How you can help: National Volunteer Program.

Many alumni ask us how they can help Word of Life at the Bible Institute or around the world. Here is one of the biggest ways you can get involved.

The National Volunteer Program is an opportunity for people to use their gifts and abilities to help with the ministry needs of Word of Life New York. The purpose of the program is to assist our staff in creating and maintaining an environment in which students can be trained and equipped for future ministry, our guests can be refreshed in God’s Word, and the Gospel can be clearly proclaimed.

The program hosted more than 650 volunteers in 2012, including people who came on their own, couples and families, retirees, youth groups, and church groups. You don’t have to be a professional or highly skilled to volunteer. Although some of our volunteers are trained in a craft, many know just the basics or are willing to simply do whatever needs to be done. Projects involve carpentry, clerical work, electrical jobs, general labor, health care, housekeeping, heating and air conditioning repair, computers and technology, kitchen work, landscaping, lawn care, maintenance work, masonry, mechanics, painting, and much more.

During Memorial Day weekend last year, the program hosted 300 volunteers. They helped prepare New York for summer camp and the conference season. The volunteers accomplished much and were also able to enjoy our facilities and participate in the special Memorial Day service at the Bible Institute. Alumni who are interested in helping this Memorial Day weekend will be able to enjoy Word of Life’s Homecoming weekend.

Some of the major upcoming projects in the first half of 2013 are:

• All camps: Cleanup and landscaping; volunteers and counselors for camping season
• Family Campground: Build a pavilion for the youth program
• Inn: Remodel STC housing, upgrade roofing
• Island: Finish building the beach/dome bathhouse, remodel bathrooms, replace decks
• Ranch: Remodel cabins
• Bible Institute: Remodel dorms

We are indebted to the services of our volunteers. The support they provide cannot be measured.

The National Volunteer Program is a labor of love. Please ask the Lord how He will allow you to be used as a volunteer with Word of Life in 2013.

For more information, check out volunteers.wol.org or email us at nvp@wol.org. You can also call David McClain, our program coordinator, at 518-494-6369.

From the Editor: Issue Six.

by Jen Slothower

Alumni Director Emeritus Wayne Lewis seems to think you all will enjoy getting a column from me, the editor, in every Victory Journal (and a photo of myself, at some point).

So here we go.

The reason I shied away from putting my name all over this magazine in the past is mostly that I think my part shouldn’t matter. If you are reading and enjoying what we are sending you, you’ll be reading and enjoying it, and the person putting it together is of no consequence. (And if the opposite is true, then we just have to work harder.) But as we change this Victory Journal and aim to make it something that not only blesses the alumni population but also accurately reflects you, my role in the Victory Journal’s development might be more important than I realized.

First, understand that I am not a staff member at Word of Life. While I am an alumnus, I live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, down near Memorial Drive, where you can look across the Charles River black like glass and see Boston, a city that has so much hope, promise, and intellect but is really as lost as this world has ever been. I have degrees in journalism and have done everything from designing the front page of a newspaper each night to covering the Celtics at the Garden to editing Sunday School lessons for teenagers. Right now, I am a diehard Yankees fan who writes baseball, football, basketball, and hockey stories for a Boston-based national sports website.

So, why am I editing the Victory Journal?

Well, why not? Think about this: When has the Bible Institute ever been about spitting out cookie-cutter Christians? Has Word of Life’s goal ever been to create a template of what every graduate should look like? When you devote a program to pushing its students deeper and deeper inside the Word, should you be surprised when some of them find Jesus Christ in the deepest of ways and then want to take Him to places where no one speaks His name, from Fenway Park to Boylston Street to Harvard Square?

My professional life right now consists of me keeping the jobs I can get as journalism melts around me. But my personal life is exactly what I have prayed it will be since I first discovered the idea of a life consumed by God (Colossians 3) at the Bible Institute. I now aim to walk with God, and then to carry the only true hope I’ve ever found to the people I see in everyday life.

