Tours: Send us your memories.

Were you ever a part of Word of Life Tours? We’d love to hear from you.

If you participated in a Bible Institute production, whether on the road or at the Florida campus, please consider sending some memories or photos along.

We’re looking for the following:
(1) Photos – Anything showing the experience, from the performances to backstage to going on the road
(2) Memories – What encouraged you? Who do you remember? Any funny stories?
(3) Encouragement for other alumni – Pass along whatever you’d like to share.

It doesn’t have to be long! We’d just love to hear from you and share your thoughts with other alumni. Even if it’s just a sentence or a grainy 3x5 photo, let us know how Tours touched you.

Thank you for your contribution!

Contact Mike Bush at mikebush@wol.org or send your photos or memories to alumni@wol.org.  

Campus Update: Bible Institute moves across U.S., into Africa

By Dick Dray, Associate Executive Dean, New York campus

For many years, Jack Wyrtzen would introduce Word of Life’s radio program as being from high, high, high in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. He also would say at times that Word of Life was reaching youth both around the corner and around the world. This past December, through the Bible Institute, we saw exactly that happen.

In the last issue of The Victory Journal, Bible Institute Chancellor Don Lough, Jr. talked about student groups heading to New England and the southeastern United States for various music and drama tours, including the new original presentation Magi as well as a Collegian group and the ensemble Redemption.

During the nearly two weeks these groups were out, they shared the message of God’s Word through music and drama in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine. We saw God work in bringing in more than 18,000 people in attendance. More than 100 people made decisions for Christ, and we made many great contacts with alumni and potential future Bible Institute students.

At the same, we saw God working “around the world.”

Bible Institute Executive Dean Mark Strout headed to Uganda to connect with Thomas Obunde (Class of 1995, 2000) and David Kirabira (2005, 2007) to work on plans to open another Bible Institute campus there, on the continent of Africa, this fall. At this time, a one-year program is planned, with 25 students anticipated to start the inaugural school year this September, although the campus as is can hold up to 50 students.

Teaching will be provided by resident lecturers from Uganda and surrounding countries, as well as some professors from the U.S. campuses, and additional options will be considered for ongoing training at the school as the Bible Institute looks to train up future leaders for Africa.

It’s been a packed fall and winter so far, but we’re only get started as we continue to watch God work both here around the corner and out around the world.

Engage: Bringing Teens Involved to a new generation.

Some changes are coming to Teens Involved, now called Engage, to help it better reach the current generation. Find out more by clicking here.

Teens Involved: A brief history
Teens Involved started in 1973 with the vision of finding a way to help students realize their potential and purpose by using their gifts for God’s glory. Paul Bubar realized there was a need to help students discover their God-given talents and consider using those talents in ways they never imagined.

Dr. James McDonald was one such student. A youth leader encouraged him to enter the preaching category of Teens Involved, and through that process, he first sensed God leading him to preach the Word of God and later pastor.

Just 32 students came to the first National Teens Involved week on Word of Life Island. That eventually grew to several thousand students in three locations each summer during nationals alone. The number of students participating in Teens Involved has since declined, though, and it was time to talk to youth pastors and leaders, look at the way culture is changing, and reevaluate the purpose and implementation of the event.

Why change the name?
As Word of Life looked to make major changes to the event to more effectively reach the current generation, it was decided that a new name would best communicate that this is a completely different event, even if it’s designed to accomplish the same purpose as Teens Involved.

Why Engage: Discover. Develop. Deploy.
The purpose of Engage is to help students discover their spiritual gifts, develop those gifts through training and instruction, and deploy them for use in the local church. We want students to know God has given them incredible abilities to make a difference and to learn to use those abilities effectively in the local church.

What’s New
The biggest changes are focused on making the event more practical for local church ministry. As Teens Involved developed over the decades, rules were added for clarity or to help with fairness, but they made it more difficult for real-life use.

This generation also is more interested in working as groups than as individuals, so categories have been adjusted to welcome that.

Teens Involved has been extremely successful over the years, and Word of Life are looking forward to how new methods of accomplishing the same purpose will continue to help students discover, develop, and deploy their God-given abilities.

Reverb: Superbowl gets a new name and look.

Superbowl is being rebranded to an event called Reverb. To read more about the changes, click here.

The origin of Superbowl
Superbowl started in the mid-1970s as Bowl-a-thon, an all-night bowling party with an evangelistic message. In 1985, Doug Bagg added a sporting event and Gospel rally in front of the bowl-a-thon, and the first Superbowl was born. Since then, Superbowl has had more than one million people in attendance, and more than 100,000 have recorded decisions for Christ.

