by Mark Milioni
If you are like me, there have been those times in life when you were in such a place that you absolutely needed God to do something. Going through the death of a loved one, facing a crisis in our church, dealing with cancer, having children serving in a very dangerous war zone, and learning to lead a college — these things really seem to grab my heart. Most of my life I have been a little proud to turn things over to God, but once in a while God reminds me how much I need Him.
These past few months I have learned fresh and new that God is very alive and active in our lives. Day after day, there seemed to be a time when God tugged on my heart and I found myself running to Him and to passage after passage in His Word. I am a little ashamed to say I did not run to God because I wanted to, I ran to God because I had to. Time after time, I needed that peace, that sense of God’s presence.
Over the next few weeks we are going to spend some time learning to pray at Baptist Bible College. We have been so blessed by you — our friends, our supporters — that we want to bless you. It’s our turn. We would like to pray for you, for your churches, and for the needs on your heart. Please allow us the privilege of seeking God on your behalf. Our students and staff will be spending time in chapel, after classes, and even some evenings in prayer for you.
Prayer is hard work and sometimes a little confusing. I remember reading about someone who prayed about their New Year’s resolution, “Dear Lord, could you please help me with my resolution this year? This year I want to have a fat bank account and a thin body, not like last year when you got them backwards.”
Over 350 times the Bible uses the word pray and prayer. It must be pretty important. All of the major stories, events, and miracles in scripture involve prayer. Throughout history there have been key individuals that affected the world, revivals that changed lives, and miracles that have happened because of prayer.
It is our hope, our deep desire, and yes, our prayer, that we would become a college that believes in, practices, loves, and can’t wait to pray — that we would get excited to pray, that everyday prayer would be the most important part of our lives. It is my hope that we would experience God do awesome, incredible miracles in our midst. I believe we have yet to experience what God wants to do in our college, our churches, and our homes.
Please let us know how we can pray for you. We will be contacting our supporters by mail, you can email us at president@gobbc.edu, or even call my office at 417-268-6001.