Trumpet W i n t e r
2 0 2 2
Sexsmith, AB PEACE RIVER BIBLE INSTITUTE
College Update We are excited to announce that we have entered into a partnership with Cam Schenk. Cam brings over 30 years of experience in fund development to PRBI. Working remotely from Edmonton in a part-time capacity, his focus will be on the donor care aspect of our ministry, with an emphasis on central and southern Alberta (although from time to time we will target a different location). After reading these opening sentences, it’s possible that you are wondering how this may impact you. Simply put, you might receive a call from Cam or perhaps even a request for a visit. He’s looking forward to connecting soon with members of the PRBI family. You can check out his story on pages 5-6. You may also find it interesting to know that PRBI has recently secured its status as a Designated Learning Institution. This means that PRBI is once again able to accept International Students from the States and overseas. (PRBI had not been able to accept International Students for several years due to a shift in government policy.) Lord willing, in the fall of 2022 we will be welcoming back International Students, who have so richly diversified our campus in the past. As the photos suggest, in November we hosted Mobilizers from across Canada for Impact Week. It was an incredible time of hearing what God is doing in various corners of the globe. Students were invited to discover a sense of their place in the church and the world. To strengthen and empower that mission, the content centred on helping students to enhance their ability to love both the church and their neighbour. It was a great week, made better by being able to again have Mobilizers present, in person, on our Campus. Thank you for partnering with us as we continue to focus on “every student encountering Christ in ways that transform their life, energize their church, and impact their world.” If you would like to make a special financial gift to PRBI this quarter, we would definitely appreciate it. Jeremy Johnston Director of Operations
A Place to Reflect In the two previous editions of the Trumpet, I suggested that Bible College is a place where young people can search for answers to the big questions of life and a place to reflect on how to live one’s life. It is a space where students can form a coherent and cohesive Christian worldview that will be sustainable for life. However, searching for answers to life’s big questions and reflecting on how one should live has little value if they do not lead to growth in faith and character. Many students have also attended Bible College for this very reason - because it is a place to grow! What exactly though makes it a unique setting for growth? A Bible College offers access and exposure to the Word of God. A student who attends PRBI will not only learn about the Bible, but they will, through instruction and assignments, learn how to study the Word for themselves. The students encounter solid preaching in their weekly
Kim Cairns President
chapels, which include worship, prayer, and personal reflection in the Scriptures. We are also excited to see our students engaging in the Word through their weekly discipleship meetings. This year, we introduced the Discovery Bible Study method into our discipleship training. Not only are students finding opportunities to grow in their faith through these studies, but they are gaining a skill that they can use in disciple-making once they leave Bible College. A Bible College is designed for growth. Although there is significant benefit in personal study of the Scriptures, the value cannot be compared to studying the Bible in community. An instructor may make an insightful comment that a student tucks away in their memory, but it has been my experience that students learn the most when they discuss with each other the life-changing principles of the Word. You cannot put a price tag on the experience of
students wrestling together with the meaning of the text. Students provide alternative perspectives that the individual may not have considered on their own. The value of community study is not only in learning but also in the accountability and application. One can easily rationalize a personal thought away, but it is more difficult to hide from a commitment made when studying with friends. Add to this the experience of living together in dorms. Sharing living quarters with other students provides a rich environment for growth. Living in community quickly exposes character deficiencies. Equally powerful, though, is the opportunity for witnessing positive examples as well as the room for growth that is fostered in a restorative environment. A Bible College is a place to grow for the willing participant. Of course, the familiar adage rings true. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink! Growth happens when students are open to Christ’s teaching. Jesus explains this principle in the parable of the Sower, which illustrates that the Word flourishes in a heart that actively receives and allows it to take root while avoiding the distractions that hinder growth. A student requires a willing and persevering heart for growth to happen. Bible College offers other worthwhile pursuits such as socialization, sports, and music, and students sometimes come,
intending to make these their highest priority. The good news is that many come with a desire to grow, and they have a positive impact in turning less inclined hearts to faith matters. One might object that with the high cost of education, shrinking resources and the competitive employment market, investing money and time in Bible College may be a luxury for a few but not practical for most. This objection is sometimes supported with the idea that a student who attends Bible College will have nothing to show for their investment. My response is to consider the importance of character development compared to gaining credentials or earnings. No matter where a person goes in life, their character goes with them. A student will take their character into further education, vocations, marriages, and other relationships. PRBI’s motto is “A College for Life.” In other words, we are a place to grow in faith and character. Do you know a young person who would benefit from the growth environment a Bible College offers? Would you encourage them to apply? A year or two at PRBI could have longterm positive effects on their life, vocation, and relationships! Kim has served as a member of the PRBI faculty since 2009 and as President since 2019.
