A message from the new alumni director, Mike Bush.

By Mike Bush, Class of 1981

Hello, alumni! Don’t be alarmed — Wayne Lewis is still around. We just wanted to take this time to let you know about some changes that will be going on at Word of Life, and specifically for Bible Institute alumni.

Wayne has spent the last couple of years working on ramping up our alumni connections, and now I’m coming on board to help as the new alumni director. Wayne will continue as the “alumni director emeritus,” and we’re already looking at a few new ways we can connect with and serve alumni.

First of all, this marks some changes for me and my wife, Amy. We have had the high honor of serving at the Word of Life Inn since September 2000. That ministry has been one of the most demanding, stretching, tiring, exciting, impactful, fun, and rewarding things Amy and I have ever done.  We’ve seen God at work, changing the hearts and lives of children, teens, adults, and families from all over the world. We renewed old friendships and made many new ones. We served with some of God’s most faithful servants and loved being part of a wonderful family, including full-time, part-time, volunteer, and summer staff.  But, like they say, “All good things must come to an end.”

Now, we’ll be moving our focus to two things: connecting with alumni, and helping host the winter conference season in Florida. With alumni, I will take the lead from Wayne and continue to encourage, help, and support our 18,000-strong alumni family. Wayne and I have already been working with Greg Dyson, our new director of admissions, on events this spring in partnership with our Local Church Ministries missionaries. Wayne has called this our “Back to the Future” tour. We are encouraging alumni to attend these events and bring prospective students with them (“back” = alumni, “future” = admissions). We would appreciate your help with these events as well, as we hope to introduce many new people to the Bible Institute.

My other responsibility, the winter conference season in Florida, will be very similar to what I have done at the Inn.  I will host guests, lead Bible hour, and plan activities. I will also spend time connecting with alumni in the Southeast. We will be in Florida from the first week of January and return to Schroon Lake in April. Amy and I will be in Schroon Lake for much of the spring, summer, and fall, connecting with friends in the ministry and alumni.

We look forward to these exciting new changes, and how we continue to extend the reach of the Bible Institute by connecting former students and finding new ones. Please be in prayer as we make these changes, and we look forward to continuing the work God has done.

“I will seek unto God, and unto God will I commit my cause. He does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number” (Job 5:8-9).