Guyana International Bible Institute

The largest class in the fourteen year history of GIBI graduated on September 12, 1997. Sixteen students, four women and twelve men, were among the graduates. Fifteen received diplomas and one a certificate. Two students received "Special Academic Awards" for maintaining a 95% or above GPA for their two years of studies. One student was awarded a "Perfect Attendance Certificate." During the two years she was never late and never missed a day of classes. She traveled 68 miles, one way, everyday, under very difficult conditions, yet she was there everyday.

Approximately 600 friends, family, and acquaintances attended the 11th Commencement Exercise which was held in the prestigious Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown. All the men graduates are preaching for local churches.

BUSY SPRING AND SUMMER

Mac and I left for Guyana in March and was there until September 16th. It was a very busy six months. We have now been in Guyana for four years and each one seems to get busier than the preceding one.

From March through May, classes were in session at GIBI. I was teaching three days a week, six hours a day. In June we dismissed formal classes and assigned all our students to work with the various campaigns and Medical Missions who were working in numerous sections of Guyana. Each team consisted of six to eight students depending on the size of the team they were working with. This work lasted until August 31st.

The students assisted with ten medical missions and with at least ten other evangelistic efforts. The combined efforts of the students and the teams resulted in over 600 baptisms. It was a very fruitful experience. It was so successful that we plan for this to be a regular part of the school curriculum. Next year we will probably reduce the time from three months to two months. While it was very fruitful it was also very tiring for students and instructors.

The only break of the summer came from August 31 - September 12. Graduation was the evening of September 12th and orientation and new classes began on September 15.

I don't know just how many Christians worked in Guyana this summer, but I know it was so many that Guyana Immigration started limiting the amount of time they could stay. Every person clearing through Immigration, who stated they were with the Church of Christ, had their passports stamped with a seven-day limited stay.

Someone said there were so many Christians coming and going that government officials had flashbacks of the Jim Jones days and the more than 900 suicides. They did not want a repeat of that awful tragedy. For those who needed to stay longer than seven days we had to scurry around and work to get them an extension. In most cases it was no trouble to get, it just took a lot of valuable time.

The Central Church of Christ from Cocoa, Florida, our sponsoring congregation, came to Guyana for the first time this summer. We organized a door-to-door campaign in the Ruimveldt section of Georgetown where no church existed. Seven members of the congregation, including Rubyn Howell, one of the elders, and Don Adkins, Central's minister, were among the group. Don shared the preaching with Boyd Williams of Vero Beach, Florida. Boyd has been working in Guyana for the past three years.

The group did an excellent work, establishing a new congregation, and immersing 16 for the remission of sins. Several have been saved since the campaign and the church is averaging about 60 in attendance.

This was just a part of the busy summer.

SEVEN NEW CONGREGATIONS ESTABLISHED

Seven new churches were established this summer, and five of them were in Georgetown.

• Industry: This was the first of the new congregations that was started. The Guyanese pronounce it "In-dus-try." About 55 are meeting with this new church. Bruce House, an American missionary works with the church.

• Buxton: This was the last of the seven churches that was established. They pronounce it "Box-ton." I had the privilege of preaching the first sermon for these brethren. Thirty-nine were present for that first service. Buxton is about 30 minutes outside Georgetown on the East Coast Highway. Prince Carter, one of our September graduates, preaches for the church.

• Kitty: This was the first of the new Georgetown churches that was established. This congregation is self-supporting because the men who are preaching and ministering for the church have secular jobs. The church was established on this premise. They intend to remain self-supporting. A large group of World Bible School (WBS) workers labored with them this summer resulting in several people obeying the Lord.

• Sophia: This is a squatting area on the east side of Georgetown. The people living in a squatting area are usually poor. But this makes for very receptive people. Several of the initial people who were converted had attended the crusade in Kitty. The government has given the church some land and plans are being made to build a church building on the property. One of our second year students is ministering to the church.

• Alexander Village: WBS workers taught and baptized 69 people. Seventeen thousand pieces of literature were sent to WBS students inviting them to come and study with the workers. This gives you some idea of the impact WBS is having in Guyana. Attendance of the congregation is about 50.

• Ruimveldt: Two different campaigns were conducted in this area back to back. The group from Cocoa came first and 16 turned to the Lord.

  Following Cocoa was a medical team from Hot Springs Village, AR. They treated a large number of patients and taught and immersed 24 people. There are approximately 60 people attending Ruimveldt on a regular basis. Chris De Caries, a recent graduate, labors with these brethren.

• Campbellville: This congregation is only two blocks from where we live. I was given the opportunity to preach the first sermon for this church, too. No campaign, crusade, door-to-door work, or WBS campaign was conducted in this area. Jack Exum did speak for four days and taught our students there, but this church has grown in spite of little formal work being done. We are urging our instructors who come to Guyana to preach and teach for this young church. Marlon Lawrie is the local minister.

  Campbellville has the greatest potential for growth of all the new congregations because of several factors. First, it has a wonderful facility. Second, a full-time medical clinic will share the facility. Third, GIBI has established a "Learning Center" in the building. It will also serve as one of our satellite schools. The church and satellite school meet upstairs and the clinic meets downstairs. We will hear a lot from this church in the months to come.

