Dear Parents and Guardians, 

In this week’s edition of The Bridge, I’d like to introduce you to the Admin Team, share this week’s academics with you, and tell you some exciting news about our men’s and women’s soccer teams!  

Academics

Freshmen 

This week, our freshmen will be studying the book of Proverbs with Dr. Stephen Bramer from Dallas Theological Seminary. Dr. Bramer has taught for the past 23 years at Dallas as a professor of Bible Exposition and has served as the Chair of the Bible Exposition department since 2009. Dr. Bramer also serves as the Teaching Pastor at Waterbrook Bible Fellowship in Wylie Texas.

Sophomores

In classes this week, the sophomore class will explore the doctrine of spiritual gifts with Don Lough. Mr. Lough has served as the President/CEO of Word of Life Fellowship since 2011 and holds a BA from Cedarville University and a Master of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary.

Huskies Soccer

This season has been a fantastic one for our soccer teams. Word of Life Bible Institute is in the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC), and we are thrilled to share that both our soccer teams won conference games vs The Kings College! With those wins, our men’s soccer team clinched a spot in the HVIAC playoffs on October 30-31st and our women’s soccer team clinched a spot in the HVIAC championship game on October 31st. These victories have come as a result of the hard work put in by our players and coaches. We are also excited to share that this year, the HVIAC playoff games and championship games will be played at Word of Life Bible Institute!

Key Staff Introductions: Admin Team 

The last introduction to our staff is the Admin Team. This team meets together weekly to work through making your student’s experience here at the Bible Institute the best it can be. Some of these members were mentioned in previous emails, but we’d thought you might like another reminder of who to connect to for what.

Roger

President of the Bible Institute | rogerp@wordoflife.edu

I’m blessed to serve the students and staff as the President of the Bible Institute. My biggest goal is to lead my team to make much of Jesus in all they say and do, especially when it comes to serving our students. I’m grateful for the team the Lord gave me to work with, and we all strive to tend to every student as best as we can. You can connect with my office through my assistant for an appointment to talk through any questions or concerns. I’m all for explaining why we do what we do, and would be happy to assist you and your student any way that I can.

Jennah

Administrative Assistant to Roger Peace | jmskau@wol.org

My job is to schedule meetings, take notes, do any tasks to make Roger’s job as smooth and effective as possible, and to serve the students and staff wherever needed! I love serving on this team and seeing how each person works hard to make your student’s experience the best it can be. If you ever need to meet with Roger in person or over the phone about your student or any questions or concerns you may have, you can email me and I’ll work with you to put that on his schedule.

Justin 

Institutional Effectiveness Coordinator | jplough@wordoflife.edu

I serve as the Institutional Effectiveness Coordinator at WOLBI. I work with accreditation-related items, as well as student success issues and Title IX. I encourage you to contact me (or, better yet, to have your student contact me) if you believe that your student is struggling academically. I work closely with members of the Academics Department to develop individualized plans for struggling students to succeed through study assistance and higher levels of accountability than what they have on their own. While I cannot help every student personally, I can at least connect them with people who can. Beyond academic issues, if a student experiences instances of sexual harassment or abuse, I am the one who receives complaints and coordinates appropriate responses. Additionally, I receive student complaints of any nature concerning WOLBI via the Student Portal complaint submission form.

John Y

Director of Marketing | johnyarosh@wol.org

As the Director of Marketing, I oversee all our marketing efforts for Word of Life Fellowship. Most of the time, I am working behind the scenes and leading my team to get the word out about all that Word of Life has to offer! When it comes to the Bible Institute, my team works on all outward communications that come to you, whether by mail, email, or on social media. We do our best to make all communications eye-catching and clear so as to serve you better. Should you need anything, you can contact me by email.

Jon B

 Dean of Ministries | jpbubar@wol.org 

I serve WOLBI students as the Dean of Ministries. It is my responsibility to ensure that every student gets multiple, meaningful ministry opportunities. I believe that a major ingredient in the ‘secret sauce’ of WOLBI is our ministries program. Our academics are outstanding at filling our students’ minds with biblical knowledge, our student life is outstanding in taking that knowledge and facilitating a transfer from the head to the heart, and ministries completes the cycle by taking that heart knowledge and applying it through the hands. As Christians, we are the hands and feet of Jesus. It is my goal to see every graduate of Word of Life Bible Institute equipped and active in reaching their generation for Jesus, especially through the ministry of the local church. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions about ministries at the Bible Institute.

Todd 

Academic Dean |tsteltz@wol.org

I am excited to serve your son/daughter as Academic Dean! Please feel free to contact me regarding academics here at the Bible Institute. Just a friendly reminder that we can discuss academic issues about your child only if they have filled out a FERPA form giving us permission to do so. Thank you for entrusting your child to us – we love them already! 

Mark

Executive Dean of Global Campuses and Executive Dean of FL| markstrout@wol.org

Hello from Florida! I wear a couple of hats here at Word of Life, and I love them all. I mainly work out of Word of Life Florida as the Executive Dean, but I also am over the global campuses as well. I have assisted with our other campuses located in Canada, Korea, Uganda, Hungary, Brazil, and Mexico. If you have any questions about the Florida campus or our campuses around the world, I can assist you or direct you to the right person.

Drew

Dean of Students |dburtis@wol.org

Hello! My job as the Dean of Students is to facilitate the discipleship atmosphere on campus by connecting students and staff together, with the goal of deepening each student’s relationship with Christ. Parents, feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email if you have any questions about our discipleship program. I’m excited to see what God will do in the lives of our students this year!

Eric 

Executive Dean, Student and Guest Experiences |ericmesser@wol.org        

I have the pleasure to serve our staff, students, and guests as the Executive Dean of student and guest experiences. I oversee our property services, culinary services, customer service, and health and security teams. They all do a great job at making sure the property is maintained in tip-top shape, ensuring students are well-fed, and keeping them safe. You’re welcome to contact me if you feel your student’s experience needs some attention, and I’d love to work with our team to keep growing the Bible Institute to serve their needs to the best of our ability.

Chris 

Director of Financial Services | cptompkins@wol.org

Greetings from the Business Office! Part of my role as the Director of Financial Services is to help ensure students receive accurate billing statements during their time at the Bible Institute. We seek to help students understand their bill in addition to highlighting payment and funding options. My office also works closely with the Financial Aid office to help students receive the maximum amount of scholarship and grant funding possible for their unique situation.