Why change the name?
Superbowl has changed over the years. Events now begin with pro or college sports or interactive rallies with games and prizes. After the Gospel presentation and invitation, students spend the rest of the night at a wide variety of entertainment venues in the area, including local university athletic facilities, go-carts, and laser tag — not just bowling. Bowling is still part of many events, but it’s no longer the focus.

The Super Bowl is also very close to our title and a highly protected trademark of the National Football League. Because the names are so similar, it’s possible that as we grew, we could have been required to change the name, possibly with very short notice.

We also want to continue to reach out to new churches, and the name “Superbowl” can be confusing to those who aren’t familiar with the event. Our first step when talking to new churches was almost always to explain that our event was in fact not a football game.

Why Reverb

Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is produced. A reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space and causes a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air.

This is ultimately our goal for “Word of Life Reverb Night.” We want that sound, the Gospel, to be shared loud and clear to the students who attend and then continue to reverberate out from the arena. We invite students to come to Christ, and we challenge Christian students to share their faith when they go back home.

What’s New
Despite the new name, Reverb will still be the same great event, carrying on the tradition of Superbowl. We will continue to add dates and locations. In addition to the fall tour in November 2014, we will also be offering a winter tour in 2015 with dates mid-January through early March. Reverb will continue to kick off with a high-energy, fun-filled rally, then deliver a clear Gospel message with an opportunity for students to respond before celebrating all night long at premium local venues.

Baby Steps: Bible Institute alumni share passion for saving families.

There’s something about the Bible Institute experience that brings alumni together — no matter how many years pass between graduating classes. Just ask Laura Grosvenor Squier, Class of 1982, and Rachel Fetterhoff Pratt, Class of 2003. They’re the forces behind Care Net of Northeast Pennsylvania, a free crisis pregnancy center that serves women facing unplanned pregnancies. Laura and Rachel didn’t know each other before Care Net, but as Bible Institute alumni, they knew they had a shared mission: serving God by saving families.

Laura, Class of ’82, says her involvement with Care Net began with a call to action. In church one Sunday, she and her husband listened as the pastor encouraged the crowd to take “baby steps” for God by volunteering with Care Net. Deeply motivated by the sermon, Laura began what would be a long journey with the organization, first as a volunteer, then as a board member (a position she held for three years).

After dedicating many hours as a volunteer, Laura took some time off. But it wasn’t the last she’d see of Care Net.

Like most Christians, Laura says she loves watching “the way the Lord works.” She had one of those classic moments that reminded her He is in control one day after her time on the board ended. She was washing dishes, contemplating getting involved with Care Net again. As she explains it:

“I’m sitting there washing dishes, thinking, ‘If I’m going to get back in that ministry, I’d want to be working with the girls. Not in a board room.’ And what do you know, it was at that moment the phone rang.”

On the line was the chairman of Care Net’s board. Laura couldn’t believe it.

“I was so amazed, because the Lord had just prepared me for this moment,” she says. “He asked if I would come be the executive director.” She didn’t hesitate to say yes.

Three years later, Laura says she’s experienced “tons of personal growth” from her time at Care Net. Being able to apply Scripture to situations involving people with no concept of Jesus Christ is more powerful than she’d ever imagined. She and her staff work hard to marry grace and truth. As she sees it, “Truth without grace can be very harsh, and grace without truth can just be compassion.”

Rachel’s attraction to the pregnancy center was similar to Laura’s.

“God has given me a passion for (those who are hard to reach) — the people that aren’t necessarily going to come to church on their own,” she explains. “They’re in desperate need ... the need to know they can be loved even though they’ve done something (they may view as) unforgivable.”

Her perspective was shaped at the Bible Institute, which she says she appreciated for being very ministry-focused — a philosophy she holds today.

Rachel looked to make her work her ministry when she moved to Northeast Pennsylvania, and it wasn’t long before she found a place where she could do just that. Rachel began a part-time job at Care Net, working one day a week reaching out to local high schools.

With time came the expansion of Care Net, and a new position opened for Rachel — to lead a Care Net branch in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, a half-hour away from Laura’s location in Montrose.

With Laura and Rachel leading the way, Care Net is providing Christian services to hundreds of women who desperately need to hear the Word of God. Laura remembers one case in particular.

A young woman who had just moved to the area was afraid she was pregnant and turned to Care Net.

