October
2009
The Institute:
This week marks the end of our first fall semester. It has been an exceptionally
busy past few of months, but God continues to amaze us. The video-conferencing
network now has 44 sites in 17 different countries with 12 new sites coming
on board in August! Part of this new growth is due to an exciting new
stage of the Institute. In addition to the full-time student program located
here in Houston, we now have 7 full-time international students located
in Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Spain. While we have taught
students in other countries in the past, of course, typically they belong
to other schools, and we just served as adjunct professors. Now, however,
these 7 students will receive a degree from TGCBI upon completion of their
studies. We are very thankful and excited about the new opportunities
that God has sent our way. Our students were greatly blessed to sit at
the feet of godly professors from 5 different sites in 4 different countries
this semester. They covered topics such as Genesis, Leviticus, Small Groups
and the Psalms. I was given the opportunity to teach the New Testament
Greek class and enjoyed it immensely! I had 8 different sites connected
for my class, a new record for the school! In all, I had 43 students located
in Quito, Ecuador; Bogota, Colombia; Panama City, Panama; San Jose; Costa
Rica; Arcelia and Mexicali, Mexico; Valencia, Spain and here in Houston.
We faced a number of new technological challenges and we were all forced
to learn a bit more patience and perseverance in the process. In addition
to their scholastic preparation, all of our students are involved in church
planting and developing. Each of them are teaching or preaching, doing
home Bible studies or evangelizing in some way. Piero and Edita Drago,
for example, are working directly with the Pasadena Church of Christ here
in Houston. Recently they began a small group ministry and are already
seeing some success. They are reaching new individuals and encouraging
existing members while glorifying God all along the way! This is just
one of many ways that the students are reaching the lost world with the
saving message.
On the home front:
Beyond my duties at school, I’ve begun to get into the teaching
rotation at Southeast congregation where we are attending. I have preached,
taught a course over the summer and probably will be teaching again in
January, Lord willing. I’m thankful that God is giving me opportunities
to keep sharing things and fulfilling my responsibility in the body there.
Many continue to ask about Alicia’s health. Overall she has remained
about the same since we have been here in Houston. We continue trying
new procedures and medicines, and we are seeing a specialist here in town.
Unfortunately, we still have not made any breakthroughs. We recognize
that many people who suffer from CFS do not ever recover. So we continue
to learn the value of perseverance and the importance of keeping our eyes
heavenward while we walk on this earth. It continues to be a hard lesson
as many of you know, but God is seeing us through. Bethany still loves
just about everything about school (her teacher, PE, art lab, music),
but her favorite thing still has to be recess! She has begun learning
how to play piano and ride her bike as well, which she is very excited
about. To end, it always amazes me how kids misunderstand the songs we
sing at church sometimes. The other day Bethany was writing down the song
“Be exalted oh God,” and something tells me she didn’t
quite get the point. She wrote, “Be egg salted oh God.” So
I hope that God’s eggs aren’t too salty but that He is indeed
EXALTED through our lives even when we misunderstand!
May God bless you all in Christ.
Kevin, Alicia and Bethany
July 2009
On Mission with the Montgomery Family
Can anyone believe that summer is already upon us? My mind still thinks
it is February, although the temperatures here in Houston are already
confirming that it is indeed summer time! I hope that everyone is well
as their soul is well. It was a great blessing to see many of you over
the last couple of months. I always consider it a great joy to visit with
you all. I hope that you were all encouraged by seeing more specifically
what God is doing through you here at TGCBI. Thank you for your love and
care that you have shown and continue to show for our family.
Since my last newsletter things here have REALLY been busy. Here are
some things that have been going on lately in our world:
• I taught a course on the book of Acts from March to May. The course
was taken by a total of 20 students located in Quito, Ecuador; Little
Rock, Arkansas; and Naples, Florida, and here in Houston. The course was
quite stressful because in addition to preparing for these students, I
also had to prepare for students who would eventually watch the course
online. Since so many individuals would be influenced by that class, I
wanted to make sure everything was as close to perfect as possible. Thus,
I spent extra time on preparation (both of the material AND on my Spanish).
Hopefully the Lord’s kingdom will be greatly blessed by my attempts.
• Currently our online streaming courses (of which my Acts class
will eventually be part) are being offered to over 175 students in all
but 3 Latin American countries. We are also having students taking courses
in Spanish in non-Spanish speaking countries like Switzerland and Indonesia.
In April we completed a second course which is currently on the website.
If you are interested you can go to www.sunsetonline.org/es and see any
of these. Lord willing we will have an additional 2 courses ready by the
end of July. Our goal is to have all 40 courses available by 2012!
• I am not teaching any courses this summer. Instead I have turned
my attention to all of my administrative duties. For example, we are recruiting
students and helping raise support for them. Things are shaping up for
a great group of students in the fall. In Houston we will likely have
4 new students in addition to the current group. I am still searching
for support for a couple of these individuals. If you know anyone who
might be able to help, please let me know.
• In addition to these students coming to Houston, we will have
international students from other locations around Latin America. This
is a new step for our school. Up to this point any distance students have
belonged to other schools (like the Quito School of Biblical Studies)
and have simply taken courses taught by our instructors while following
the degree plans of their own schools. This fall, however, we will have
individuals who will be our students located in different countries. They
will follow our curriculum and receive our degree upon completing the
studies. We have confirmed students in Spain and Costa Rica, and we are
also evaluating students from other countries including the Dominican
Republic, Columbia, & Panama. We are focusing on countries where there
are no existing sites taking courses. Please pray that God will open the
proper doors and that He will give us wisdom in choosing students.
• In order to help with these international students the Lord has
allowed us to bring on a full-time international church planting coordinator,
Carlos Camacho. Carlos has had an affective ministry in Venezuela, planting
churches and developing godly leadership in several cities there. He will
be responsible for giving practical advice and direction in church plants
lead by our international students. We are thankful that we can use his
talents among so many students around the world!
• On May 13 students graduated from Quito School of Biblical Studies.
This is the first group of students to take courses from our instructors
for the full three years of their program. We are grateful that God has
allowed us to be influential in the futures of these ministers in South
America.
• One of our graduates, Julio Beitia, reports that since his graduation
in December he has baptized 7 in a new church plant in central Florida.
We love and appreciate each of you. Please continue to pray for our current
and future students. I can’t wait to see what God does with each
of them!!
Kevin, Alicia and Bethany Montgomery
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