Mac & Jerry Cantrell
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Mac & Jerry Cantrell |
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21 September 1999
A quick note about my recent surgery and my progress. I am now 6 weeks post-op after receiving a new knee. Since the surgery I have not been allowed to put any weight on my knee or leg. Of course this has made getting around difficult at best.
Mac and I made a trip to Guyana for one week to attend Graduation and the trip did not seem to impede my recovery in any way. I was slowed considerably getting from place to place, but all in all everything went very well.
Hopeful, in a few weeks I will be back to normal and able to freely come and go.
As part of my rehab I am riding my stationary bike. The knee bends well and I seem to be getting back full motion.
I want to say thank you to all who have been praying for my recovery and have asked about me. Thanks! ~~Jerry
Graduation of the thirteenth class at Guyana International Bible Institute was a huge success. There was standing room only in the Savannah and Essequibo rooms at the Le Meridian Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown. Family, friends and brethren came from the four corners of Guyana to witness eight men receive their diplomas.
Brother Jack Exum from Lake City, Florida, was commencement speaker and stayed the following week to teach in the school. Among the graduates were Adolph Bernard, New Amsterdam; Trevor Emanuel, Adolphus Joseph, and Dennis James, Matthew’s Ridge; Leon Nascimento, Triumph Village; Derick Julian, Plaisance; Orin Ross, Jr., Georgetown; and Narine Khublall, West Coast Demerara.
Orin Ross, Jr., was the Valedictorian; Dennis James, Salutatorian; Trevor Emanuel, Persaud Award, Derick Julian, Christian Service Award; and Adolphus Joseph, Evangelism Award.
 Jerry Cantrell, GIBI's Director, congratulates Orin Ross, Jr., the class of 1999 Valedictorian. |  Parmanan Kissoon, GIBI's Dean, receives his Master's Degree from the Theological University of America and congratulations from Bruce House. |
 Part of the faculty at GIBI. From left to right: Brian Fiedtkou, Bruce House, Dr. Jerry Cantrell, commencement speaker Jack Exum, Parmanan Kissoon, and Dr. Steve DeLoach. |
Reserve October 8-10, 1999, on your calendar and plan to attend the Guyana Forum in Cocoa, Florida. Brethren from across the country will assemble in Cocoa to discuss ways of assisting the Guyanese Church to become autonomous. Motel rooms and homes of Christians are available to house you. Tex Williams of World Bible School; Dr. Phil Slate, Murfreesboro, TN; Bill McDonough, Partners In Progress; and Jim Mabery, Hot Springs Village, AR; will be keynote speakers. Others will be leading discussion groups.
Plans are in their final stages to open two new Extension campuses of Guyana International Bible Institute. We have been working on these plans for several months. One campus is in Linden and the other is in New Amsterdam. There are several reasons for opening these campuses.
First, we will draw more students as a result. Several men have indicated their desire to attend GIBI but don’t because of the distance and living conditions. On the subsistence we are able to give a student they cannot move to Georgetown and live. By opening a campus close to their home they will be able to live at home and commute daily.
Second, it is too expensive for us to even consider paying the transportation back and forth from these distances. It is cheaper on us to open these campuses than to try and pay the travel expense.
Third, we will now draw students from a core of men who are presently preaching but have had no formal training. We believe this is going to hasten the maturity rate of both the preachers and the congregations they serve.
The goal of Guyana International Bible Institute is to use its resources as aggressively as possible to reach, teach, train, and mature as many individuals and churches in Guyana as possible. We have videos, study guides, Bible outlines, and numerous qualified instructors that we can use in this effort.
We plan to have some of our regular instructors to travel one day a week to these new locations to teach. We also plan on using qualified Guyanese teachers who live in the area to also share in the teaching using our video library.
Each of these campuses will be full time schools just like our main campus in Georgetown. Students at the new campuses will have to meet all the same requirements as Georgetown students in order to graduate. All paperwork and records will be kept in Georgetown by the only school secretary we plan to have.
This is a bold adventure on our part and we solicit your prayers on behalf of us, our students and these future plans. Each campus will open the first week of January 2000!
Classes for the new year began on September 6. The second year class has been reduced in number from the original seven who started to four. For various reasons it was necessary for three students to leave GIBI.
It is very encouraging that our incoming class totals ten! Most of these are older men with families. We are not opposed to younger men or women, but we do believe these older, settled men give us the best opportunity for maturing the church and to continue evangelizing the nation. These men come to us from various regions of Guyana. One is from Mabaruma in the Northwest Territory. This is our fifth student in two years from the Northwest.
If you plan to attend the Guyana Forum in Cocoa, Florida, you may find the following information about housing helpful.
Cocoa Econo Lodge:
We have arranged for a block of rooms at the Cocoa Econo Lodge for Forum
guests. The motel is very convenient to the church building, less than 1/2
mile north on the same highway (US 1).
The motel is clean and provides restaurant service. The rooms are $45 a
night and up to four people can stay in the room for that price. You can
call the motel directly (407) 632-4561, or our church office (407) 636-7671
if you wish us to make reservations for you. If you call the motel, remember
to tell them you are a Forum Guest to get that special price.
Christian Homes:
If you would like to stay in the home of one of our Cocoa families, please
call the church office (407) 636-7671 and give them all the necessary
information.
GIBI wants to say thank you to everyone who helped us in our recent “Matching Funds Campaign.” GIBI had received a Matching Funds Grant for $10,000 from a Christian Foundation which requested anonymity. If we raised $10,000, they would match it!
Today I mailed a letter to the Foundation informing them that we had raised $10,750.10. They will match on $10,000.
We are very grateful to many of you who made this possible by your contributions. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. God bless!
If you would like to contact us in a hurry, use our email addresses. Jerry Cantrell can be contacted at: jcantrell@guyana-missions.org (this is the best address to use) or jerrygibi@aol.com. If you desire to contact someone in Guyana use gibi@webworksgy.com or cantrell@networksgy.com.
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