Dear, Howard
Since January 6, Kathy and I have been here in Guam working at Pacific Islands University. I have been serving in the absence of President David Owen, who is in California being treated for cancer. I've been teaching a class, meeting with staff, serving in a pastoral role toward the staff, and helping out as I am able. I retained my position as chairman of the Board of Trustees. As you can see from the  email copied below, that status changed as of today.
On behalf of the PIU Board of Trustees, we are pleased to announce the appointment of Rev. Howard Merrell as Interim President of the Pacific Islands University, effective March 10. This decision was approved at the Annual Board Meeting on March 7-9, 2017.
Rev. Merrell has previously served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of PIU. He was ordained by the Community Bible Church of Posen, Illinois. He served as Pastor of the Covington Bible Church, Virginia from 1973 until the present and held the title of "Pastor", "Senior Pastor", "Co-Pastor", "Associate Pastor" and now "Pastor Emeritus".
He earned a Bachelor of Theology degree from Appalachian Bible College and Baptist Bible College in 1974 and finished his Master of Arts in Religion at Liberty Seminary, Lynchburg, Virginia in 1995.
Please join me in welcoming Rev. Howard Merrell. He will be an outstanding addition to our university community and a tremendous resource for our students.
So far we haven't had much time to think about the changes this will bring for us.Tuesday - Thursday was the Annual Board Meeting. I was still the chairman, so, especially since Dave is away, it was a very busy time. Today I had to get ready for class, and several people stopped in the office. Tonight was the beginning of PIU Days, a student-led three days of fun, encouragement, and spiritual nourishment. So we haven't seen normal yet.
We are still planning to come home early inMay, but will have a fairly quick turn around. PIU has historically operated as an institution staffed largely by missionaries. For several reasons we are reemphasizing that distinctive. Kathy and I will not be drawing any salary from the school. Please pray with us. We will be looking for some more partners to join us in this ministry. Some of our expenses will increase because of this change. There likely will need to be some new arrangement made for transportation and there could even be some change in our housing.
We are confident that this is the right thing to do. Please join us in prayer for wisdom and stamina. Pray for PIU. We have several difficulties to work through, including budget and personnel needs.
From Kathy:
We have felt your prayers and thank you for praying. Though it has been a hard time in many ways we have found our PIU Days theme verse very true-- “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NASB95) There has been peace and unity on campus among the staff, faculty & students and we are so very thankful.
Monday, we will meet for an orientation time and will find out more of what lies ahead. We will need your
prayers to continue. We pray for you regularly at home and before Howard's class. The students have been introduced to each of you! Know that you are a part of the ministry here at PIU!
By His Grace,
Howard & Kathy,
We will continue to post information about our mission venture at http://micronesianadventure.blogspot.com/.
Our Prayer card is copied at the top of this email. If you don't have one, and would like to, let us know.
We have a Guam cellphone number, 671 678 2877. You can call us voice and video on Facebook or Skype. We also have a Skype number. You can use it to call us from a landline or cellphone. It is a Lexington VA number, so it is toll-free for most of you, 540 784 1195. We receive postal mail at the University address.
Howard and Kathy Merrell
c/o PIU
172 Kinney’s Road
Mangilao, GU 96913
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