With the close of our Spring Semester on March 31st, 2013 came two weeks of intensive Short Courses. Two courses were offered as short courses at the end of three months of academic work at LBC. The schedule of classes for the said short courses follows:
April 1 - 5 The Godhead 3 hrs Maxwell Whea
April 8- 11 James 3 hrs Steven Ashcraft
The above short courses met daily Monday – Friday; except the course of James which wasn’t held on Friday because of the observance of a national holiday.
BOOKS DONATED TO LIBRARY
For some time now, Brother Steven has being keen on assisting with the supply of Bible related books and resource materials to LBC library. During his visit in January he and Brother Renfro donated several religious books dealing with the study of Greek and other subjects to our growing library.
Upon his arrival on April 7th brother Steven donated another set of books. In addition, Brother Steven personally purchased from a local book shop and donated some Bible reference books, including Vine’s, Halley, etc. Our library needs more books. There are many empty shelves to be filled with books, e.g., Study Bibles, reference books, commentaries on OT and NT, social science books (sociology, psychology, and counseling). We are on the lookout for any and all assistance with this great matter.
GOSPEL CAMPAIGN
Shortly after the short courses, both students and staff participated in a one week Gospel campaign in Duazohn, a community situated some 15 miles along the Roberts International Airport Highway.
The evangelistic team established a new congregation in Duazohn as a result of some 19 baptisms. The new congregation now meets for Bible study and worship in the Duazohn Public School. Thanks to the goodwill of the community leaders and the school authority for donating a large classroom for the brethren to meet.
MASTER’S PROGRAM
The month of April did mark a significant milestone in the history of LBC. Bear Valley Bible Institute finally kicked off its master’s degree program in Biblical studies for our teachers and other brethren who hold bachelor’s degrees. Thirteen candidates were successful to enroll in the program. They completed 30 hours of classroom exercises including attending and participating in lectures, taking daily tests, preparing and presenting sermons. Having completed the classroom activities, the Graduate students have between now and July 15th to submit 10 page research papers and six sermons (2 for each type of sermon). This will then bring to completion the requirements for the first two courses.
Brother Ralph Williams conducted the first two classes in Introduction to Graduate Research and Advanced Biblical Hermeneutics. This inaugural session lasted for two weeks of intensive study with the following schedule:
April 22 – 26 Introduction to Graduate Research M. Ralph Williams
April 29 – 3 Advanced Biblical Hermeneutics M. Ralph Williams
We are very grateful to Bear Valley for the Master's program. We very much appreciate brother Ralph for being the pioneer professor and for his splendid presentations during the course of the study. And we thank very kindly brother Steven for his encouragement in making this program a reality.
Take care and God bless.
Alassis N. Goldore
Director