PIU 2020 Ministry Equipping Conference, schedule

2020 PIU Ministry Equipping Conference
Christian Education in the Local Church
February 6-8, SureStay Hotel

Schedule:

There will be three Plenary Sessions (sessions where everyone who attends will be in the same session).
There are also four series of Breakout Sessions (Tracks). Each Breakout presenter will present a series of four (five) sessions, different sessions on the topic assigned to them. They are not presenting the same session four times. While participants can learn and grow by attending single breakout sessions, they will receive the most benefit from the conference if they attend all four of the sessions presented by a given presenter.  The four Breakout Tracks are on the back of this schedule.

Thursday, 6:00 – 8:30 PM

6:00, Welcome and Orientation:
Please arrive early

6:15-7:05, Plenary Session #1, SureStay Banquet Room, Dr. Christel Wood

7:05 – 7:25, Snack and Fellowship Time. If participants have not already done so they need to decide which Breakout Track they are going to attend.

7:30-8:30, All four Breakout Tracks will have their first session. Rooms for each Breakout Track will be announced at the end of snack time.

8:30, Participants are dismissed at the conclusion of their Breakout session.

Friday, 6:00 – 8:30 PM

Friday’s schedule will be the same as Thursday’s. Plenary Session #2 will be a panel discussion featuring experienced leaders who will share Christian Educations ideas that have worked for them. Breakout presenters will present session #2 of their series.

Saturday, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM

10:00 –10:15, Get a drink and greet a friend before you head to Breakout sessions #3 and #4.

10:15 – 11:50, Breakout Sessions #3 and #4.

12:00 – 1:00, Lunch is served.

1:15 – 2:15, In Plenary Session #3, Rev. Howard Merrell will help us leave the conference with a positive focus on the assets the Lord has provided rather than a defeatist attitude based on our limitations.

From 2:15 – 3:00, Breakout presenters and attendees have the option of a fifth session, or attendees can take some time to discuss what they have learned with others.
Please fill out an evaluation form before you leave.

As a service to the Christian community PIU is presenting the 2020 Ministry Equipping Conference with no tuition cost. PIU is an institution that depends on donations from those who share our mission of providing excellent transformational Bible-centered education in this region. The offering we receive at the 2020 MEC will support PIU’s General Fund. Make checks payable to “Pacific Islands University,” or simply “PIU.”

Page 2:

A note from PIU President Merrell:

Before I came to the lovely island of Guam, I pastored a church in a small town in Virginia. In my forty-two years at Covington Bible Church, I was impressed with the value of solid Christian Education. I am pleased to say that some of the boys, girls, women, and men who participated in our C.E opportunities are now involved in significant ministries of their own. I said, many times, that the main ministry at Covington Bible Church didn’t happen as a result of my preaching. It took place in the various classes and programs led by volunteers who love Jesus and serve for His glory. This conference is our—me and my colleagues—opportunity to pass some of this on to you.

In addition to our three plenary sessions, we have planned four Breakout Tracks, each focusing on an important aspect of Christian Education in the Local Church:

1.       Caye Sudo, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Guam:
My late Mother-in-law, was named Kay. Not only did she share the same name as our presenter, she also made extensive use of CEF material.  In part, it was because of her faithfulness in teaching flannelgraph lessons and flashcard songs that I came to know the Lord. Caye will share very practical, usable skills that can be used in a multitude of settings.

2.       Peter Knapp, Wycliffe Bible Translator and PIU Instructor:
Peter can tell you all about fricatives and glottal stops. He has devoted his life to providing God’s word to people in their heart-language. He is currently overseeing a Bible translation into Mokilese and is providing other translation teams with technical/linguistic support.
All of this is way over the heads of we regular folk. What Peter will be presenting are tools—available for free and usable by non-linguists—that can help us, on a local church level to reach across language barriers. Peter worked with a PIU student to produce Bible storybooks in Mortlockese. He’ll walk you through the same process. He’ll not only help you reach across a major barrier­­, his track will help you pray for those who do this all the time.

