Dear Parents and Guardians,
I trust you had a wonderful time with your students over the Christmas Break. We are looking forward to their return!
As we consider the second semester, we are confident we are in a great place to start off. We know from experience that if we start well, we can get through the semester with success, so that is our plan. I want you to know that our Health and Security Team, Student Life Team, Academic Team and Ministries Team have prepared and are ready for your return. In particular, our Ministries and Campus Life teams have planned many exciting, new activities. I am confident that their plans are going to make for one of our most memorable semesters ever.
The news from our government officials have been positive of late–as far as we know, NY does not plan to do another lockdown or shutdown, this is great news as we consider the remainder of the year.
Both parents and students shared various concerns as we ended the fall semester, but I want to assure you–we are ready for your student and we are looking forward to a wonderful spring semester.
Athletics Update
We are currently able to move forward with a condensed season for both our men’s and women’s basketball teams. However, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel our women’s volleyball season because everyone in our conference and region has canceled. We do plan to have a volleyball interest meeting this spring to give information about Fall 2021 and give those interested a few opportunities to play in the gym. Our soccer teams and softball team are all scheduled to play this spring. We are currently working on scheduling games and planning for tryouts in March!
Transportation Request Due Date
We have shuttles available on January 21st and January 25th for students coming into the airport, bus station, or train station in Albany. The cost for a shuttle is $25. Payments can be made by calling Caroline Tompkins at 518-494-1521, and requests can be submitted here: Transportation Request Form. For our planning purposes, please have requests submitted by the end of day on January 15th. Requests received after that date will be charged $50. Questions can be directed to transportation@wol.org
Academics
The end of the fall semester is January 15th and the beginning of the spring semester is January 26th. Grades will be completely processed by January 22nd so that the books can be closed on the fall semester and courses opened for the spring semester.
When the students come back they will have the following guest lecturers, professors, and courses:
Dr. Christopher Cone will join us as a guest lecturer, and he will be teaching the book of Matthew to the first year class.
Christopher Cone, Th.D, Ph.D., Ph.D., serves as President and CEO of AgathonEDU Educational Group (Links to an external site.). Cone has served as President of Calvary University and as Research Professor of Bible and Theology, in executive and faculty roles at Southern California Seminary as Chief Academic Officer and Research Professor of Bible and Theology, and at Tyndale Theological Seminary as President and Professor of Bible and Theology. He has served in several pastoral roles and has also held teaching positions at the University of North Texas, North Central Texas College, and Southern Bible Institute. He is the author and general editor of more than a dozen books. https://www.drcone.com/bio/
The second year class will spend two weeks with guest lecturer Lieutenant General Loren Reno of Cedarville University. The first week, Lt. Gen. Reno will be teaching General Leadership, and the second week he will be teaching Organizational Leadership.
Lt. Gen. Reno is the Professor of Management as well as the Senior Advisor to the President at Cedarville University, and he began teaching at WOLBI in 2017. Lt. Gen. Reno is a 38-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, where he served as a navigator, logistics officer, 5-time commander, and staff officer. He authored 10 Leadership Maneuvers: A General’s Guide to Serving and Learning.
The first year class will be starting Systematic Theology with Dr. Tom Davis, New Testament Survey with Professor Mark Strout, and Hermeneutics 1 with Dr. Paul Weaver as their resident classes. The second year class will be starting Dispensationalism with Dr. Tom Davis, as well as Public Speaking and Preaching with Professors Mark Strout and Brian Baker. Both classes will start after Missions Reality and Open Air Evangelism training.
Dr. Paul Weaver will also be teaching an elective on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons called The Writings of C.S. Lewis. This is a Junior level Davis College course, so all incoming Davis students will be required to take it, but we will also allow WOLBI students to take it as an elective. Mr. Joe Schenke is also teaching a Biblical Counseling elective on Thursday evenings from 7-9 p.m. Students will need to contact Debbie Wallace at debbiewallace@wol.org if they are interested in taking these electives.
Returning to School From Break
We are so grateful and blessed to have the opportunity to serve your students here at Word of Life Bible Institute. It has been encouraging to work with many of you in these days leading up to Spring Semester making sure that we have all the details covered with returning to campus. We recognize that this isn’t a typical year with all the health and safety protocols, and we are so appreciative of how everyone has adapted!
In order to help our students with the New York State travel advisory guidance, we are pleased to announce that we will be offering free COVID rapid testing for those who are traveling from a travel advisory state and wish to test out of the 10-day quarantine. These tests were made available to us through a generous donor to the ministry of Word of Life Bible Institute and will be provided at no cost to the student. Those who are from New York State or contiguous states of New York are not required to be tested, but we have them available if they would like to be. Please remind your student to do their daily self-health screening for 14 days prior to their registration day! They simply need to go to wol.to/c19nyss and fill out the form.