Get To Know Me My roots are in the Peace Country. I was born and raised in Grande Prairie, and although I was certainly a city boy, I thoroughly enjoyed visiting extended family in the surrounding countryside. While hockey and golf were my #1 favourite activities as a youth, I did attend church and Sunday school, and as you will read, the spiritual foundation that I gained when young definitely planted seeds for later on in my life. Until I was 16, I was what you would call a morally upright teen. Nevertheless, peer pressure was very real, and during my first year of high school I began drinking, doing drugs, and getting involved in the party scene. I moved to Calgary in my early 20s and carried on with that
Cam Schenk Donor Relations same destructive lifestyle. Eventually I hit rock bottom. I was in despair, I felt there was nothing left, and I attempted suicide. Thankfully, it was unsuccessful, but I struggled for another year before I came to my senses. In reflecting back, my story could be considered sort of a cross between Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, and the prodigal son in the Gospel of Luke. It took time, much time, but I ultimately was able to acknowledge that I had a huge problem and I needed to figure out a way to dramatically change my entire life. In those days I had not heard of the French theologian, Blaise Pascal, but what he wrote in the 1600s exactly and precisely described my own heart:
See, God truly and dramatically changed me! Karen and I got married, and the following year we went off to Briercrest. While there, we were challenged to go on a short-term mission to Venezuela with Campus Crusade for Christ (today known In an effort to fill that vacuum, I boldly as Cru). Amidst that incredibly lifeinvited myself to church with some transforming trip, we were called friends. i nto vo c a t i o n a l “There is a GodFrom there, God led ministry with CCC. It shaped vacuum in me to a home Bible was with CCC that the heart of each study group where I honed my skills in [person] which the host couple (a big personal fundraising and grateful shoutout cannot be satisfied prior to learning a fair to Bruce and Verna by any created thing bit about corporate Ratzlaff!) shared God’s fundraising. I am now but only by God love and introduced the Creator, made self-employed, and me to Jesus Christ. I have recently been known through Jesus faithfully came working with a small Jesus Christ.” into my life, forgave foundation in Peru me of my sin, removed my desire for and another ministry in Lebanon, alcohol, and replaced it with a desire providing some leadership as well for Him, the Bible, prayer, fellowship, as some strategic advice on donor and telling others about the reality of development. His life. As I have talked with different Fast forward two years, I met Karen, people, I have discovered so many the most amazing person imaginable. great things about PRBI. You have a Here is how Karen recounted it on sterling reputation and I am sincerely MyStory.me: honoured and excited to build relationships with your donors. I am “During this time, I met a wonderful committed to play a part in ensuring person, Cam, and knew him as a that your legacy of disciple-making good-looking, fun-loving guy who continues on for decades to come. loved God and wanted everyone And PRBI is just 20 clicks north of to be as excited about God as he where I grew up! Praise the Lord for was. We became friends and I even his Goodness and Mercy and this next tried setting him up with my sister. season of ministry. Fortunately, it didn’t work.” “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each [person] which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.”