3.       Kathy Merrell, my wife J, PIU Music Teacher, and former director of Coffee Break Women’s Ministry at CBC:
Under Kathy’s leadership, a thriving women’s ministry was established at CBC. Not only is it still going, but former Coffee Breaker-ers have started similar ministries around the world. As a pastor I can tell you, Covington Bible was a much better church because of Coffee Break. Ladies, this is a great opportunity to learn how you can be involved in reaching and teaching other women.

4.       Howard Merrell, PIU President and Pastor Emeritus of Covington (VA) Bible Church: I mentioned in the first paragraph that most of the progress made at the church I pastored was not a direct result of my ministry. Pastors/Leaders, I am convinced that one of the best ministries we can have is to foster an environment in which members of the Body of Christ can exercise their Spiritual gifts, in the educational ministries to which God has called them. Start a wave. We’ll include the Apostle Paul, and his disciple, Titus, in our conversation. The lessons of Titus 2 apply well beyond First-Century Crete. I invite Pastors, church leaders, and other change-agents to join us for a good conversation.
“You, speak the things which are fitting for sound instruction.^” (Titus 2:1, Lexham Bible)

The latest Newsletter from PIU

Several times a year I'm involved in producing the "Tide's Currents," PIU's biggest newsletter. Here are the main articles from the most recent addition, formatted to fit in this blog. I hope it will give you a better idea about how we spend our time out in our island paradise.

In life there are certain milestones. I remember when I turned 16 and got my Driver’s License soon after. Saying “I do,” to Kathy was a big one.  Graduating from college and starting my career as a pastor happened almost simultaneously; what a change. Generally big progress markers not only represent a celebration of what has been happening, they identify points when new plans and agendas need to kick in. As a friend of mine used to say, “The Lord didn’t bring us here for nothing.”

PIU just achieved a major milestone. On November 5, 2019, at about 8:00 AM, in Garden Grove California, VP Nino Pate’ and I took our place before the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools Commission. TRACS is our accrediting agency. This was the culmination of more than a year-and-half of work involving virtually all the PIU Team. PIU was awarded Reaffirmation II Status as a Category III Institution by the TRACS Accreditation Commission. This reaffirmation is for a ten-year period. For those of you who don’t speak academic-ese, this is good, very good.

Here are two word pictures that I frequently use, trying to communicate the current condition of and future hopes for PIU.

When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging.

We need to get past surviving, and move on to thriving.

In my almost seventy years of life, I’ve dug some fairly impressive holes. Usually, I was looking for something, a buried pipe, or solid ground to build on. That morning a few weeks ago, when I heard that long-awaited verdict by the TRACS Commission, it was like the sound of a shovel striking metal. Until that moment, I thought there was a bottom to the hole. That confidence, though wavering, was enough to motivate me to lead our dedicated team to continue on, but hearing the metallic certainty of “awarded Reaffirmation” brought a soul-satisfying certitude.

Survival and hope are hand-in-hand partners. Hope provides motivation to do the hard work of survival. Take away the hope of something better—of thriving—and . . . that’s why people, families, and schools like PIU die. We have made it thus far. The clank of certainty tells me, “Start building, here.” There are many components involved in PIU thriving.

A key component is our status as an accredited institution of higher learning. Not only is it the mark that says, “This is an institution you can trust. It has passed the test,” our accreditation also opens access to PIU students receiving Pell Grants, making it possible for our students to pay for their education. It is a big part of our accessibility. Our renewed accreditation announces a new phase in the life of PIU. We are ready to build—to build a thriving school to the glory of God.

We cannot do that alone.

I began writing this toward the end of a five-week trip. My journey not only included attendance at the TRACS Conference in California, but visits to three very impressive Christian higher-education campuses. Two recently raised $40,000,000+/each in capital campaigns. Though the Dr. David Owen Memorial Fund goal of raising $200,000 represents half-a-percent, of the efforts of those schools, it is an incredibly important project for PIU. It will put us on the path toward thriving. Find out more at the DDOMF Blog (https://piuddomf.blogspot.com/). The blog explains how you can join those who have already contributed to this fund.

