Volume: 2 • Issue 2 • February 2002                       

From the President’s Pen:

Dear CCBI Friends and Family,

Greetings to you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.

I trust this newsletter finds everyone well, both in Spirit and body. Also, I trust everyone has gotten over the added activity of the Holiday season and things are returning to normal. We, the administration in the Springfield office, wish to thank everyone who sent us Christmas greetings this year. It was very much appreciated.

This past month was a very wonderful month for CCBI. We have had several new students enroll already this year and God has blessed us with a slight increase in the finances. For those of you who given to this ministry in the past, we wish to thank you for your past help and would like to encourage you to continue your much needed help. We have been receiving reports from both students and National Directors that they are very grateful for the help which has come from the United States so that they might complete their education. I know that I have said this before, but I think it is appropriate to say it again, “You will never know, this side of Heaven, how much good you have done in the Kingdom of God by helping to equip pastors and church workers to reach people you will never meet.” So please, please continue to support this great ministry.

In way of closing, we ask for your continued prayers. There are many things that I believe the Lord has put on my heart for CCBI in coming year. One thing I have learned through much experience is we can do nothing without Him. So please take time to storm the Throne of God with your prayers and lift our name up so that God’s anointing may be released to empower us to carry out His great plan. It is my prayer for you that God will prosper you so that in turn you may be generous in all things. God bless you.

Praising Yah,
Bro Bill Sharples

“Be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the uttermost part of the earth.”
Acts 1:6

A Special Thank You To Our Faithful Contributors:

Harry and Jane Camp
Cookevile Baptist Temple
Genice Deckard
Faith Community Church
Roslyn Gift
Frank and Sara Hadlock
Larry and Betty Self
Estelle Stout
Trinity Christian Fellowship
Robert and Betty Watts
Robert and Margaret Ridley
Raymond and Jan Saunders
William and Melissa Sharples
Mary Sue Sharples
Mark and Paula Replogle

Encouraging reports from and about our Students...

All students entering CCBI’s bachelor level program are required to take #302 Applied Discipling. The Navigators textbook teaches the how’s and why’s of “growing” an immature Christian, and requires real-life application of the process. Students must submit an informal diary detailing their ongoing experience with the direction of the Holy Spirit in finding, meeting regularly and leading a person from being Christian in name only to becoming a maturing disciple.

Excerpts from #302 courses are revealing: Mary Murangi’s “disciple-in-making” is a fellow-worker healing from serious medical problems. After several friendly but structured teaching sessions focused on prayer, Mary reports, “Recently I visited her, shared God’s blessings, and deliberately prepared to leave without praying. I was very delighted when she reminded me that we had not yet prayed! I realized that she had learnt the need for prayer and fellowship with God.”

William, a Kenyan elder, was led to disciple a friend who had been a nominal Christian for many years. In the first session after prayer and praise they read and discussed John 3:1-21. William records, “I tell the trainee to put himself in the place of Nicodemus and find out why he did not understand the reality of salvation, even though he was religious. ‘This is the key’, I tell him - ‘unless one is born of the Spirit he cannot understand the things of the Kingdom.’ After a few moments of silence he says, ‘Yes!’ No wonder I was reading the New Testament and could not see the difference between it and any other stories!’”

Francisca Williams, who is discipling two teenagers, points out, “It is the duty of the mature Christian to direct the babe in Christ, see them grow and begin the cycle all over again. If we as Christians just sit in one place,we are defeating the purpose of our conversion. Just as someone played a part in our growth process, we must continue the cycle.”

What a testimony from CCBI students to every person who has accepted the gift of salvation!

The effectiveness of any Bible college can be weighed by the excellence of students it produces, and CCBI is pleased to present in this issue a sampling of students from three different areas.

KENYA, AFRICA - Thomas Malande started with a CCBI Bachelor degree in Kenya about ten years ago, later became National Director and completed his Master degree, and currently is serving as an instructor for CCBI students in Kenya. Meanwhile he has risen in national and international responsibility during twelve years of employment with Scripture Union. Bro. Thomas recently was selected for a new job as Continental Trainer with “Family Impact”, and will be leading a February workshop in Washington, DC in HIV/AIDS intervention at the Prescription for Hope Conference. Although this Godly man is fulfilling a highly significant role across the continent of Africa, he continues close ties with CCBI and is making plans to return to America for CCBI’s Fall Conference the first weekend in October.

GUYANA, SOUTH AMERICA – Edmund Evelyn began working on his Bachelor program with CCBI in 1996 during a seminar in Georgetown. An excellent student, he pastors and oversees East Indian/Amerindian congregations on Wakenaam Island in the Essequibo River, where primitive conditions are still a way of life. He has persevered in his studies with little or no help from a National director and despite economic and political chaos in Guyana. He writes, “I am thankful for the sterling contribution the college made in my life, specifically Mrs. Jan Saunders for her input to see me through this course. This program revolutionized me tremendously. I am formally applying to be graduated and am proudly looking forward to this great event.”

PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD – Mrs. Hannah Demming, with an awesome resume which includes an advanced classical education and a 55-year career as secondary school teacher and Headmistress in Trinidad and in England, chose in 2001 to complete an Associate degree in Basic Bible Studies with CCBI. Recently retired, Mrs. Demming currently serves as English Examiner for schools in the Caribbean and has volunteered to assist CCBI in any way possible. With her tremendous wealth of educational experience and knowledge, Mrs. Demming can be an invaluable leader and inspiration for Caribbean students.

CCBI is justifiably proud of these students and many others who are implementing our motto, “What you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2) What a confirmation God is giving through CCBI students for the teachers, leaders and supporters of this ministry to go forward!