Students and Parents,
Spring is here in the Adirondacks and we are enjoying the sunshine from our homes. Although this is a time filled with unknowns, we are thankful that the Lord continues His work regardless of our circumstances. He is giving us new creativity to accomplish what He lays on our hearts amid our restrictions. The staff at the Bible Institute are hard at work to make sure your students can continue their experience of diving deeper into God’s word. As always, it is a joy to serve your students in any way that we can.
Academics
This week in our new remote learning experience, our Freshman NY students have been studying Ecclesiology (the study of the church), along with their semester-long courses (NT Survey, Hermeneutics I, Systematic Theology). Our Sophomore students have been studying a course entitled Principles of Bible Teaching, along with their semester-long courses (Hermeneutics II, Dispensationalism). Our FL Freshman students are studying the book of Daniel, along with their semester-long courses (NT Survey, Hermeneutics I, Systematic Theology).
We are making plans to implement a regular, online, and live Question & Answer time with our professors. This will provide our students with the opportunity to ask questions in a real-time format.
For many of your students, this is their first remote learning experience. They will need your encouragement and prayers as they seek to adapt to this new learning environment. Our academic team is committed to doing all we can to assist you and your students in this process.
Student Life
Our Student Life team has been working to create opportunities for students to stay connected in community both with each other, as well as with the staff members at Word of Life. Many students are already involved in a discipleship relationship with a staff member. We are encouraging both staff and students to continue these meetings through digital platforms such as Zoom and Facebook. If you know of a student who does not yet have a discipleship relationship and is interested in one, you can reach out to our Student Life deans to make that connection. Our team of student RA’s (Resident Assistants) have also been tasked to create community within their dorm sections weekly. Our RA’s are maintaining their Dorm Devotions once a week and inviting the students to join, along with reaching out to and checking in on their peers as much as possible. Our goal is to create as much community from a distance as we can. We are overjoyed to see both staff and students embrace this goal.
Ministries
The Ministries Department has spent time both in prayer and in practice on creating an updated spring ministry plan. We are working to release this plan later next week. Students will be able to choose a ministry option from three general categories: Serving Your Local Church, Sharing the Gospel from a Distance, and Community Service. The opportunity will also be made available for students to partner with ministries who focus on counseling and evangelism online. These counseling and evangelism ministries will be an optional commitment for those who would like to go deeper in their distance ministry experience.
We are also looking forward to reuniting for our summer camp season! If students have not yet seen their ministry assignment, they can find this information posted on Canvas. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your summer assignment, please reach out to us. Alyssa Webber (alyssawebber@wol.org) is your contact for summer assignment details, and she can direct your question to the appropriate Ministries or Camp staff member.
If you do not already follow wolbi_nysa on Instagram, we would love to have you join us there. On this page you will find that our Campus Life team has been hosting special events and activities with opportunities to win prizes regularly. This is also a candid way for us to remain connected. In addition to these activities, we will be hosting gaming tournaments and a private server for Minecraft. Later this semester we will have some live-streamed events.
Florida
It’s been encouraging in recent days to see the dedication of our staff as they each work hard to modify our program to ensure that we are able to finish our last six weeks of the Spring Semester well. It has been equally encouraging to see our students posting comments on Facebook about what they are learning as they study the book of Daniel with Dr. Ray Pritchard. We have totally altered our discipleship, small group, and chapel schedule to accommodate remote instruction, and we are planning to utilize multiple different streaming applications to remain connected to our students around the world. Our goal is to continue pouring into the student, albeit in a vastly different way than we had originally planned. I am looking forward to our livestream chapels, and we would love to have you join us on our Word of Life Bible Institute – Florida Campus Facebook page.
Ways to Connect
We will be livestreaming chapels on Facebook every Wednesday and Friday at 12 pm for anyone who would like to watch. You can also follow all of the exciting student activities we are offering remotely on Instagram. We also provide regular updates on Twitter. Join us for chapel, check out the activities, or simply just say hello!
Facebook: Word of Life Edu
Twitter: Word of Life Edu
Instagram: WOLBI NYSA
Special Town Hall Meeting with Roger Peace
In an effort to be available, I will be hosting a town hall meeting for your parents and students. We will be using zoom. Here are the details.
Topic: Parent and Student – Town Hall Meeting
Time: Mar 30, 2020 02:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Meeting ID: 753 449 758
Password: WOLBI2020
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Meeting ID: 753 449 758
As I have already mentioned, God is so clearly at work. We have been reminded this week that He will continue to remain faithful, and we have no reason for doubt. If we may serve you further, please do not hesitate to contact us.
We will be communicating a little more often in the days ahead to keep you informed on all that is happening on our campuses. From one parent to another, know you are not alone in this process!
1 thought on “Encouraging Ways We are Connecting with Your Student! ”
Are there lessons you’ve learned over the years about how to create a classroom where all your students feel comfortable and willing to participate? I knew that one of the keys to a caring classroom was encouraging … felt connected to their teachers and other students scored higher.