I’ve been on another journey for a while, now. In my almost half-a-century of ministry, I have observed the difference that Biblically thinking leaders make in their world. An island church leader, a friend of mine, often refers to PIU as “our school.” PIU was founded by Liebenzell Mission, and the three Evangelical church fellowships it planted in Western Micronesia. PIU remains true to the vision of its founders. Our mission is “to prepare men and women with a biblical worldview for leadership and service in life, work, and ministry in the global community and the church.” We invite you to join in this effort to honor, not just Dr. Owen, but all those who sacrificially invested in this mission. Looking to the future, you can say, “This is my school, and, by God’s grace, I will help it thrive.”  -HM

Lavern Killion, one of Kathy's friends and disciples is our student in the spotlight in this addition.

While this is a student-spotlight, really it is the story of four women, working together to have a world-changing impact. PIU is the meeting place, or perhaps, launching-pad.

Kathy Merrell is President Merrell’s wife. She is campus host, part-time decorator, “First Lady,” music teacher, and mentor to the young women God sends our way. It is in that latter role that Kathy got involved with Lavern Killion, a senior at PIU. Lavern is a student of Dr. Marj Raess, the third woman in this article. Marj has been one of our capable volunteer teachers. It’s not an overstatement to say that Dr. Raess, “rang Lavern’s bell,” creating in her an excitement for teaching. As part of her Education Minor, “Ms. Killion,” as Lavern’s students called her, did her student teaching at one of our local schools.

Lavern chose education, in part, because of her high school experience. She had moved to Guam with limited English skills. She found school to be very difficult. As she remembered her experience and learned from Dr. Raess and other teachers she came to see the importance of elementary education. Though the desire to teach was there before her internship, the experience taught her what a challenging profession teaching is.

Lavern, like most PIU students, doesn’t drive. Kathy often provided transportation. It was also an opportunity for her to mentor Lavern. She says, “I saw Lavern’s creativeness grow. She would tell me about the very good ideas she came up with to help the kids review what they learned that day.” Though she lives on the other side of the world—Marj taught by means of Skype—Dr. Raess also challenged and mentored Lavern.

Kathy further reported, “Lavern found out that teaching is not easy. One must face many difficulties and challenges, but that has not dampened Lavern’s continued desire to focus on teaching, with the goal of returning to her home island and providing the girls and boys there with a better education. “Every day, the students would ask me, ‘Are you coming back?’ I could see they weren’t tired of me, and that motivated me to get up early and do the lesson plans for the next week.”

On the last day of her internship, Lavern taught all the classes. At the end of the day, the children cried because they didn’t want to see their intern-teacher leave. “Two of the worst behaved students cried the loudest because it was my last day.” Lavern reported. The students shouted, “Ms. Killion,” and blocked the door so she couldn’t get out. The classroom teacher, Ms. Austin joined them in shedding tears. When she sat down in the car with Kathy, Lavern had tears, too. She had the joy of realizing that her influence was greater than she had realized.

A week later Kathy and Lavern went back to the school to give Ms. Austin a Thank You note and gift from PIU. Ms. Austin, number four, had a gift for Lavern as well. A book of letters from the students. Lavern read them to Kathy on their way back to campus. The impact of this collaboration went beyond the hearts of these precious children. Ms. Austin asked Lavern if she could call on her as a substitute. Lavern says, “I know I want to teach. It is my gift.” She is willing to further her education after PIU. Marj encourages Lavern to apply to the local school system. She sent her a box of teaching material and shirt that says, “Live Generously.”  Kathy offered these words of encouragement, “I see your gift in the dorm,” where Lavern is Head RA.

