Messiah College Begins!

The School Year Begins!
Despite a number of setbacks, Messiah College opened in late June with just eight freshmen. One reason this happened was that even though the government approved our programs two months or so before opening day, they did not deliver the physical permits to Messiah College until two weeks before the first day of classes. It's illegal to promote the school without these permits in hand. So they only had a couple of weeks to recruit students.

Here I am at the first day of studnet orientation. This is just before I got up to speak, introduce myself and tell them about the classes I'll be teaching: Seminar in Worldview Analysis and Development and Biblical Doctrines.


Mikel at Student Orientation

One cool thing is that these eight kids got together for a leadership retreat before school began and really got to bond. They also did some street evangelism and such togehter. We just finished the Worldview Seminar and a few of them did well. Many of them really need to work on their English writing skills. Also, critical-thinking is a challenge for most Filipino students, since primary and secondary curriculums stress rote memorization here. Interestingly, teaching college here is like teaching high school in the US. Why? Most of these kids are 16, 17, and 18ish. That's really the age they begin college here.


Messiah College freshmen

Another cool thing is how God's already used Christine and I to help people identify error and stay away from false prophets and cults. The students' really had their eyes opened when we talked about Mormonism and the errors of Benny Hinn's theology, in the context of a discussion on polytheism. Also, it seems many well-meaning Filipinos have been duped by the theological errors of the Word Faith Movement. This is not just academics. Bad theology results in bad practice. And often times, people get hurt emotionally and spiritually by listening to false doctrine.