On a mission with Andrew Day.

Andrew Day’s bags are packed. It’s a routine the 2008 Bible Institute alumnus has down pat — he’s been traveling nonstop for the past year. With everything ready for his big trip tomorrow, he adjusts his hat and sits down to catch up through Skype. Sitting in his temporary bedroom in London, it’s the last time he’ll have a reliable Internet connection for the next several months.

He’s leaving tomorrow for Africa, where he’ll work to share the Word of God in the northwestern countries of Senegal, Mali, Niger, and Chad. It’s the concluding trip of a year spent traveling around the world spreading the Word with the esteemed George Verwer, founder of the Christian missions organization Operation Mobilization.

Andrew realized he wanted to be a missionary at the age of 5, the same year he trusted Christ as His Savior. More than a decade later, as he sat down to write an admissions essay on what his plans were after graduation, his answer was easy: missions. Young Andrew wrote that he’d love to spend a year learning from a veteran missionary.

Two years later, God dropped that very opportunity in his lap. A Word of Life Bible Institute graduate and student at Moody Bible Institute, Andrew sat awestruck listening to Verwer as he spoke at Moody’s annual Missions Conference. The missionary seemed to Andrew to be “the most transparent, real guy I’d ever seen.” He was just the kind of man Andrew had always wanted as a mentor.

Andrew’s intuition that Verwer was a powerful presence in missions was correct. Verwer started the work of Operation Mobilisation (OM) with a goal of inspiring young people around the world to live and share the Gospel of Jesus. The organization today has more than 6,100 people working in more than 110 countries. Each year, Verwer selects one recent graduate to travel country-to-country with him, visiting different OM sites. It’s an assistant role known affectionately as a “gofer.” It’s a competitive position — and one Andrew knew he had to have.

“I feel that in order to be successful in ministry — to lead well — you must follow well. I saw this “gofer” role as the perfect opportunity to do that, so I could be a servant for George. Then, hopefully, that would shape me into the leader that I want to be,” Andrew says.

The recent graduate felt like he’d been lifted from a crowd when he was selected for the position. Now, after a year spent as Verwer’s gofer, the Bible Institute alumnus says the night at the Missions Conference when he first heard Verwer speak feels like ages ago. The past 12 months have been spent reaching others for Christ, in the furthest corners of the world — from England, Ireland, and Africa to India and Thailand — alongside a mentor Andrew calls “incredibly wise.” Drawing a familiar analogy, he says traveling with Verwer is like “walking in the dust of the rabbi.”

“There’s definitely no ‘normal schedule’ as a George ‘gofer,’” Andrew says. A typical day could include anything from spreading the Word of God with a small village in India to church planting in North Africa.

Although each trip has brought new perspective to Andrew’s journey with God, he points to his time in India as the most transformative.

“George is like the Billy Graham of India, I like to say,” Andrew says, laughing. “It was really challenging to see the need in India. It’s a paradoxical place because God is working there, and you can see that in the fact that [Christianity] is growing. But there’s still a great need — especially among Muslim groups.”

Andrew emphasizes that Christians need to have love for Muslim people. These are people for whom Christ died, and it’s the responsibility of Christians to spread that good news.

Through it all, Andrew says he is so thankful for the solid biblical training he received at the Bible Institute, including lessons that prepared him well for some of the world’s darkest places.

The passion for evangelism he developed at the Bible Institute became especially important. He says in his first year, in Florida (he spent one year at each U.S. campus), the focus was mainly on evangelism. He smiles as he remembers the days he and his friends would take out what they called the “evange-van” and witness.

Last year, with so much time spent on buses, airplanes, and trains traveling from city to city, Andrew put to use what he’d practiced in Florida.

“I try to share Christ with every person I sit beside,” he says.

He remembers the first chance he got to share his testimony on the journey, with a young German woman named Tina. She said she knew the Lord as her Savior but admitted she’d strayed from the Word. Andrew shared one of Verwer’s books with her, and she promised it would keep her company during her three-hour layover.

Aside from giving him the opportunity to witness, the gofer program has compounded Andrew’s biblical training.

“I’ve definitely gained a bigger perspective of what the Lord is doing around the world. I’ve learned about humility, repentance — just so much,” he says. “It’s incredible to see God’s work firsthand.”

Andrew says he’s often thought back to Joe Jordan’s discipleship class as he works with Verwer around the world.

He says, “That’s my heart — church planting, and training future Christian leaders.”

Andrew’s journey to Africa will be the start of his new role as a “gofer” graduate. His time with Verwer was so impactful that he’s decided to extend it for another year. During this time he’ll work with different missions organizations to take the Word to new populations, research where help is needed, raise money for special projects, and more.

Although Verwer won’t be physically present to guide Andrew through his time in Africa, the former “gofer” knows Verwer is still there to disciple him.

“We’ll be lifelong friends,” he says. “George is more than just a mentor — he’s a close friend for eternity.”

Andrew is right — Verwer still keeps in touch with all of his former “gofers,” a number that now reaches more than 60 people. After a year spent spreading the Word in such extreme situations, a powerful bond is formed between Verwer and his “gofers.” For Andrew, it’s a bond so strong that he would like to do more traveling with his mentor sometime again.

“George loves trains,” he says. “I’d love to visit him and go on a train trip somewhere together — I think that’d be pretty neat.”

Andrew doesn’t know what he’ll do after he completes his year as a “gofer” graduate, but he figures he’ll find out in Africa. Until then, he’s set on doing his part to spread the Word.

“We talk of the second coming,” he says, pausing, “but half of the world has never heard of the first.”

