Athens International Bible Institute April – June 2011

On the Rock in Athens AIBI Newsletter

Teaching others to teach others

“…. commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also…”

2 Timothy 2:2

New Students Fazayell Mehri (or as we call him Ferri) is our new student from Iran.

Finally we have the opening we were expecting so many years – an opportunity to the Arab world and Middle East countries.

Ferri, came to Athens few years ago looking for a possibility to travel in other countries of Europe. He came in contact with Dino Rusos and after hearing the Good News of Jesus he decided to surrender his life to the Savior. He enrolled in the AIBI last April and he is making tremendous efforts to keep up with the teachings. He speaks very little English, but he speaks very well Farsi, Turkish and Greek.

“..those who wait on the Lord….shall mount up with wings like eagles”

Isaiah 40:31

Behold, now is the accepted time,…the day of salvation The Bible teaches us in Phil 2:5 that we should have the mind of Jesus. One of the most important questions is “how do we evaluate the time”? Do we believe that this time is given to us from God just to have fun and to prosper on earth, or it is given so we may use every minute of the time Jesus bought with His blood unto His glory?

Of course, since we are called to have the mind of Jesus we understand the importance of time through God’s perspective. We understand that now is the day of salvation, now is the accepted time and we act accordingly.

During these months God has blessed us with many opportunities in His field and we have been privileged to serve Him. He has surrounded us with great co-workers, brethren who sacrificially assist us in our duties. It is great to see barriers falling, troubles and problems vanishing away as we surrender through faith everything in His mighty hands. It is not about us, it is about Jesus only. He blesses us with time and opportunities and than He has the expectations of the Master from the servants whom He trusted with different talents. We do know that a faithful servant is only a fruitful servant.

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Athens International Bible Institute April – June 2011

Teaching process The whole process of teaching has continued normally during this period. We had Jim and Nell Stamatis coming to teach on April and Jay Kelley teaching on May. Victor Akande is continuing to teach every Sunday and Dino Tzanetos taught “Intro to New Testament Greek” last May. I have been teaching the rest of the courses.

During these months a total of 576 teaching hours has been conducted with no student failing in any course within 33 (per student) mid-term and final exams taken. The average of the memory verses per student has been 48 verses with very good results. The attendance has been 98% and I am glad to see that finally the punctuality is coming to the required levels (it used to be a big problem for our school).

We had no visiting instructor during June-July term (David Burton canceled his coming due to mission work in Russia). Victor and I taught the Basic Level Students and we used some of the video courses for our Advanced Students and they did pretty well.

Sonila continues to do her part of service taking care of the needs of the Student’s Body, the food and refreshments provided during teaching days for the students. Also she did organize the environment and the hosting of Spring Seminar and the Graduation Day

Spring Seminar 2011

We were blessed to have from April 29 till May 1, brother Jim Stamatis holding a seminar in the Church History with title: “From the Beginning – tracing the Church through confusion, conflict and deviation”

It was a job very well done. The interest for the seminar was great and we had a very good attendance all the days of lectures. Even one month after the seminar, people were still asking for copies of the materials brother Jim used. Many of the attendants made the same comment after the Seminar “now we understand why there are so many divisions in Christianity”. The seminar completed the purpose.

Spring Seminar 2011

Last day of the lectures

Brother Jim Stamatis teaching in the seminar

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Athens International Bible Institute April – June 2011

Graduation Day

June 4, we had the graduation day for seven of our students. It was a day of celebration, honoring, joy and tears. Meet our graduates….

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Paul Armoo, Ghana – the Chairman of the Student Body for the last Academic year. He was a very good student and a serious man. His wife is living in Germany and he is planning

to joint her and to serve God by planting new congregations there.

Najat Giasmin Ogbu – Ghana Raised in a Muslim family, Giasmin deeply appreciated the love of Jesus and the freedom He gives to every believer. She is one of the best students I ever had. She is planning to teach ladies’ classes and to serve the Body of Jesus.

Franca Nelson Augustine – Nigeria She has been a student for the last 5 years. Because of her work responsibilities she was not taking the courses continuously. Her plans for the future are to serve Jesus wherever He will

need her.

Gabriel Aneke - Nigeria When you first see him you have the impression that he is a very tough man. Knowing him deeper you understand that he is a giant with a child’s heart and a very nice sense of humor. His future’s plans are to turn back to Nigeria and to start new congregations and Sunrise School of Preaching (he said he will use Sunrise because the name Sunset has been already taken)

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Kingsley Kusi Appiah – Ghana He came to the school as he was already serving as a “pastor” in a Pentecostal congregation. He learned the truth and was baptized

for the remission of sins. Now, he is back to his old congregation, this time

teaching them the sound doctrine of Jesus.

Akhanolu Richard – Nigeria Richard is a very smart man with great potentials. He is planning to joint his wife in Italy and start serving with already established congregations or start new ones

Reginald Anokwuru – Nigeria Like Franca, Reginald has been in the school for a long time (almost six years). Due to work schedule he could come to school only Sundays. His plans are to continue to serve

Jesus here in Athens through the African emigrants.

“Please, pray that God will open doors of opportunities for the

graduates to serve Him”

Athens International Bible Institute April – June 2011

Family News

School has ended here in Greece and both Andrew and Kristina had very good results.

Sonila’s mother stayed with us last month and Sonila took good care of her. She is recovering from chemos and gaining some weight. Last exams showed that the cancer is gone and we hope and pray that it will stay that way.

As Greece goes through very difficult financial situations we ask for your prayers that finally this nation will understand that materialism is not everything and search for Jesus.

We thank you all for your precious support for AIBI and we thank God for blessing our service through you.

Love

Beni, Sonila

Beni and Sonila Leka Epidavrou 64, Halandri 15233 Athens, Greece

E-mail: benileka@on.gr

With Such Wonderful Oversight by:

The Third & Dwight CHURCH OF CHRIST P.O.Box 167 Monahans, TX 79756 Phone: (432) 943-4594 E-mail: monahanschurch@sbcglobal.net