We returned for fall semester at Chimala Bible Institute on October 6th. After traveling through Istanbul we landed in Dar es Salaam ready to get back to school. We were delayed a day in the city, but arrived on Tuesday afternoon. We immediately started teaching the classes that were scheduled. The students were eager to learn “World Religions,” “Bible Geography” and “Bible Archaeology.” A part of their eagerness is that the time of graduation is soon upon us. We are graduating our largest class at CBI, including 13 undergraduate and 14 graduate students. Plans were immediately formulated for the graduation ceremony.
We also celebrate the placement of the new eldership at the Mission church. Boaz, one of our long time instructors and a Masters’ student, is one of the new elders along with Vennis, the mission’s headmaster of the primary school. We preached at both services at the mission church Sunday and were honored to see the excitement and potential shown by the congregation. This Sunday, Bill Stenson, the Mission Administrator and a long time elder spoke to the congregation about the role of the elders as well as the role of the congregation to the elders. He will be continuing his series next week. The mission church has also chosen deacons and teachers, many of which are also a part of the CBI faculty.
We have also been spending numerous hours preparing for next year’s intake of students. Both undergraduates and graduate students will include Malawians, a student from the Congo and Tanzanians. Special plans are being made for classes to prepare our students for the Form 4 classes taught at the Herring secondary school on the campus. Another program we are planning next year is a two-year intensive English class to be taught on campus to prepare our Swahili students to move up to the English program. Finally our Swahili students also will be taught a fundamental class in the library to prepare them for further studies.
Speaking of our library, we received some funds from an anonymous donor through Bear Valley and it was used to build much need shelves. Anna Wagner has done an amazing job putting our library on the Dewey decimal system, organizing the numerous new books, journals and magazines and making it an inviting place for the students to study and learn.
Denton Landon will arrive next week to teach the final Masters’ classes for our first intake. This will be his third time here in the last two years and the students are eager for his return. His dedication to teaching and his leadership in the Masters’ program here at Chimala are greatly appreciated. Denton is an outstanding Bible teacher and always brings a wealth of knowledge and information with him when he comes. We know our Masters’ students have been well taught and will be even greater servants in the kingdom because of him.
Please continue to pray for our students and teachers and their families as we get ready to end a historic year on the campus of the Chimala Bible Institute.
Garry L. Hill
Director: Chimala Bible Institute
BVBID Extension Coordinator