The Worship of Heaven For a number of years I have been the “end-times” teacher here at PRBI. A favourite topic of mine has been the passages and beliefs found in Scripture about heaven. In Revelation 4, John is called up into heaven and subsequently describes the wonders that he sees. In verse two he chronicles, “At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.” Note that the first thing John sees in his vision is a throne with the One on it. It is unclear if this is an enclosed room or a throne sitting in a wide open space in heaven. Either way, it is certainly the central hub of activity. God is not a decoration in the vast expanse of heaven; God is its focal point. I cannot begin to imagine the shock John felt at being transported there. One moment he was an exile on a
Jason Gayoway Faculty forgotten island and the next he was in the throne room of God. We have at times seen the result of humans being in God’s direct presence. Moses receiving the two tablets on Mount Sinai is a good example. When Moses came away, his face was too radiant to look upon. While God is everywhere present, there are also places where He is somehow concentrated. The ‘temple’ that Isaiah was brought to seems to be such a place. Isaiah’s one thought was that he was not holy enough to be there. In response, a hot coal was taken from the altar to touch to his lips and cleanse him. You may remember that special angels called “seraphim” were there, described as odd creatures with six wings. Only two of those wings were used to fly with, two covered their feet and two more covered their
eyes, perhaps because even they were not worthy to gaze upon God.
I do not think what we are seeing is a perfect picture of our future in heaven, but rather a picture of what it is like to be before God. The living creatures do not ask any questions and there is no debate or idle chatter. Adoration and praise spontaneously issue forth out of them. Nowhere are we given the impression that they are under obligation to worship, like a child given a hymn book and commanded by Mom or Dad to ‘sing out or else!’
These seraphim were not silent, and they called out to one another, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” 1 The throne in Revelation 4 was similarly surrounded by a variety of unusual worshippers. They are at once better dressed and more prepared than the ragged and elderly disciple, but what is their reaction to being so near to God? No doubt these human elders, myriad angels and Instead, a song pours out of them, mysterious creatures are cleansed like an artesian well. It flows out of the deep places by Jesus’ blood or “Instead, a song of their hearts and otherwise fitted to be pours out of tells us how it must in His direct presence them, like an feel to have all of our without dying. But what do they feel, artesian well. It worries, weaknesses spending time with flows out of the and pains healed and Him? What is in their deep places of to finally be made whole in the embrace hearts? their hearts” of the Creator. We We may speculate on what a ‘living could imagine that one might feel creature’ really is or how a human unsure, or speak out of turn there, ‘elder’ came to be in the throne but that is not so. They come across room, but we definitely do not have as absolutely fulfilled and completely to guess at their thoughts. Like absorbed in their worship. Their the seraphim before them, they praise is stark. It is focused and it continually call out worship to God, seems to never end. and like the six-winged angels, their song is so powerful it rings through They are compelled, though not the ages to us today. John writes of forced, to declare that He is Holy, since these creatures that “day and night somehow abiding in the presence of they do not cease to say, “HOLY, God shows these beings His absolute HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE purity and perfection. It seems to ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS be a ceaselessly shining light of unspoken brightness. This draws AND WHO IS TO COME.”2
fear and shame from uncleansed Isaiah, but the inhabitants of heaven ride a tidal wave of pure joy, certainty and peace there. This is striking, but the wonders of the room do not stop there. In a further description, John writes, “And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” 3 In this unexplained moment, John records something extraordinary. All people unite in the song of the inhabitants of heaven. Not just the redeemed who have died and now are in heaven, but the living as well. This includes the redeemed but also those who make no thought of God. They are joined together in some fashion by every living creature, intelligent or not. Paul mentions in Philippians 2 that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. This may be that event. Sitting here, writing this, it is hard to pull myself away from these scenes. Though I have taught and written on these passages many times before, the power of their lyrics again transports me to that sacred place. But perhaps I will close with a few words of application.
What do you think about as you worship? Are you contemplating your life, or your fears, or are you simply enthralled by the music itself? By contrast, the creatures are fully, truly fully taken up with God. Their worship is uncomplicated and I do not doubt that it was genuine – that they really felt what they were singing. When I read their words, I am removed from my own troubles, interests and such, and I am tuned into a reality that I generally tend to avoid. Their power and sincerity makes my own worship feel shallow. However, John wrote these words not to shame us, but to inspire us to internalize their awe and transcendence. I invite you now to read the angels’ song and for a moment put yourself beside them in the worship of God. Jason has served as PRBI faculty since 2008 and as Pastoral Ministries Advisor since 2013. He is married to Jill and they have two children.
