by Phil Kamibayashiyama

Watering: BJMBC's Growth from 1997 – 2015

The Philippines averages twenty typhoons a year. Just one of these tropical cyclones can dump as much as 80 inches of rain. We in the Philippines know about watering! As God controls the storms, He also directs a variety of factors to help people or institutions grow. Ironically, one of the pieces in this puzzle is a lack of resources. By 1997, Bob Jones Memorial Bible Institute (BJMBI) had no place to continue meeting in Manila. But during this perplexing time, the Lord provided more than we could ask or think—a home within the new building of Gospel Light Baptist Church (GLBC), pastored at that time by GFA missionary Dennis Potts. GFA and GLBC contracted for BJMBI to use part of the church building for 20 years. These were nicer facilities than we had ever had, came with lower operating costs than maintaining our own building, and were surrounded by beloved servants of God. God truly gives the very best to those who leave the choice with Him.

During those years, BJMBI became Bob Jones Memorial Bible College (BJMBC). In the late 1990s, the college began a graduate seminary that offered master’s degrees, and many pastors enrolled. Doug and Ruth Bachorik arrived in 2002 to begin a music department that trained students for music ministry in their churches and to write original compositions and arrangements. The Continuing Education for Pastors (CEP) program was designed in 2007 to enable pastors in the provinces to complete graduate-level, modular training. Through these additional programs, God increased enrollment and allowed us to serve over 120 students.

The main instrument, however, that God used to expand BJMBC’s reach was people. Among the four GFA missionaries who started BJMBI, the author of the “BJMBC’s Beginnings” was the most instrumental. He was both a full-time teacher and administrator at BJMBC since its inception. His wife managed the school’s many financial, legal, and academic details. This couple set the tone for BJMBC’s culture of academic excellence, careful Christianity separated from worldliness, and earnest, persistent pursuit of lost souls. They helped organize fundamental Bible conferences, annual training seminars for Christian educators, and evangelistic outreaches for students. God also gave BJMBC the unusual opportunity to broadcast over 70 hours of evangelistic films on national television, each followed by a brief gospel message. BJMBC staff and students witnessed to those who called the phone numbers scrolled along the bottom of the screen.

By the end of 2004, the Lord called this couple to serve in a restricted-access nation, and I was given the privilege to lead BJMBC. From 2005–2015, the Lord brought others to help train the next generation of His servants. He also started bringing students from other countries such as Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, Singapore, the USA, and Vietnam.

The Lord has blessed and used BJMBC through the humble hearts of our faculty and staff. They prioritize prayer for people, submit to authority, consider others more important than themselves, faithfully serve their churches, and seek to walk in ways that please God. Their lives promote BJMBC’s core values: humble servant leadership, fervent expository preaching, careful biblical holiness, and faithful evangelism and missions. Together, we seek to train Christlike servants to fulfill the Great Commission.