youth ministry. I met my husband, Albert Irizarry, and we wed in 1992. Albert also attended the Bible Institute, Class of 1991, before returning to Appalachian Bible to finish his degree.

We have two children: Eric, 18, and Megan, 16. Eric got his acceptance letter from Word of Life in the mail three days ago! He says he knew he was going to the Bible Institute — it was written on his birth certificate. With two alumni as parents, I guess it’s hard not to end up at Schroon Lake! Megan also plans to attend when she graduates high school.

I’m thrilled my children will have the opportunity to experience the joy I found at the Bible Institute. I got a fresh dose of that joy when I attended the 1986 class reunion. What a spiritually uplifting, encouraging, and amazing time we had together!  Although we hadn’t seen one another in 25 years, it was like we never left each other. I enjoyed such sweet fellowship with the alumni, and I know I can always call on them for prayer support.

As I shared with my former classmates at the reunion, Albert and I have been leading on the youth ministry team at our home church. We love to watch the teens grow in Christ. Our youth group has attended the Island and goes to Snow Camp every year. (Our kids won first prize in the banner competition — that place is still 48 hours of sheer energy!) We’ve also planned activities, taught Sunday School, and hosted a teen prayer group at our home on Friday nights.

Besides ministering to the youth, I have been involved in a variety of ways at Quinton Baptist Church, including missions, serving as a deaconess and church secretary, attending and leading Bible studies, and singing with the worship team. I also held director of development and event coordinator positions with Bridgeton Christian School and worked in sales at a local Christian radio station. Right now, I am a stay-at-home mom.

As I list these things, I know that God sees them, but really I just want to be known as a woman who loved God and prayed — not this or that accomplishment or title. When people remember me, I just want them to say, “She loved to pray — to talk to Jesus.” That might sound simple, but I do love to pray, and that’s what I want my legacy to be.

Victory Journal Issue 4: Online in PDF form.

If you'd like to see Issue 4 of the Victory Journal in PDF form, click here. We'll be rolling out the articles from that issue on this blog in the coming days, but you can get the full treatment of what the magazine looks via the PDF.

Reunion Report: Class of 1986

Word of Life is always welcoming alumni to come on home for a class reunion, Bible Institute visit, or conference at the Word of Life Inn. While the main event for alumni to visit each year is the Memorial Day and Founder’s Conference weekend, alumni are also invited to plan other get-togethers throughout the year. Word of Life is also willing to help alumni plan local meetings across the U.S.

If you’re interested in planning an alumni reunion, contact Wayne Lewis at waynel@wol.org. To book a spot for the Memorial Day/Founder’s Conference weekend, which includes alumni reunions for the classes of 1973, 1983, 1993 and 2003 this spring, call Dawn Wayson at (518) 532-2290.

Here’s what happened when one member of the Class of 1986 got to work on planning a reunion for his class this past spring.

By Wesley A. Yerkes

About two years ago, I received a message on Facebook from some Bible Institute classmates who wanted to get together for a reunion that year or the next. I had been to Founder’s Conference, Homecoming, and Memorial Day events at different years, and the turnout for my class had always been small — 15 to 20 people at a time, and that was the largest of any class that came.

I thought about it and responded, “Let’s wait two years until our 25-year anniversary from graduation and have the biggest class reunion they have ever had.”

I wanted to make our class reunion different. Twenty-five years is a milestone — a quarter of a century! I thought, “Let’s make this huge!”

We started with almost a year of chatter and brainstorming on Facebook, throwing out all kinds of ideas of when, where, who, and how. Then we began narrowing our options and plans. Nobody said for me to kind of take the lead on this idea, but I had one broad goal in mind: to try to get as many of my classmates together as possible in one place, at one time, to glorify God with our testimonies and praise and to encourage one another in the faith while there is still a little time left in this life.

I designed a brochure, recruited a classmate to help me with some artwork, and bounced all of our ideas off the folks at Word of Life. Things really began coming together. I gave portions of the responsibilities of contacts and music preparation to those who were willing to help, and it really became a group effort.

Along the way, I was blessed to find so many of the exciting things my classmates have done since graduation. Many have thriving ministries. Some have become authors. Several are excellent pastors of local churches. Others have become school teachers, youth pastors, missionaries, Christian counselors, or are serving in many other positions of ministry that are touching lives around the world. This one class of Bible Institute students could literally be responsible or used by God to touch the lives of and bring thousands of people, maybe even a million souls, into the family of God in just 25 years.

“Our God is in control though pressures burden the soul. His sovereign plan is a sym-phony!” were some of the lyrics to a song we sang on the Daniel Tour, and these words still ring true in my heart today. Some of my classmates have gone through incredibly difficult experiences (divorce, cancer, loss of loved ones, loss of jobs, depression, huge financial struggles, and more), and it has been my privilege and joy to share their pain and their burdens in prayer to our Heavenly Father as well as to encourage them in the midst of their suffering.

There are times that I don’t understand what God is doing, but then years later when I look back and see the big picture, I see the “touch of the Master’s hand” in composing this wonderful symphony of life. If my classmates are encouraged and strengthened in their faith because of this class reunion, and if the work of Jesus Christ is magnified through it all, then all of the investment of time and energy will be worth it.