[1] Isaiah 6:3b [2] Revelation 4:8b [3] Revelation 5:13
Financial Update Peace River Bible Institute Statement of Operations and Budget July 2021 - November 2021 Revenue
tudent Revenue Student
General Income Sales
Fees & Other Programs
& Non-Program Fees & Services
esidence Rental Rental
Income
onation - Undesignated Donations
- Undesignated - Designated Total Donations
onation - Designated Donations
Total Revenue
Expenses
Income To Date
Annual Budget
% of Budget To Date
246,823
666,100
37%
87,715
24,550
357%
49,463
145,845
34%
243,023 125 243,148
800,000 76,200 876,200
30% 0% 28%
627,149
1,712,695
37%
Expenses To Date
Annual Budget
% of Budget To Date
cademics
Academics
6,044
24,235
25%
tudent Life
Campus Life
6,478
47,000
14%
42,829
94,228
45%
ood Services Food
Services
evelopment
Promotion & Development
65,441
127,000
52%
dmissions
Admissions
22,595
62,050
36%
492,328
1,394,067
35%
43,008
100,000
43%
6,353
6,000
106% 0%
dministrationAdministration
Maintenance
Facilities & Maintenance
tudent Aid
Special Project
tudent Aid
Student Aid
-
15,000
thers
Others
-
-
Total Expenses
685,076
Net Income (Loss)
(57,927)
Excludes Amortization Expense
1,869,580 (156,885)
37%
News and Updates WITH THE LORD LOEPPKY, Ervin (g ‘71) was born at Altona, Manitoba on October 6, 1944. Ervin accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Saviour at a young age and was baptized in the MacGregor EMC church when he was in his early twenties. He graduated from Peace River Bible School in Sexsmith, Alberta following 3 years at the school. Ervin read many books and loved to talk about the most important book in his life, the Bible. He enjoyed family gatherings, good food, and funny stories. On October 26, 2021 Ervin was found to have passed away at his home, into the presence of his Lord and Saviour.
PRBI NEWS We are pleased to offer the second course in our new Faith Based Addictions Treatment program: Understanding Addictions (taught by Mel Siggelkow of Rising Above). This course is an introduction to addiction and treatment theory. You will gain an understanding of addiction in general, and explore specific types of addictions -including substance (drugs/alcohol/etc.) and behavior (gaming/ food/ phones/ pornography/ work/ exercise/ etc.) — and how they work. Together, we will consider various models of addiction theory (i.e. why addiction occurs) and prominent models of treatment, both from a Biblical perspective. Understanding Addictions will be taught on Tuesday afternoons from 3:15-5:00pm. For more information, or to register, contact Brad Cowie at registrar@prbi.edu.
Contact Us www.prbi.edu
prbi@prbi.edu
Like Us On Facebook! www.facebook.com/acollegeforlife
PRBI - Peace River Bible Institute
780-568-3962
If you would like an update included in the News and Updates section, please let us know.
ABOUT PRBI
GET INVOLVED
Peace River Bible Institute is a Canadian Degree Granting Bible College in Sexsmith, Alberta, founded in 1933. PRBI is known for quality academics and its highly relational culture that purposefully fosters an atmosphere of spiritual growth. PRBI has a distinct commitment to train students in a thorough knowledge of the Word of God and to train students to become disciple-makers whether at home or abroad. PRBI’s educational model purposefully integrates the academic learning experience with an experiential learning component making us a Bible College for Life.
MONTHLY GIVING
BE A PRAYER PARTNER
LEGACY GIVING
SCHOLARSHIPS & BURSARIES
REFER A STUDENT
Our vision is that every student encounters Christ in ways that transform their life, energize their church and impact their world.
WWW.PRBI.EDU/GIVE
Coming Events February 4 Circle of Friends
March 23-25 Camp Days
March 10-12 Youth Alert
April 23 Graduation
The TRUMPET is the magazine of Peace River Bible Institute that is comprised of contributions from faculty, staff, alumni, and students who are passionate about making disciples in their churches and communities. If you would have any comments please email us at development@prbi.edu. Printed in Canada.
For Grade 12 and Post-High School