IIlustrating the Ultimate Superhero: Jay Fabok, Class of 2008

It makes sense for Christians to be drawn to the moral goodness of superheroes. It’s hard not to be attracted to their strength, bravery, and life-saving feats as well. As Sergio Cariello, 2012 Bible Institute Alumnus of the Year and comic book illustrator, put it: “Jesus is the ultimate superhero.”

Jay Fabok, Class of 2008, another skilled graphic artist and Bible Institute alumnus, has found that his connection to fictional superheroes — Batman, specifically — also helps him spread truth about the one true Savior.

Jay was raised in a Christian home in Ontario and was saved at a very young age. But like so many teenagers, he says he was eventually swayed by the world and drawn into partying. Even as he was walking away from God, though, God was still pulling on his heart and working in his life to lead him in the right direction.

Jay had been a fan of a Christian music group since he was a kid. At age 20, just a few months away from completing a three-year computer animation program, he went to a concert in London, Ontario, and listened to one of the band members share his testimony.

“I felt the Lord tugging on me,” Jay remembers. “He knew my dreams, and He said, ‘Jay, you can either continue down your own path and maybe you’ll have success or maybe you won’t. Or, you can give your life to Christ and follow me. I may lead you to different places, but I promise you’ll have a really great adventure. You’ve just got to trust me.’”

That night, Jay accepted Christ as his Savior and turned away from his sinful life. God used the band he’d loved since childhood to bring Jay home.

After rededicating his life to Christ, Jay felt led to go to Bible college. His youth pastor had gone to the Bible Institute at Owen Sound and encouraged Jay to apply.

“I took a leap of faith and went, and I loved it,” he says. “Going to the Bible Institute, for me, turned out to be the best year of my life.”

Attending the Bible Institute strengthened Jay’s relationship with God. But he also learned discipline and structure, which helped put him back on the right track to achieve his goals. Jay says every minute of every day he spent at Word of Life was used efficiently, and the time management skills he learned guide his work today as an artist with DC Comics, where he has strict deadlines and is expected to produce the highest quality work.

Another part of Jay’s job involves visiting schools and conventions and speaking with young people about his art. Through the experience of Open Air Evangelism in Toronto, Jay became comfortable sharing his testimony and teaching the Gospel. Jay’s work gives him a unique avenue to the hearts of colleagues who respect him and young people who look up to him.

“It doesn’t matter where you are in life — if you work in entertainment, at a factory, or in ministry — you have to give your job to the Lord and allow Him to work through it,” Jay says.

Jay and his wife of three years, Sarah, Class of 2008, whom he met at the Bible Institute, live in southwestern Ontario and recently found a new church family at Emmanuel Baptist in Windsor. Jay is excited to become more involved in the ministry, specifically working with youth. His fondest memories of Word of Life involve the staff and fellow students who poured into him, discipled him, and encouraged him in his walk with God. He’s paying that gift forward now through discipleship with a young person at his church who dreams of being a comic artist.

Last year, Jay signed on with DC Comics full-time to produce a series of Batman detective comics, based on the original series that appeared in 1938. He says it’s amazing for him to be working on such a large title in his rookie years. Batman is his favorite character, and with the recent trilogy of feature films, the superhero is more popular than ever.

The true blessing Jay sees in sketching Batman is the connection the character gives him to young people. He recognizes that his talent was given to him by God, and like the music group did for him, Jay feels compelled to use his art to touch youth who have strayed from or have never met God.

“Through my time at Snow Camp and summer camp, the Bible Institute put a burden on my heart for today’s youth,” he says. “My industry is about messaging toward youth, so I’m able to meet them face-to-face. I’m able to use my art as an ‘in’ to reach young people with the Gospel and grow them in their relationship with the Lord.”

Photos courtesy of DC Comics

Class reunions: How to make it happen.

We want to host special class reunions for the Classes of 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, and 2008 this year at our annual alumni gatherings for Memorial Day weekend and Founder’s Conference.

We need your help, though, to invite alumni from all over the world to come and make the weekend a great experience for everyone. Some of you have already expressed interest, so we’ve pulled together some information of what we’ve done in the past to help you get started.

If you are willing to help coordinate a reunion for your class, here’s a “plan of action” that we found worked well for other classes:

• Form a planning team that will help you promote the event.
• Put a working schedule together and get it out on Facebook, asking for ideas. If more people get involved in planning, more people will be excited about making the trip in person!
• Take time to track down old classmates on Facebook, and start a group devoted to your class or your reunion.
• Work toward creating an experience, not just an event, by incorporating themes your class can unite around. For example, create class T-shirts, make a handout booklet, or have a theme of the journey your class will take throughout the weekend as you take part in different events. We’ll have several options for you at Word of Life, such as dinners, meeting times, campfires, or sharing time at Council Hall. But you can also take advantage of spring in the area and go to Glens Falls (shopping, go-karts, bowling, Martha’s ice cream, Great Escape), check out Lake George’s tourist attractions or cruises, take a family hike up Mt. Severance, explore the Adirondacks via whitewater rafting, or try any of the other excursions the area has to offer.
• Create some competition by challenging other classes, such as seeing which class can get the most people to come for the weekend or bring the largest family, the longest or newest married couple, or the lowest (or highest) cumulative number of demerits from their Bible Institute year. We can help provide judges and rewards.
• Encourage creativity from class members so they make it “their” reunion.
• Create “buzz” — keep telling people about the reunion, and bring up memories (or future memories you want to make) that will encourage class members to come.
• Tell us how we can help. We can send an email to alumni, post specific updates on our Facebook page or group, or use our blog to keep people updated. We want to make it a success for you!

As always, please let us know if you have specific questions. You can reach us at alumni@wol.org or waynel@wol.org.