So, I would encourage other alumni to help us “awake the giant.” Get your classmates talking and plan regional alumni events with Bible Institute faculty and staff. Encourage one another in the faith. Pray for each other and share your burdens. Then pick a milestone year and plan a huge reunion in New York, Florida, or Owen Sound to come together and rehearse all the great things that God has done. Enjoy the Word of Life experience all over again as you praise God together!

A gift of growth.

By Rhonda Nicholes
Word of Life missionary to South Korea

What would you do if a friend came to your house one evening and said, “I’m going to give you $230,000?” Well, that is exactly what happened to us this past March. As you can imagine, we were floored and at a loss for words. God had blessed a friend from church, and she wants to see the cafetorium here at the Bible Institute’s Jeju campus completed this summer.

Finishing this cafetorium will officially bring Phase 1 of the Jeju building project to a close. We have been able to run the school without it until this point by using one floor of a dorm to have classes, operating our offices out of a construction storage container, temporarily housing the kitchen in a maintenance garage, and serving meals in a greenhouse/tent structure (very hot in summer and very cold in the winter).  As you can see, this will greatly enhance the experience of students who come, make the campus much more attractive, help us recruit students, and make the program much more efficient for the staff.

We were not necessarily planning a work project this summer, but God obviously had other ideas. So, we are looking for a few more donations to bring us up to the $300,000 needed to complete the project. We also need workers — skilled and unskilled — to come and help to raise the roof between July 17 and September 17.

It will be one of the cheapest overseas short-term mission trips I know of — just the cost of a plane ticket.

The logs for the building are already on their way from Lincoln Logs in Warrensburg, New York. They should arrive around July 17. God is also sending Eugene Webster and his family back as the general contractor to oversee the project.

Anyone interested in investing his or her construction skills — carpentry, electrical, plumbing, roofing, tiling — or simply two hands is invited to help at the Bible Institute in Jeju this summer. Please contact cherylgredlein@wol.org for more information, and be praying that God will send the funds and friends needed to make this happen!

Sparks of Ministry: Q&A with Doug Reider.

One man’s journey from electrical engineer to missionary in Poland to the Bible Institute’s Owen Sound campus

On how going to school for electrical engineering led to him being called to Eastern Europe:
I had always wanted to be an engineer and was good in math and the sciences. When I graduated from high school, I was encouraged to attend Bible college but felt that I already knew the Bible, having attended Christian school and church for most of my life. But the Lord began to convict me. I knew there was more purpose for my life than designing computers. It was in my last few weeks of university that I wanted to see change. A friend suggested I consider the Bible Institute, but I didn’t want to quit my job. Then he suggested I study the Bible at the graduate school level. By the time I finished at Capital Bible Seminary, the Lord led me to be part of what He was opening up in Eastern Europe.

On coming to Word of Life:
At the time, I was an associate pastor in my home church. The senior pastor suggested I consider Word of Life as a mission board, since they were already in Eastern Europe. I worked in computer operations at the Bible Institute, and met my wife, Sue Washburn, a fellow missions-minded Christian.

On ministering in a country that went from communism to Scripture memory cards:
After the Lord supplied our financial support, we moved to Poland with our year-old son, Sam. Most of what we did the first several years was language training, but a missionary wears many hats. I got to do all kinds of things, from speaking at camp, teaching in a seminary in Warsaw, and directing Bible Clubs to doing necessary computer work, laying out the Bible Club material, and cutting out every individual memory verse card (yes, somebody has to do it!).

On helping start a brand-new Bible Institute:
A lingering medical situation took us out of Poland, but the Lord had a plan: we moved to Owen Sound, Ontario, to organize and start the English-speaking Bible Institute there.

Since all of the staff (at Owen Sound) are also missionaries, we didn’t exactly have staff and couldn’t just go hire people. They, too, had to raise support. As little as 30 days before the Bible Institute opened in 2002, I was still the only staff person working full-time. Every letter that went out, I sent, and every phone call, I answered. But with the end of summer camp that year, all hands were on deck for that fall.

On challenging times:
The 11 months before the Bible Institute opened in Owen Sound were traumatic. John MacQueen, who handled all the maintenance on property, was killed in a tractor accident on Thanksgiving Day. The very week of registration, a second staff member, Craig Watson, was killed while driving from his home to campus to speak to the students who had come early for leadership training. The Bible Institute started with much pain. As a side note, both staff members who died were from the local area. Often we think that it’s missionaries on the other side of earth that die. Sometimes it’s when they’re in their hometown.

On the Bible Institute’s first decade, which has already given birth to a new spiritual generation:
We’re now in our 10th class at the Owen Sound campus. In fact, as I write, Missions Conference is going on. It’s exciting to see how the Lord has led the alumni from past years. Last year during a Campus Days while I was teaching theology, I was struck by the thought that the four pastors sitting in the room who had brought students to that Campus Days were all former students in Owen Sound! It’s exciting when I hear from alumni who are in ministry, whether they are pastors, missionaries, or working in their home churches. God continues to do great things!