On Monday the 30th of March we held the inauguration service for the new academic year in the Evangelical Baptist Seminary in Tacna. After the Rector had greeted everyone present the Vice- Rector, Silas Ramos opened in prayer and then Abraham Rengifo lead a time of praise. The Rector then spoke of the role of the Seminary as a servant of the churches and thanked them for their confidence in sending students and their help in giving them practical work and assessing them in this.
After singing the theme chorus of the Seminary, “We are the people of God”, the Director of Studies, Graham Williamson, introduced the teachers for this semester. There are twelve in all for different churches and with differing gifts which, we hope, complement each other. Fredy Mandamientos then introduced the folk group Amar, who sang two pieces before the Scripture reading from Exodus 18:19-21.
The new youth pastor of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, Felipe Ovejero then preached on the advice of his father-in-law, from the passage in Exodus where Moses’s father-in-law gave him advice. We must first be before God, then we must teach his word and do so practically. He encouraged the students not to keep their theology to themselves, but to share it with others in the church and beyond if they wished God to bless them. It was a challenging message for both teachers and students.
Following a hymn, Charles Pecharovich, one of our teachers and the Director of our Distance Programme in Puno, closed in prayer. Amar were then asked to sing again and did so as everyone else enjoyed cake and coke.
The service set a good tone for the new term and it is to be hoped that both students and teachers will heed the advice of the fathers-in-law of both Moses and Filipe. Pray for the classes which begin on the 31st of March and continue, God willing, until the 11th of July. May God bless us and make us a blessing to his churches here in the south of Peru.
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