Dear friends,
We send you greetings in the Name of our Lord.
Thank you for praying for the start of the August-December semester at the seminary. We had 318 students register for study this time which is above average. Debbie has three classes to teach and I have only one (but with 80 students!) since I will be extra busy in the office this semester. Our seminary catalogue needs to be updated and we have scheduled the curriculum review for the 'mid-semester break' in October. As the secretary for the academic committee I have some work to do in preparation for that review and, no doubt, much more work to do after it.
SIM is concerned about security here and is using various methods of keeping the missionaries up to date with information about disturbances in Jos, for example. The latest channel being tried is Twitter since 'tweets' can be sent and received from ordinary mobile phones. The recent bomb at a UN building at Abuja marks an extension in the violence here and we would appreciate your prayers for peace and stability in the nation.
During the semester we have 'chapel' services at 11:00 am Monday through to Wednesday and then group prayer times on Thursday. The seminary also runs two services on Sunday. This semester the theme is 'Make every effort ... to be holy' from Hebrews 12:14. Our Lord has been using the speakers thus far to challenge us in this area and some people have been staying after services for counselling. Please pray this trend will continue as we all want to pursue holiness.
Thank you for praying for the SIM area council meeting. We had both the international director of SIM, Malcolm McGregor, and the SIM Deputy International Director for this region, Joshua Bogunjoko, with us. The main focus for discussion was strategy for the work of SIM in this country and good progress was made. We were delighted Malcolm and his wife Liz were also able to visit the seminary yesterday. Malcolm spoke on 'Jonah the reluctant missionary' during the chapel service to encourage everyone to have concern for the lost (cf. Jonah 4:11). Though only a few of our students are specifically training for mission work, everyone should be missions-minded.
Thanks again for your interest in us and the work here.
In Christ,
David and Debbie