Live Generously! What an agenda. A young lady from a tiny island nation, the wife of a retired pastor turned school administrator, and a retired teacher on the other side of the world met at PIU with the aid of a second grade instructor. All contributed with great generosity. Only eternity will reveal the fruit from this quartet’s efforts.

Actually, it’s more than a foursome. You are part of this story. Thank you for giving generously.

Here are some prayer requests and ways folk can help, we included in the letter:

The Apostle Paul offered sincere thanks to his partners at Philippi. In Phil. 4:14 & 15, Paul says the Philippian Christian koinonia-ed, shared, in his ministry. Thank you for being part of the koinonia that is Pacific Islands University. Here are some ways you can continue to share in this ministry.

• Thank the Lord that our accreditation is renewed. Thank you for praying.
• Thanks to your generosity, our mattress project is just about complete. Any funds that come in beyond the mattress needs will go to other dorm needs. Mattresses are $125/each.
• Often friends are looking for a “little something” that they can supply for PIU. Here are ways to make smaller donations with big impact. Visit the library’s wish-list. Go to piu.edu, click on “Library,” scroll to the bottom and click the link. Also, our IT department is always in need of stuff. Their “wishes” run from computer cases to new computers. Gifts of $25—$1,000 can take a “byte” out of our IT deficit.
• In addition to DDOMF our regular needs continue. An on-going need is providing training opportunities for our staff. It is one of the ways that your gift to the General Fund enables to continue to make excellent education accessible.
• Volunteering can help the University in many ways. Equipment, expertise, and labor are being donated for a complete redo of our campus wifi network. Also, volunteers are working on some dorm plumbing issues. Pray for a good completion to both.
• Pray for our students as the semester starts. Pray that they will “Live for Jesus.”

 Please let others know about PIU, so our family of partners can grow. Let us know how we can pray for you.

Give yourself. Whatever your hand, foot, or mind finds itself doing to bring glory to God, chances are there is way to serve the University with it. Please give prayerful consideration how the LORD might have you invest in making PIU shine brighter for the Kingdom of Christ’s sake.

 Plenary sessions, for all attendees, will address a Biblical, practical philosophy of Christian Education in the church. Dr. Christel Wood will be the keynote speaker. She will challenge us with the reality that Christian education is not an option. It is mandated by our Lord. Friday’s plenary session will feature church leaders presenting ideas that work. In the final session, Rev. Howard Merrell will talk about “Ministering in a Digital Age on a Flannelgraph Budget.”

In addition, breakout sessions will focus on various aspects of Christian Education Ministry in the church.

§  Child Evangelism Fellowship of Guam Director Caye Sudo will provide basic skills for reaching and teaching children.

§  Wycliffe missionary and PIU instructor, Peter Knapp, will introduce ways to cross the language barrier. “Bible Stories in Local Languages” will enable participants to produce a Bible story booklet during the 3 days of the MEC & gain skills and resources to produce other materials in the language of the participants. One of our PIU students who produced several Bible Story booklets in the Mortlockese dialect will assist. Peter will pass on resources enabling participants to produce other Bible story booklets in their own language.

§  Kathy Merrell will share how she helped start a ladies’ Bible study that thrives three decades later.

§  Howard Merrell will lead a conversation with pastors/leaders, “How can I foster a church climate where Christian education thrives?”

§  Other tracks to be announced.

The 2020 MEC will take place February 6- 8, at the SureStay Hotel in Barrigada.

February 6 & 7, (6-8:30 pm & February 8, 9:00 – 3:00 pm.

We want to make this conference available to as many local-church, Christian educators as possible, so we are offering this conference with no tuition charge. PIU will receive an offering.

Please help us help you. We are making this conference available without tuition. A freewill offering will be taken.
Please send us the number of attendees your church plans to send, by January 25. You can email hmerrell@piu.edu or call PIU at (671) 734 1812.

2020 Ministry Equipping Conference. February 6-8,
SureStay Hotel, Barrigada.

Reaching and Teaching for God’s Glory.