The second semester at our Bible College and seminary program is now underway. Since we use a distance education format, the semester begins when the students are able to study rather than on some artificial schedule that would make the student adjust his or her life and work around the classes. This has enabled us to open the program to many more students than what would be able to take classes in a traditional format.
That is because our format focuses the education on the students rather than demanding that they focus on the educational institution. In this way, the students are able to continue with work and ministry while they pursue their Bible College or Christian graduate school education. We aim to facilitate the student by making education convenient. This avoids the disruption and means that students do not need to be full-time professional students. It also enhances learning because as they study they apply what they learn in ministry and in life.
This second semester of our educational program began a couple of weeks ago. Again I am teaching in the post-graduate section and we have some of our other preachers teaching on the undergraduate level. The class I am now teaching is on the philosophy of education. We are comparing the secular educational philosophy to Christian values and attempting to build a genuinely Christian philosophy of education. It has been a fun class and one that challenges me as well as the students.
This all keeps me quite busy as I have added the class preparation and teaching to the many other projects and ministries that I am involved in. I put in long days because I try to do a very good job in all that I do. So that means a great deal of preparation and study for each class, Bible study, or sermon. But it is exciting and fun and the educational ministry has added a new level of intellectual challenge to the work here in Colombia.
While many long-established traditional Bible Colleges have only a few dozen or a couple of hundred students, we are now approaching one thousand students in our joint program. While they have dozens of professors and buildings, we have only textbooks and students. Their budget is hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars each year. Our program runs on a volunteer basis and in cooperation with an established distance learning Bible College. Obviously, if we are to keep growing we need to develop some regular support for our participation to this exciting program.
We can only run so long on enthusiasm and opportunities. We need $1,200 in regular monthly support to provide stability and continuity. For less than the cost of a church janitor, your church could open the doors of Christian education to a generation of Colombian church leaders. This could be one of the most effective uses of missionary budgets in the area of leadership training ever. But we do not know how long this door of opportunity will remain open. Why not become a “charter member†of the financial partners in this incredible opportunity?