GIBI appreciated Jack Exum coming this summer to share with our students. This was Jack's third trip to Guyana, and according to him, his last. Hopefully, he will change his mind. Jack's simple down-to-earth teaching has been very practical and useful for our students. We appreciate the dedication and sacrifice on his part to come and help. If he really doesn't come back, he will be missed and Guyana will be the loser.

NEW STAFF MEMBERS AT GIBI

GIBI has two new full-time staff members. Parmanan Kissoon is a graduate of the school and has been working part-time with us for several years. He also preaches for the Grove church. He is one of the most respected preachers in Guyana. He has been supported by the Cox Boulevard church in Sheffield, Alabama, to work with the Grove church. The leadership of this good church has consented to continue his support so he can work with GIBI full-time. Parmanan will be the School's "Dean of Students."

Bruce House has been working in Guyana for seven years. He is a graduate of IBC in Florence, Alabama, and has worked in Guyana since his graduation. He is married to a beautiful Guyanese lady and they have a son Nathan. Bruce is a prolific personal worker. He averages about 6 Bible studies a day, six days a weeks. He will be our "Administrative Dean." The full-time staff will help the school to grow.

ABOUT THE GRADUATES

On September 12, 1997, the 11th Graduation Ceremonies were conducted at the Guyana Pegasus Hotel. Fifteen students were awarded diplomas and one earned a certificate. Certificates are given to students who maintain a GPA of 70%, but less than 80%. Diplomas are given to students maintaining a GPA of 80% and higher. Chris De Caries and Feroze Baksh earned special "Academic Achievement Awards." Chris' GPA was 95.7% and Feroze's was 99.3%. Both of these young men are examples of the academic capability of many of our students. We are very proud of all our students, but we are especially proud of these two men.

Our graduates will be serving churches in Berbise, East Coast Demarara, West Bank Demerara, and the Northwest Territory.

New classes began on September 15, 1997. Seven men are in the new class. Two more men will join the class in January 1998. Four men from the Northwest will be among the nine students. The Northwest is a mission area within a mission field.

Scholarships are still needed to assist these student through their two years of study. A full scholarship is $165 a month, but partial scholarships can be given in any amount. Send your scholarship donations to the Central Church, P.O. Box 251, Cocoa, FL 32923-0251.

TREMENDOUS CHALLENGE AHEAD OF US

With the graduation of our 11th class there is still a tremendous challenge facing us at the Guyana International Bible Institute. We have now graduated a total of 95 students. Twenty-eight of these are women and 67 are men. There are, to date, 76 congregations of the Lord's people meeting in Guyana. If all of our men graduates were faithfully preaching in Guyana, we would still be 9 preachers short of the number of existing congregations. Unfortunately, all of our eligible graduates are not preaching. Some have immigrated to the USA, others are going soon, some have become unfaithful, while others have returned to secular work. Considering the twelve men who graduated in September there are approximately 49 full-time preachers.

The truth is, we are losing ground every year. Churches are being established faster than we can train men to fill the pulpits. We have plenty of applicants for school, but for a couple of reasons we do not accept everyone who applies. First, not everyone who applies is qualified to attend. We try to accept only relatively mature Christians. A person has to be a Christian at least one year before they can apply for admission to GIBI. Remember, the church in Guyana is still in its infancy, just over 20 years old. We are dealing with very young Christians. We wish all our applicants were much older in the church, but it is not possible.

Second, we do not have the funds to accept some of the qualified applicants. We have calculated that it takes approximately $165.00 a month to educate and subsidize each student. Sometime there is just not enough money for everyone wanting to attend.

We had 35 applicants for this year's class and we accepted only 9. Seven began in September and 2 will join them in January '98. An ideal class would range between 12 - 15. If we had the funds, we would offer that many Scholarships each year. This year we accepted no women. With limited funds we used what we had to concentrate on training preachers. We wish we could have accepted some women, but funds were not available! The Guyanese church needs trained women!

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

You can do a lot! I spend most of time, when in the USA, traveling state to state trying to secure enough funds for all our students. I spend more time here than I would like, because it is necessary in order to find the funds to keep the school operating.

If you could supply one scholarship, then one more student could be educated. That one scholarship is $165.00 a month. Maybe you feel you cannot afford that much, then consider half a scholarship. That is $82.50 a month. Maybe that is still too much. Then send what you can. We will combine your donations with that of others and we will support as many students as we can.

If we could add just one scholarship, it would be a tremendous help in meeting the challenge we are facing. Prayerfully consider this, and if you can help, then send your donation to:

Guyana Missions
Central Church of Christ
P.O. Box 251
Cocoa, Florida 32923-0251

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

We are on the road again. I will speak Sunday AM, September 28 in Cocoa. Sunday PM in Holly Hill, FL. Monday night I meet with elders in Pensacola, FL. Tuesday, I am meeting with brethren in Spanish Fort and Brewton, AL. From there we go to Prattville, AL, to visit with two of our children and three grandchildren.

Before returning home we will be in Vancleave, MS; Mobile, Huntsville, and Sheffield, AL. From there we go to Middleton and Chattanooga, TN. We will visit with the North Atlanta church, and then return to Montgomery, AL, to preach on October 12 at Hunter Station. October 15 we will meet with the West-Ark church in Fort Smith, AR, then to Hot Springs Village, AR, to speak at their Mission's Day on the 19th. From there we hope to return home for a few days. Please keep us in your prayers.

Jerry & Mac Cantrell

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