Dear Brethren,
For five years I have been blessed to serve the Lord as the Director of Alumni Relations for the Bear Valley Bible Institute (BVBI), under the guidance and wisdom of godly men. The staff at BVBI are not only knowledgeable, but also completely committed to the teaching of sound Biblical doctrine for the sake of the gospel of Christ.
I would like to take a moment to explain why I am excited about the work that is being accomplished here and why I believe the Lord has blessed this work. The President of BVBI, Denny Petrillo, has many goals in mind and it has been quite rewarding being a part of this work:
• I have great joy in helping alumni and new graduates find preaching positions and maintain a current “job openings” website board. Churches around the brotherhood continue to learn that they can contact us since we are now working harder to join faithful congregations with faithful preachers.
• I have been working towards growing our preaching out opportunities. Local congregations are motivated by inviting our current student preachers out on Sunday. They teach and preach to their congregations in order to give our students vital ministry experience.
• We are determined to continue developing a solid relationship with our alumni, financial supporters and potential students. I work with a wonderful development team whose goal is to work on the future growth of our Denver campus.
• My family and I help edify the students through regular fellowship activities; such as “Soup and Singing Nights” and “Volley Ball and Devotional Nights”, hoping they will do the same encouraging when they are with their new congregations. This also ensures that we develop close relationships to the students while they are here with us. We have found this lasts long after they move away to their own congregations.
• I regularly help coordinate such activities as the Bear Valley Lectures, Homecoming events, Master’s Degree Blitz Weeks (conducted three times a year), Annual Faculty Retreat and FPTC (Future Preacher Training Camp).
• I produce and edit the quarterly alumni newsletter, “Uplift”.
• I am the main administrator for the school’s Facebook page. We’ve generated more than 2000 “likes” with more than 2000 weekly viewings. This, also, is a great communication tool with our alumni and potential students.
• I love having the ability and the desire to teach and sometimes counsel our students, when needed, now that I am a graduate and with practical ministry experience of my own.
• Our family continues to see a growing need for more Biblically sound preachers in the Lord’s church. We believe our ministry is to serve the churches of Christ by serving our students and alumni at BVBI.
I am writing you asking that you will prayerfully consider helping our family get ‘over the hump’ with our financial support. I still currently work part-time with my secular job on Monday and Tuesday evenings while working full-time at Bear Valley. We are still $2000 a month behind in our support and we are catching up on outstanding medical bills from the past five years due to my wife’s Lyme Disease. Then, on top of all of this, my part-time job, which is a government contracted job at Centennial Airport, is now in danger of being terminated due to FAA cutbacks. I am asking you to consider the support of our family because I truly love this work, but if I lose this extra work we will have to make a difficult decision to leave if we cannot get the help we need. Often times many congregations see the need to support students as they spend their time studying to be ministers, but do not choose to support staff and especially those working in administration. While we are so thankful that students are provided for during their time at Bear Valley, we do ask that you think and pray about the need for the staff that keeps the school going.
There are two ways you can help our family:
1. Commit to monthly support which is the most needed no matter how large or small, OR
2. One-time gift, which would help chip away at our medical commitments.
Throughout our entire time at BVBI, as a student and now as staff, I have learned that God is able!! He meets our needs. He has great plans for His church and for the furthering of His Gospel. Ephesians 3:20-21; “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
We ask your prayers for us. We would be grateful if you would think about supporting our family on a monthly basis or with a one-time gift. I will gladly e-mail you our family’s monthly budget that you can refer to when looking at our request. You may contact me via e-mail at jwarnes@wetrainpreachers.com
Finally, if you know you are able to support us, you may make your support check out to:
BVBI
MEMO: Jon Warnes
And please mail your support to:
BVBI
2707 S. Lamar St.
Denver, CO 80227
In His service,
Jon & Laura Warnes & Family
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