Packing!

Packing for ten months in Africa is a big job, we're discovering. In additon to personal items, including things like a Katadyn water filter, there are also things like a laser printer and textbooks that we need to bring. Each of us is allowed two 50-pound bags whose total dimensions (height + width + length) cannot exceed 62 inches. If we want to bring more than that, we have to pay extra.

So, here's the question of the day: How do you make good use of every square inch of a Rubbermaid "Action Packer" and still keep the weight under 50 pounds?

Classes for both semesters

Here's the break-down of the classes each of us will be teaching both semesters (and of course it's subject to change!).

First semester:

Charlie:
Hebrew Language (BTH)
NT Intro (BTH)
Church History (BTH)
Genesis (D)

Tommy:
Greek 1 (BTH)
Hermeneutics (D)
OT Intro (BTH)
Exodus (CTH)

Wesley:
Missions (BTH)
Acts (CTH)
NT Intro (D)
Systematic Theology (D)

Second semester:

Charlie:
Church History (B.th.)
Hebrew (B.th.)
OT Book (B.th.)
NT Introduction (C.th.

Tommy:
NT Book (Dip.)
Greek II (B.th.)
Jeremiah (C.th.)
Hermeneutics (Dip.)

Wesley:
Missions (B.th.)
Systematic Theology (B.th.)
NT Introduction (B.th.)
Old Testament Survey (C.th.)

Worth a Shot?

Here's a glimpse at what my preparation for Cameroon currently looks like:



From my expression, I think the shot had a stupefying side-effect.

To date, I've received five shots, along with taking one oral vaccine. This leaves me with only three to four more left to endure. I'm also having a mole removed on Monday. I think I took a couple ibuprofins a couple of weeks ago, too.

--Tommy

PS. Our departure is coming up quickly! It's just about time to begin packing.

Students are coming in

In a couple of days, incoming students will be having their entrance interviews and over the following days and weeks will be transitioning--some with and some without their spouses and children--to a new life as a student on campus at CBTS. This is a picture of the housing some of them will be living in. Please pray with us that God will do a great work in the hearts and minds and lives of the new students at CBTS, most of whom feel that the Lord is calling them into pastoral ministry or missionary service.

Prayer request

Pray for incoming CBTS students taking entrance examinations and having interviews with CBTS faculty and staff on July 15. Many of these incoming students will be in our classes.

New CBTS website

The CBTS website is finally up and running. This is a direct answer to prayer. When the short-term team from Bethlehem Baptist was at CBTS last summer, the vision for this website was brand new. Jessica Johnson, one of the team members, invested a lot of time and effort into the site, and it's now on the web! It will hopefully be a great resource for networking with prospective students and other schools in Cameroon and other neighboring African countries. Praise the Lord!

An "intro to CBTS"

The president of Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary, Wilfred Fon, has a new blog. His first post is a short "intro to CBTS":


"The Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary is a small school by the world’s standards. However, by Cameroon standards we know no seminary with that high a population. We have a student body of 380 this academic year. We have on the faculty three earned doctorates, two doctoral candidates, 7 masters degree holders, 2 masters degree candidates, 3 bachelors degree holders and some diploma and certificate holders. We have an eleven man staff. Together CBTS employs about 33 men and women to carry out her daily functions. Of these 33 only 4 are missionaries.


"The levels for training rage from Child Care and nursery school given to 0-5 years, adult grade school given to women who never had the privilege of going through grade seven school but are now feeling a call to serve the church or are students’ wives, 5 year certificate of theology for those with grade seven certificate who are called into the pastoral ministry, 3 year diploma for those with GCE ordinary level called into pastoral ministry, 3 year B. Th. for those with GCE Advanced Level called into ministry to perform other functions in addition to the pastoral ministry, and 2 to 3 year MA for those with a first degree from a recognized institution.


"CBTS has been in the business of training pastors for over 50 years. As an institution of higher learning she was upgraded in 1984 to be a degree granting institution."

Courses we'll be teaching

Well, after a lot of praying and talking back and forth with Dr. Fon, CBTS' president, and Dr. Amos Nchuoji, CBTS' academic dean, we now have a tentative list of courses the three of us will be teaching this coming fall semester:

Greek 1 (BTH)

Old Testament Intro (BTH)

Research Methods (BTH)

Missions (BTH)

New Testament Intro (BTH)

Hebrew Language (BTH)

Church History (BTH)

Hermeneutics (D)

Systematic Theology (D)

OT Intro (D)

NT Intro (D)

Acts (CTH)

Exodus (CTH)

The letters after each course refer to the degree programs each course is listed in; the "D" refers to the Diploma program, the "CTh" to the "Certificate of Theology" program, and the "BTh" to the "Bachelor of Theology."

More soon on more of the details. Please be in prayer for our preparations. We'll let you know ASAP which courses specifically each of us will be taking.