I am often asked to be specific with prayer requests, so this time I am going to go a little deeper with what I share with you.
We are seeing fruit from your prayers and our efforts like never before.
- From 69 students in 2017-18 to 100 individuals taking courses this fall, 2018 – Wow, we serve a Great God who wants his Kingdom to come in the French world and beyond! Imagine a 45% increase in one year, after 7 consecutive years of an average of 15% growth!
- A successful launch of our new minor in Pastor Studies in English with 11 students.
- Our first graduate of our 3-year-old Master’s of Arts in Theology.
- 26 students enrolled in the Master’s degree.
- Balanced fiscal year end 2017-18
However, we are clear that we are in a spiritual battle. In recent weeks, we have suffered several challenges that have caused some degree of discomfort, handled only through prayer and your response since we reached out in late August.
- By mid-August we realized that no donations had been made to the school over the summer except those that are given monthly. While summers are typically low in terms of finances this hit us particularly hard given that we were trying to ramp up for another record year. And who knew that bills must be paid even in the summer (chuckle)? When one considers that we have been growing at an average of 15% a year since 2011 and that our net gain on funding has not kept up with the rate of growth, we found ourselves $41,000 behind, not counting our credit line that was at its $50,000 limit. Kudos to our two church families, both Mennonite Brethren and Christian and Missionary Alliance, who really stepped up, sending out a special appeal on our behalf. Praise God for our family! Their financial support ensured that we caught up on some bills and were able to keep the doors open for the start of this record-setting year. We have seen responses that truly exemplify the spirit of collaboration. We are very grateful! We may not be there yet with a fully funded mission, but we gained some ground.
- On my first day back from vacation, our Director of Finance, Yvon Descormiers, had a stroke. While the prognosis is good for Yvon, he will be absent from August to November. This is the key timeframe when we are faced with the preparation of our fiscal year end reports for the AGM December 1st, 2018 and must meet our regular accounting requirements while missing the one person who knows our school inside and out from a financial perspective. We are grateful that Yvon had been training Shirley Rua to handle some of the accounts he had been handling for our two church families. Shirley has generously stepped in on a part time basis to help out for which we are so thankful. Then, to add insult to injury Shirley suffered the passing of her father.
- There have been several other health related trials amongst our team and their family members.
Please pray for:
- Yvon, Shirley and Esdrac and their families, whom have all lost loved ones recently;
- A full recovery for Yvon;
- Health issues, losses of family members and transitions for staff, faculty, students and their families;
- That we may be able to meet our financial reporting commitments for both the fiscal year end 2017-18 and for this school year.
- A stabilisation of funding as we continue to see God’s hand on our not-so-small and rapidly growing mission;
- Wisdom, discernment and provision for Garry and me as we prepare to move back to BC in the summer of 2019.
Friends, I pray that sharing my heart this way will inform and encourage. I know that many of you have gone through similar trials. As we observe the world in chaos around us, the fires, floods, hurricanes, tornados, murders, etc. there could be a sentiment that these ETEQ events are relatively minor. I would agree that they are small in comparison, but still large to those who are suffering and pushing on for Christ’s sake.
I am constantly reminded that we are instructed, “Be still and know that I am God.” Ps. 46:10 In those moments of stillness and maybe especially through the storms of life we see God’s Kingdom coming – and that excites us beyond our wildest dreams.