God’s extraordinary provision for Canadian Southern Baptist College & Seminary
(special report from President Rob Blackaby):

The economic crisis that is being felt globally became obvious in our school as we finished our[Spring] semester of 2008. The summer months only intensified our financial position. By October we calculated that barring a direct intervention by God we would finish the year over $400,000 in debt. We sought and received permission from our Board of Trustees in our fall meeting to begin selling property, should the need arise. As we came into the month of November news was circulated throughout our school community that we were in a time of severe financial crisis. What followed was a student-initiated spontaneous prayer vigil that introduced a prolonged and united season of intercession for faculty, staff and students.

In the weeks following the prayer vigil God mobilized churches and individuals to give in excess of $400,000. In general donations in December we were given $313,888. Of that total, one Canadian donor gave us a gift of $200,000. It is significant for us to note that he did this unaware of our financial condition; he was simply led of God to make an overture of support for our school. We received other gifts ranging from $20 to $50,000. Every gift was made in love, was surely a sacrifice, and was in support of the vision of our school. Our Canadian National Baptist Convention added to that amount a one time gift of $25,000. This is in addition to the generous support we receive from our convention throughout the year. We received another $28,000 from the North American Baptist Education Foundation, representing the support of many American friends of our school. All of these gifts total $365,000. A church in Houston contributed $20,000 to our Sewer Campaign. When that gift is matched on the pledge of another donor (and with exchange) the amount is close to $44,000. So the final total of gifts to our school in December is in excess of $400,000.

I took some time during our first chapel service (January 14th) to talk about God’s provision. I am challenging our seminary/college community to join me in praying for 2009, and expressing our reliance on God with as much fervency as we did in 2008. We are humbled by the opportunity God has now given us to live out the answers to the prayers of so many. We are intent on fulfilling our purpose to train God-called men and women for twenty-first century leadership in tough places. That is our compelling purpose. We pray with Caleb, “Give me the hill country.” (Joshua 14:12).

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