Barry and Catrina Stover preparing the next generation to reach the unreached Senior Reflections
It has been quite around the campus during these summer weeks. We are looking forward to students returning in just a few weeks! It is always encouraging to see students come to devote two years of their lives to study God’s Word! It has also been encouraging for us to hear from some who have graduated and how they have already started to get involved in ministry in their churches and how many of them are planning on going on into missionary training at New Tribes’ Missionary Training Center. The seniors who graduated this past May were given an end of the year senior survey. In it they were asked what they would say to someone who was considering coming to NTBI. Here are just a few of their responses:
“NTBI builds a great foundation for life. I can’t imagine going on into ministry without these past two years of training.”
“The Bible is no longer just a book to me. It has become my source of life. Christ is no longer just the Savior I believe in, He is now also my reason for living.”
“NTBI gives you Bible education like no other school offers, and the emphasis on missions showed me how missions is truly the heart of God.”
“Coming to NTBI and studying the Bible will change your life in one way or another. I came just wanting to study the Bible, but God showed me His heart for the world and as I grew in my knowledge of His Word, my heart became more in line with His. Now I am seeking to spread the Gospel to those who have never heard it and who don’t have the opportunity to.”
“NTBI has changed me for the better. I never knew the life I had in Christ before I came here (and even after two years, I have barely scratched the surface!). NTBI has gotten me started on what I hope will be a lifetime of Bible study, walking with the Spirit, and service for the Lord. Getting a solid Biblical foundation was, by far, the best choice I think I could have made. I would recommend everyone come here and learn what I have learned! The sooner the better!”
“NTBI has completely changed my thinking and my life! It was an amazing privilege to be able to spend two years solely devoted to studying God’s Word and getting to know Him better. Now I can see that no matter where I am, my purpose in life should be God’s purpose: ministering to people and reaching the unsaved with the Gospel.”
Israel Trip
We had an amazing trip to Israel. We both thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a lot. We got to see so many places of Biblical significance. Now as we read our Bibles it has been very neat to be able to picture the places that the different stories took place at. We are so thankful God provided us with this opportunity. Our kids did great while we were gone. We are very thankful to Barry’s parents for watching them for us. We hope you enjoy some of the pictures taken from our trip. Besides these here, there are more pictures from our trip in the photos section under “Israel 2011.” We have also included a map at the end of the pictures for those of you who would like to place the locations. We are grateful to all of you who prayed for us and our kids while we were away on this trip.
Snow Day!
Starting to shovel our driveway.
Barry and I grew up in the south and when snow was just forecasted, even the smallest amount, schools would close down and there would be a run on bread and milk at the grocery stores. Well, now that we live up north we have had to get use to repeatedly shoveling our driveway so we can get out, sending snow gear with our kids to school everyday (they go out for recess everyday unless the temperature or wind cill is below zero degrees), and hardly ever getting a snow day since we have snow all the time. Today though the kids are having their first snow day of the school year thanks to a blizzard that moved through last evening and night. The strong wind gusts of up to 40 and 50 mph created snow drifts 3 to 5 feet. And one of those drifts happened to be in our driveway! The picture is a little hard to see but the snow reaches as high as Lillian’s face.
Christmas Rummage Outreach
The rummage just before it started.
Our whole school pulled together to host a free Christmas Rummage for our community. Many churches and individuals donated boxes and bags of new or gently used toys for the event. Besides the free rummage we also had free cookies and hot chocolate, crafts for the kids, free wrapping, free christmas family photos, and we handed out free Bibles. Our staff and students all pitched in to organize, set up, bake cookies, help with crafts, wrapping gifts and much more. It was really neat to see everyone volunteering and working together to help make this outreach a success.
A new semester begins!
This weekend students will be arriving for the start of a new semester. The beginning of a new school year is always exciting. Students come from all over the country and some even from other countries to take two years out of their life to study God’s Word in depth. Very exciting! This semester we have 107 freshman that will be coming in. All our dorm beds are full, which is a very good thing! I always love to hear of the growth in these student’s walk with the Lord and in there knowledge of His Word during their two years here.
2010 Spring Graduating Class
Today was graduation for NTBI’s spring class of 2010. We had 78 Graduates. Eighty one percent of those students are planning on going into full-time Christian service. And fifty of the students are planning on being involved with tribal missions. God has gifted these graduates with a variety of gifts and talents and it is so exciting to see them want to use those gifts and talents to serve the Lord. We look forward to seeing how God will use them and to what corners of the world He will take them!