“She kept saying ‘I can’t do this. I don’t want to be pregnant,’” Laura explains.

Pregnancy test results were confirmed, and Laura walked the woman and her boyfriend through the baby’s development. After a lot of coaching, the couple decided to carry the baby to term — but they were considering putting it up for adoption.

It was then that Laura and her team started working with the young couple every week. They connected the father with assistance to get his GED and receive career training so he could support his family, and they worked with the mother on parenting, life skills, and more.

In the middle of working to ease the couple’s crisis and support them, Laura and her team were able to do many Bible studies to help them find the strength in Christ they so desperately needed.

“For many (clients), no one else is providing a positive message in their life,” Laura explains. “To see the Lord peeling the layers away from their heart, as they built trust with us and started to understand Who God was and how much He cared for them ... was incredible.”

It was Laura’s first “abortion-vulnerable” couple — and one she’ll never forget. The woman and her boyfriend, after receiving Care Net’s coaching, decided to get married and raise the child together as a family.

After their baby was born, the couple came straight to Care Net to share their joy with Laura.

“To know that baby had been given a chance at life — and a chance at eternal life — it was amazing,” she says.

Care Net’s ministry has more than doubled since Laura took over as executive director — it’s clear that the demand for Christ’s love is as present as ever. Laura and Rachel both envision Care Net continuing to expand its reach each year. Right now they’re even working on developing a jail ministry.

They each say they’ve already experienced tremendous personal growth serving their shared mission — and they agree it’s all the better with a fellow Bible Institute alumnus by their side.

The King's Yomen: Adam Bottiglia, Class of 1998

When Adam Bottiglia, Class of 1998, graduated from high school, he had two choices: Study engineering, like his father, or study what his heart truly longed for. The answer, he says, was easy. “If you’re going to study anything your first year out of high school, why study anything but (the Bible)?” he asks.

Adam was no stranger to ministry at 18 years old. He’d found his own unique way to spread God’s Word three years earlier when preparing for a high school talent show. “I knew that if they were going to give me the chance to get up on stage, I was going to preach,” Adam says. But he knew his peers wouldn’t connect with the message unless he made it fun.

It was 1995. Adam’s solution? Yo-yos.

The skit he and a friend performed earned them first place at the talent show, and they eventually became a drama team known as The King’s Yomen — a ministry that Adam still continues with his wife, Crissy, 25 years later.

If water sustains life, then the yo-yo is The King’s Yomen’s well. It’s merely a tool for spreading the larger message of the Word of God.

In the play, a lonely, broken man discovers he has a special talent: yo-yoing. He meets the devil soon after his discovery and makes a deal to use his skill for evil. Once the man realizes what he’s done, he finds Christ and is set free when he learns he can still yo-yo — for the glory of God.

“Think of it as a sermon with a yo-yo mixed in,” Adam explains.

It’s an unusual twist, but one that seems to appeal to all audiences.

Adam says that’s because the toy is completely nonthreatening.

“No one takes the yo-yo seriously at first,” Adam says. “You shouldn’t — it’s a yo-yo.” But, he says, it’s a way for him to win people over, opening up a new avenue for discussion about Jesus Christ. “If people will truly hear me — really listen — when I have a yo-yo, then give it to me.”

Adam started his yo-yo ministry before attending the Bible Institute, and he kept right on going when he arrived on campus. In fact, fellow alumni may remember some of his halftime performances. After graduation, Adam says the training he received launched his ministry even further. Spreading the Word is something he’s never been able to get away from — skit writing is a “constant” for him and Crissy.

The two met in their high school’s youth group and attended the Bible Institute together, where Adam says they “lived and breathed” the Bible. Though they always knew the Bible Institute was an important part of their Christian foundation, Adam says they are just now starting to realize what a truly perfect fit it was.

He explains that the Bible Institute was the first time he’d been in an environment that encouraged the all-encompassing study of the Word — and he loved it. “Everyone else (at the Bible Institute) was on the same page. And still, to this day, when Crissy and I are around fellow alums, we fit in better than anywhere else.”

Maybe that’s because Bible Institute alums understand his mission, from which his biggest takeaway is a lesson in humility. He admits he never set out to have his legacy be tied to a yo-yo — it’s simply what God keeps asking him to do.

“(The yo-yo) has taught me to take whatever opportunity God gives you to minister, even if it’s humiliating,” he says. “I mean, why not put a yo-yo and the Gospel together?”