REPORT OF THE BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE – WARRI CENTER, JANUARY 2022 - JUNE 2022.
INTRODUCTION: Greetings from the staff and students of Warri Center of Bear Valley Bible Institute Extension Program, Nigeria. We are grateful to God Almighty for His abundant grace and the enablement of the Spirit toward the great work in Nigeria, West Africa. The struggle for improved preacher education is gaining grounds despite the huge political challenges experienced in this part of the world. By the power of the Almighty, we have weathered the storm to this point.
INTRODUCTION OF THE PTI CENTER
You will recall that in our last report that final arrangements were being made toward the establishment of a new center at (Petroleum Training Institute) PTI Warri. We kick started academic activities on the 8th of January 2022 with 16 students. On April 3oth we had the 2nd matriculation ceremony. We had 19 students from the PTI Center and 3 students from the DSC Center. The program was well attended. The eldership of the Okoh church of Christ supported the program as usual and it all ended in praise.
ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES:
DSC CENTER
Academic activities started off at the DSC center in April of 2021. We have successfully completed what the student tagged “Year 1 academic session” and thus considers themselves as sophomore students of the Bear Valley Bible institute. This came with great joy and euphoria that they were able to conclude the first year of the program. However, the DSC center has continued to experience fluctuation in attendance. Out of the 30 students enrolled at inception, seven have since dropped. Out of the seven had one death and one person relocated. Another suffered health challenge. Another got a new job that made it difficult for him to continue. Family challenges affected one of the sisters and so on. On a good note, we have four new students enrolled in the program at DSC center, three (3) of whom were part of the matriculation ceremony. Thus, at DSC center we have 27 regular students.
PTI CENTER
The PTI center is about 6 months old. Academic activities are on top gear. The matriculation ceremony further encouraged the students. So far, six courses have been successfully taught. ‘How We Got the Bible’ by Solomon Usim in January. ‘Old Testament Survey I’ by Godwin Ojocheogwu in February. ‘Writing Language and Research’ by Solomon Usim in March. April had Meredith Ovwromoh take ‘The Life of Christ’. In May, Abiola Vincent taught the ‘New Testament Church’. Currently in June Solomon Usim is taking ‘Christian Ethics’. Moreover, out of the 16 students the center started off with, 14 students are regular. Gladly, before the matriculation, we had 4 more students in addition. So we can confidently say that we have 20 students at the PTI center.
CAMPAIGN PROGRAM: The church of Christ 6 Okoh street, Iyara Warri applied to the school in February to enable her host a 2-day gospel evangelism around the church area. There was massive attendance by the students for the two days and a baptism was recorded. The church has since continued follow up work with the prospects.
CHALLENGES: Some of the preachers are coming from far and its hard sometimes because of transport fare to meet up. Things are getting more difficult in this country, but we thank God for the grace to keep up.
CONCLUSION: To God be all the glory for the good things and especially for the entrant of God’s word in the life of preachers of Delta state extraction. We are grateful to God and to Bear Valley family. Every time I watch the preachers gather and see their reactions toward the many new things they are learning, I feel very fulfilled that the churches will grow tremendously. In fact, we will have a new understanding and ministry focus. Educating preachers is one of the best things that has happened to our congregations. Thank you all for the good work. May our loving father bless you all in Christ Name Amen.