The Bible Institute is billed as “a great place to start.” And it is just that — a start. For all that people love about their Bible Institute years and what happened there, the true glory belongs to the years after, and how God takes a short time of immersive Bible training and turns it into incredible changed lives all over the world.

I live in Cambridge. You live in Lynchburg, Virginia; Hudson, Florida; Chicago; California; Brazil. I write sports. You sell insurance and help in your youth group. You teach and volunteer. You raise your kids or devote your life to missions.

I rarely set foot on a Bible Institute campus, but I know why God has me using my journalism experience to make this magazine happen. The Bible Institute isn’t just about Open Air Evangelism, Snow Camp, and supervising the bakery at the Word of Life Inn during the summer. It’s about what happens when an intense year becomes a life of knowing God and spreading His Truth.

The message of the Bible Institute, of Word of Life, of Jesus Christ, is spread throughout the world in so many ways by those who are the alumni of the Word of Life Bible Institute.

We want to make the Victory Journal something that ministers to those people — that tells their stories. I hope you’re encouraged to know a Bible Institute graduate is bumbling her way around Boston, sharing Jesus, and I want to be encouraged by hearing what you are doing now. We want the Victory Journal to be a continuing dialogue of what we learned at the Bible Institute but also a place to share with each other what God has done since then.

So, send us your stories. Share your memories. Tell us what you like and don’t like about the Victory Journal (or our online blog), and how it could be better for you.

This isn’t about the Bible Institute or Word of Life — it’s about how God changes lives through the Bible Institute and Word of Life, and that means we want to hear from you.

We have big plans for the Victory Journal. We’ve come a long way, but we’re still trying to expand and do a better job of serving you. Please send us your ideas and stories via alumni@wol.org, mikebush@wol.org, waynel@wol.org or jenslothower@wol.org. We will keep you updated on what we’re doing within these pages and online.

And you know, this column might not be such a bad idea if you send us plenty of your stories to talk about in each issue.

Q&A: Gary Ingersoll

Resident professor, Florida campus

Certain teachers seem as much a part of the Bible Institute as Scripture memory or chapter titles. But few have always been at Word of Life ... or even in ministry. The Florida campus has a former titan of industry (well, close enough) as one of its resident professors — a man whose Bible training went well beyond book studies.

Tell us how you ended up at the Bible Institute in Florida.

I came 3,200 miles, from the other corner of the country, to the Bible Institute in Florida as a “job transfer” in 1997. I had been a Word of Life missionary with Local Church Ministries in Washington state for 12 years. The opportunity to be a professor at the Bible Institute does not often present itself (after 15 years, I am still the newest professor at the U.S. campuses), so when I heard an extension campus was opening in Florida, I began asking about transferring to the new position of resident professor. Some five or six months later, we were moving to Florida! 

How did you get into teaching the Bible?

Educationally, my story begins in 1970, when I was in the second of a five-year program to become an engineer at General Motor Institute (now called Kettering University, in Flint, Michigan). It was then that I asked Jesus to be my Savior through the ministry at the nearby Riverdale Baptist Church. I earned my engineering degree in 1974, took an educational leave of absence from General Motors (I worked in things like “car crash-testing”), and enrolled at Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary. I earned a masters of divinity in 1978 and became the associate pastor at my Riverdale, my home church. An economic recession resulted in my losing my pastorate. So I returned to seminary in 1981-82 to get a masters in religious education and then took an associate pastorate at Bethany Baptist Church in Seattle, Washington. In 1985, I came on staff with Word of Life as a local church missionary to Washington state, where I served until moving to Florida.

What on earth took you from crash-testing cars to teaching the Bible? What did God do in your life?

Well, I got saved when I was a sophomore in college. I was in the second year of a five-year work study program to become an engineer with General Motors when it was the largest company in the world. By that point, I had been around Christian friends for some three years — first in high school and then again in college. I knew they had an inner joy, peace, and purpose I lacked in my life. But because of my background as a teen in theologically liberal churches, I had difficulty sorting out true from error in my understanding of Scripture — I thought I was somehow already a Christian who could work my way to Heaven!

