Praise Notes

1. July was a great month at WATS, with thirty-eight Springboard short-term missionaries in the field around West Africa and our undergraduates spread out to the four winds. On campus, the continuing remodeling and chapel construction continued to move forward, even if slowly. The WATS clinic reopened July 1, and by July 27 was absolutely INUNDATED with scores of daily patients as a medical contingent arrived from 12Stone Church (Georgia), led by Dr. David Hayward and Dr. Ben Graham. Another Masters classroom was completed, including air conditioning. The Georgia team included eager workers continuing the remodeling of classrooms and installation of floor joists for the new chapel, which we hope to provisionally occupy by mid-August.
   
   
2. Early in the month we welcomed Dr. Mathieu Gnonhossou (a native of the Republic of Benin who recently completed his doctorate at Asbury Theological Seminary), teaching a Masters module in Expository Preaching, as well as Kalu Okechukwu, handling Pauline Epistles, and Dr. Caleb Ogunkunle teaching Pentateuch. During the last week of the month two-week Masters modules took off again, including Graduate Level Teaching (Dr. Emmanuel Ogunyemi), Christian Family Life (Dr. Charlemagne Nditemeh, a native of Cameroon currently teaching in Tanzania), Pastoral Theology and Counseling (Dr. Daniel Finch), and History and Background of the New Testament (Dr. John Lotzgesell).
   
   
3. Praise God for the highly successful MA in Christian Leadership modules. July 20 – 24 twenty-four top church leaders studied Relationships and Conflict Management, under Dr. Edward Beaver, and another eight enrolled for Christian Doctrines, taught by Dr. Daniel Burnett. July 27 – 31 these same students took Experiencing God, led by Dr. David Seiver. (A module in discipleship led by Dr. U. Obed was shifted to September 14 – 18, because of a last-minute emergency at Dr. Obed´s church in Ibadan.)
   
   
4. We are grateful for the end-of-the-month visit of Pastor Steve Wood, senior pastor of Mt. Pisgah United Methodist Church in Johns Creek, Georgia, which has very strongly supported WATS for several years. He lectured in three Masters modules and spoke in the WATS chapel, before heading on to eastern Nigeria for an International Leadership Institute program in Taraba State.
   
   
5. In July we were pleased to welcome to campus two new staff members: Dr. and Mrs. Offiong and Felicia Ibok. Dr. Ibok has a PhD in Theology from Trinity University (Edinburgh, Indiana), and has worked in theological schools throughout West Africa over the past fifteen years. We believe these people will bring great strength to our WATS staff.
   
   
6. I returned to Nigeria in mid-July, after some exciting family activities and engagements in Texas, Illinois and Wisconsin. During the first week of the month Emma Lou and I had very special time together for three days in western Tennessee. I was blessed by an opportunity to appear on Daystar Television´s Celebration program on Tuesday, July 13. (You can go online at our website and see the 12-minute segment if you like, at Celebration.) In Atlanta, our entire family was blessed on July 16. The day started with a great visit with Dr. Ravi Zacharias (whom we are hoping to see at WATS in 2010), along with my son-in-law, Dr. Acha Goris. Later in the day I baptized Ikanwie Theophilus Acha, Ingamnwie Thadeus Acha and Rose Louise Carroll (our three oldest grandchildren), and in the evening we attended the ministerial ordination of Rev. Lori Maxey (our wonderful daughter-in-law). On July 19 the WATS provost, William Udotong, joined Acha Goris, me and a host of others for a special reception for Dr. Donald Plemons in Moline, Illinois, and the following day four of us drove to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to express special thanks to Dr. Dale Peterson for his unparalleled help in sourcing more than 50,000 volumes for the WATS library across the past seventeen years. What wonderful, wonderful blessings we enjoy from the hand of our gracious God! HALLELUJAH!!