Reformation Christian Ministries
News and Prayer Letter
FALL 2023
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
We are thankful for your continued prayers and support. The new school year has begun at Christian Liberty Academy, and Rev. Rudy Poettcker has returned from his time helping there. Here are some of his reports while serving there:
We have had a good beginning to the school year. It seems that most of the students are very happy to be a CLA. Even the few who required a kind-of early discipline (like we all, students also see what they might be able to “get away with”!), they have responded very well to it. Of course, it helps to inform students that we have others waiting to enroll as soon as there is an opening! I am truly enjoying teaching Bible/Theology in grades 9-12. It continues to be amazing to me to have the privilege to give biblical instruction to such diverse backgrounds/religions. I assure you that your ongoing prayer, for God to bless and use CLA in the lives of so many, is so important.
I am thankful to the Lord for the time here and what has been accomplished. It kind-of feels like we have run out of time, but then again we also know that the Lord gives time, and it is in His hands.
In the school we instituted some new practices which help the teachers to all be “on the same page” in regard to holding students to the school rules. So far it is working well, and I pray this continues. It is truly a blessing to see how the Lord sends so many students to CLA and from so many different backgrounds (see tables below). Please continue in prayer for CLA and all who work here.
Elementary Chapel (each Thursday AM).
| Country of Origin | |
| Suriname | 153 |
| China | 78 |
| India | 21 |
| Holland | 19 |
| Brazil | 14 |
| Guyana | 13 |
| Venezuela | 12 |
| U.S. | 11 |
| Philippines | 10 |
| Cuba | 6 |
| Canada | 5 |
| France | 4 |
| Nigeria | 2 |
| Turkey | 2 |
| Peru | 2 |
| Uganda | 2 |
| Mauritius | 2 |
| Trinidad | 1 |
| Colombia | 1 |
| Haiti | 1 |
| Saint Lucia | 1 |
| Grade | # of students |
| K4 | 19 |
| K5 | 23 |
| 1 | 27 |
| 2 | 30 |
| 3 | 32 |
| 4 | 30 |
| 5 | 27 |
| 6 | 29 |
| 7 | 33 |
| 8 | 25 |
| 9 | 28 |
| 10 | 19 |
| 11 | 24 |
| 12 | 14 |
| Total | 360 |
A surprise birthday party for Rev. Poettcker! Construction Progress
COLLEGE AND SEMINARY UPDATE (RITS & RIC):
We’ve had a few new students inquire or begin studies over the last few months, and as an encouragement to continue in prayer for the students in College and Seminary, here is what a RITS student wrote in an exegesis course:
This has been a great reminder to me that the power of preaching lies completely in the Word of God. Salvation and the effectiveness of the sermon does not lie with me. I am commanded to let Scripture interpret Scripture, use proper exegesis, avoid eisegesis, and let the text speak for itself. Doing this allows the congregation to hear God speak to them through the text.
Seminary Student/Church Partnership Program with RITS:
To help students and churches train men for the ministry, we are offering the following:
- We will reduce tuition $10 per credit for every man who is enrolled into our M.Div. program and is supported financially by his local church for the purpose of preparing him for the work of ministry.
- To receive the discount, applications must include a note from the church that they will be sharing in tuition cost.
- Students should complete a minimum of 18 credits per calendar year to maintain the discounted price.
To learn more about this offer and to see our M.Div. course program, go here: https://reformationseminary.org/master-of-divinity/
Would you continue to pray with us that God would bring many more students who are zealous to learn God’s Word and be equipped to serve as teachers, church officers, pastors, and missionaries? We greatly desire to see biblical reformation in our churches, but sadly so many are caving to the cultural moment, along with many seminaries and academic institutions. Pray that God would use our college and seminary programs to raise up a faithful generation of Christian laypersons and church leaders who will stand firmly on God’s Word, as Paul said to the younger Timothy –
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching (2 Tim. 4:2).
If you would like to “test drive” our seminary program, listen to free lectures, and sample our syllabi, outlines, etc., take this link: https://reformationseminary.org/course-lectures/
The Good News Bible Series Update:
The Good News Bible Series (GNBS) is a program which has enrolled more than 30,000 people from all around the globe. It is an evangelistic Bible study that covers basic biblical teaching on God, sin, Jesus Christ, faith and repentance, and obedience and holiness. Currently, Rev. John Otis and his wife Christine are migrating GNBS courses online.
Prayer and Praise Items
The Good News Bible Series has seen great increase in traffic on its website. Two years ago, there was a total number of 45,471 visits. In this past year, there has been some 75,000 visits (the reported number of 149,000 was incorrect last newsletter, as some turned out to be bots)! The U.S.A. has seen a high increase in visits, perhaps in part due to having the gospel course translated into Spanish. There is also interest in more translations of the GNBS into other languages.
Please also be in prayer for Christine Otis, who is recovering from some health challenges from the last several months.
If your church would like to know how to utilize the courses of the GNBS to reach your community and further instruct your congregation, please contact us and we will show you how to do this just as we did with a church in Oregon!
In 2019, the great catechism titled Questions About Christianity With Scripture Proofs: A Catechism for Children, Young Converts, and Inquirers was printed and published. This catechism has been used in Sunday School classes to help children learn the Christian faith through Questions and Answers with supporting Bible verses listed below each answer.
If you are interested in the GNBS courses or the children’s catechism, find them both here: https://goodnewsbibleseries.com/.
College/Seminary Website & 50 FREE Lectures!
We are now offering the Bavinck course for $95, and if you complete it, you get a $50 credit toward a future course. In addition, we have made 50 of our lectures across 17 of our courses available for free on our website. These lectures are the first several from each of these courses, giving you an opportunity to learn more about them and enroll if you like what you hear. The new college & seminary website now allows you to sample syllabi, view study guide assignments, listen to free lectures in our seminary program, & more. Stay tuned, as we hope to do more with our lectures and other materials, to make them readily available online in the future.
REFORMATION INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY SPOTLIGHT:
This time we are focusing on our New Testament course surveying the Gospels. The lectures are fully transcribed in an outline format, and also provide the professor’s outline of his class notes handed out to the students and perfected during transcription. As these are available in pdf files, the student can print them if needed. The transcript/outlines cut down substantially on any need for note taking. Also included with these files is a free version of A Harmony of the Gospels of the Life of Christ by A.T. Robertson. These will come in a PDF file format.
If you or someone you know is interested in enrolling for this course, you can find more information about it here tfb
REFORMATION INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE
A one-year Bachelor Certificate in Theology is now offered through RIC to interested students at just $75/credit (courses pictured on the right), or for only $2000 if you pay for the whole program upfront. Please visit www.reformationseminary.org for more information and to check out our full Bachelor’s in Education program.
Your generous gift to RCM is greatly needed and sincerely appreciated.
To: Reformation Christian Ministries
U.S.A.: 1300 East University Blvd.• Melbourne, FL 32901 • Phone (772) 663-8844 • tfb
CANADA: 74 MacKenzie Crescent, Lacombe, AB T4L 0B3 • Phone (403) 597-7244 • canada
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