I also came to understand before I was saved that to become a Christian meant that I must change my focus in life. I had natural abilities as an engineer, so I thought I could pursue that career, make a lot of money, and, of course, live happily ever after. Yet as a “seeker” of the truth about Jesus, I came to understand that His disciples were those who took up their own crosses to become true followers or disciples of Him. I believe that the Lord was calling me to salvation but also calling me to a greater purpose in life than I had up to that point. 

After I was saved, I had several long conversations with influential older Christians like my college calculus professor, Dr. Bolander. He and others helped me see how I could become a true disciple of my Lord Jesus. He encouraged me to finish my engineering degree (after all, the Lord may just want to use that in my future, too!) and to get involved in my local church. I worked with the teen program, which was involved with Word of Life, and began to help out at some evangelistic activities in our area.

As I became more involved in working with my local churches and helping them with their youth work, I began teaching on a regular basis. So, 20 years before I became a professor at the Bible Institute, I was teaching doctrinal studies to teens at my church each week. Little did I know that the Lord was going to use all of these as preparation to continue my work with young people at the Bible Institute in Florida.

How did you end up in Washington state?

The saddest day in Fran’s and my life had to be the day my ministry to the youth at Riverdale Baptist came to an end. There was a hard-hitting recession that resulted in a third of the people in Flint leaving town to find work. My church lost close to half its membership, so I became an unemployed youth pastor. Without work in Flint, I re-enrolled in seminary and also began working as a contract engineer designing machinery to make breakfast cereal for Post Cereal (I did things like design a better “raisin machine” that adds raisin to Post Raisin Bran!). 

I continued to look for full-time ministry in a local church, but nothing was available in Michigan. But we got in touch with Bethany Baptist in Seattle, which had contacted my seminary looking for possible pastoral candidates. I started Word of Life clubs there, became fast friends with the new local church missionary, and went to my first Word of Life camp the next summer in northern California.

What makes Word of Life unique, and why did you want to stick around?

My wife, Fran, and I first choose to come on staff with Word of Life and, from time to time over the past 27 years, have chosen to remain with Word of Life instead of moving on to some other ministry based upon one primary observation: Word of Life continues to afford the two of us a greater opportunity of service for our Savior, Jesus Christ, than anything else into which we could be investing our lives! We could be involved elsewhere, make more money, and perhaps gain greater fame or a more impressive title. Yet we have chosen to invest in the lives of the 120-plus young people that each year become our students. It is our goal to help them grow in their walks with the Lord as we pastor them like a “one-year youth group.” They truly become “our young people,” whom we love!

Do you have someone at Word of Life you would like to hear from in a Q&A? Email alumni@wol.org. 

Alumni News.

Here's what a few of your classmates have been up to. Send your news to alumni@wol.org.

Wilfredo Bobe (’79) is an interim pastor at Granite Baptist Church in Milford, New Hampshire. His daughter graduated from the Bible Institute in 2012.

Debbie Sanville Fanus (’79) is a special education teacher and teaches junior church. She encourages everyone to reconnect at Homecoming on Memorial Day weekend at the Bible Institute campus in New York. It’s a great opportunity!

John Walker (’82) is involved in a Jamaican ministry. He would like to encourage everyone to keep serving, keep giving, and never give up.

Rosario (Baez) Farese (’84) and her husband have a vending business. They are involved in a ministry that shares the Gospel with people in a drug program and in a church Bible study.

Jason Shugar (’89) is married to Lynn and has two children, Sarah and Jack. He is a classroom teacher, loves horseback riding, and plays guitar on the worship team at church.

Ted Whitney (’91, ’92) teaches a new believers class at his church. He recently started a new job at Liberty University overseeing online communities.

Victoria (Mahairas) Sotelo (’93) and her husband pastor at Inwood Church in New York City. She studied marriage and family therapy in graduate school. She encourages everyone to look up the New York Gospel Outreach in New York and to come and visit anytime!