If you are traveling from a NYS travel advisory state (for more information on that, click here), your student must arrive on January 21 between 1-9 p.m. If you are not traveling from a travel advisory state, your student should return to campus on January 25 between 1-9 p.m. Here is what you can expect on your student’s registration day:
- As you pull onto campus you will receive a warm Word of Life Bible Institute welcome and be directed towards the Health and Athletic Center.
- While you are in your vehicle, we will conduct a brief health screening, and then you will be directed to your student’s residence hall.
- Once at your student’s residence hall, we would ask that only one family move into the dorm rooms at a time.
- Please remember to wear your mask when you are unable to maintain social distancing of six feet.
- This is a “drop and go” event for parents and guardians.
More detailed information has been sent to your student via their student email and in Canvas. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Health and Security Office at 518-494-6200 or email us at safety@wol.org.
Ministries
Aside from our athletics ministries, we have numerous ministry opportunities for students to take part in this spring.
Music Teams:
Music Teams will continue to serve on campus for chapels and campus church, as well as in some of our local churches by filling in for their regular worship teams on Sundays throughout the spring semester.
Drama Team:
The team will continue to prepare “Together We Love”, which was planned as our Snowcamp drama. The team will perform the drama later this spring as part of a larger weekend event where we will be discussing a biblical worldview of racial tensions in our country.
Snowboarders for Christ:
This is a new team that will have the opportunity to travel to one of our local slopes and focus on sharing the love of Christ with staff at the mountain. Members of this team do need to be prepared to purchase their own lift tickets and any needed gear rentals, lessons, etc.
Prayer Teams:
While many of our face-to-face events are still on hold, we recognize that prayer is one of the most effective tools available to us in these challenging times. Prayer teams will meet 3-4 times throughout February and March for approximately an hour each time.
Community Activity Days:
We are hoping to host two Community Days on campus offering several of our traditional Snowcamp outdoor activities like the Tube Hill, Ice Chute, Broomball, Ice Skating, etc. These teams will have a few work afternoons to prep the activities and then serve at the activities during these days. Though we won’t be able to host a large group meeting like we normally would for Snowcamp, we are hoping to positively impact the community by offering some great recreation as well as have opportunities for one-on-one evangelism.
Poetry/Spoken Word Team:
This is a new ministry team that will meet 3-4 times throughout February and March for workshops to prepare poetry and spoken word pieces. Later in spring, we will host a livestream event where these works will be shared with the student body and online.
Drawing and Painting Art Team:
This is a new ministry team that will meet 3-4 times throughout February and March for workshops to prepare art pieces that communicate the truth of the Gospel. The final presentation is still TBD, depending on the make-up of the team, but may result in a dramatic piece featuring an art show or another presentation that the team comes up with.
Local Church Ministry:
A few more opportunities have opened up to be involved weekly with local churches in the area. There is a particular need for students who are interested in helping to lead worship with one of our area youth groups. Students should expect to participate every weekend at their church if they choose this assignment.
Gaming Ministry:
This is a new ministry team that will seek to leverage gaming as a way to share the gospel and encourage fellow believers within the gaming community. This team will meet regularly for training and will work on developing a streaming channel and tournament to enhance outreach opportunities.
OAE and Missions Reality:
Missions Reality is still happening! All our second year students will be participating in the Wayumi program. We will be sharing more details when students return to campus.
Our goal is for all of our first year students to have an Open Air Evangelism experience. This will likely be in the form of day trips in April and May; we are still working on the details of what these will look like.
Camp Work Day:
All students will participate in a Camp Work Day this May as we prepare for our upcoming summer camp season. Specific teams and dates will be announced later in the semester.
Student Life
When students return, they’ll discover a new platform to engage creatively with their fellow students. In the Bollback Student Life Center (where students are at least 3 times a day for meals!), we’ve installed a prayer wall. Students can post a prayer request and also leave their initials on other students’ prayer requests to signify that they’ve prayed for them. It’s a great way for students and staff to care deeply for one another and tangibly see that others care for them and are joining them in prayer.
Looking ahead, we’re also excited to host Spiritual Emphasis Week on February 8-12 for all students. We’re praying that this new endeavor will be a time of softening hearts so they are prepared for Missions Conference.
For those who aren’t familiar, Missions Conference (Feb. 13-15) is often a significant benchmark for students as they hear engaging, spirit-filled leaders challenge students to consider what God might have for their lives. Missions Conference is a great opportunity for students to hit pause on their life expectations and focus on God’s leading.