Michele (Lockwood) (’99) and Robert Columbine (’98) are missionaries with World Venture in Senegal, West Africa. Michele would like to share that God's grace is sufficient.
 
Kelly Smith (’01, ’03) has been involved in drama and puppets with Word of Life Teens Involved. He married Kimberly Nolan last year, and they are planning on going to SYME (School of Youth Ministries in English) in Japan.

Kendra Jenkins (’04) is the office manager of the Business Intelligence Office at Liberty University. She is heavily involved with a missions organization in Kazakhstan and is involved in her local church’s worship team.

Jeremy Biesecker (’08, ’09) is trying to establish a full-time Gospel illusion ministry. He says that becoming a Word of Life student was one of the best decisions he ever made.

Meghan Gordon (’10) is a Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages major at Moody Bible Institute.

Rachel Williams (’11) is majoring in psychology and hopes to graduate next year and help with a church plant back home in Connecticut. She helps with youth ministries in Connecticut and Ohio.
 
Nathan Tse (’12) is studying media and helping with the tech needs at a local church. He encourages all alumni to keep up relationships with people! He still keeps in contact with some people he knows from Word of Life and says that has been very encouraging and has pushed him forward in his walk with God.

Remember When.

Have a remember when you want to share? Send your thoughts to alumni@wol.org, and feel free to include a photo!

Linda (Klump) Moser (1976)
Someone brought a sheep — yes, a sheep — into the dorm above the dining hall.

Sylinda (Birchard) Alfred (1978)
I remember when it poured rain at graduation. We rushed into the tabernacle very discouraged, and Pete got us all singing “Cheer Up Ye Saints of God!”

Rosario (Baez) Farese (1984)
I remember the Snoopy theme song being played on the piano and Dr. Davis’ and Dr. Wicks’ humor.

Jodi Rabquer (1992)
When Martin jumped in front of my tube at Snow Camp to keep me from hitting a tree!

Richard Kroeger (1993)
I remember when there was no snow for Snow Camp. Everyone prayed, and then on the third week, it started to snow, and it didn’t stop the rest of the year.

Jonathan VanDyk (1994)
I remember Youth Reachout with Rick Warken in the summer of 1994.

Brad Schmidt (1995)
I will never forget the Open Air Evangelism trip to Chicago and the great time we had in the van ride out there.

Andrea (Miller) Barnard (1996)
I remember Daniel White getting hit in the eye with a ping pong ball and having to spend time in the hospital.

Tara (Eddy) Spurlin (1997)
Housing in the Japan dorm and riding bikes everywhere (skirts and all!) because it was so far away from main campus. All 11 girls in the dorm were close and bonded deeply through evening devotions, study hours, and countless hours of stories and laughs.

Robert DeWitt (2000)
Open Air Evangelism in New York City with Greg Valentine.

Teresa (Davis) Green (2001, 2002)
Traveling with the drama team and playing games during study hours. I was very close to my dorm-mates and loved the time we spent in the Word, praising God through music and encouraging each other in Christ.

Adam Gibson (2002)
Getting an eight-foot gator off the skatepark during junior camp.

Brett Owen (2006, 2007)
I let my roommate duct-tape me to a chair outside Australia dorm next to the road at night.

John Eichelberger (2012)
Being part of the last class year when men had to wear ties.

Nathan Tse (2012)
Two words: Snow Camp!

Victory Journal Issue 6: Online.

The newest issue of the Victory Journal is now out. If you would like to see it in PDF form, click here. If you did not receive a copy in the mail, contact alumni@wol.org.

We'll be publishing different articles from throughout the magazine right here on the blog over the coming days.

Alumni Website: Up and running.

Our new Bible Institute website has been a long time coming, and we're happy to say it's up and running. We'll be putting more information on the website as we go on, but for now, check it out here.

You can also see an electronic version of the Victory Journal.