Beginning September 27, Earlene Hollihan will assume the role of Bethany’s Director of Admissions, replacing Clay Laughridge, who will be working as President’s Assistant.
Originally from Lewistown, PA, Earlene read The Banner and attended Pinecrest conferences, and for almost 20 years, she dreamed of coming as a student for a season of “going deeper in the Lord.”
Earlene arrived for school in January 2010 and was assigned her work duty, first as Office Assistant and then as Bookstore Manager.
As a student at Bethany, Earlene says that God has enabled her to “be still, become more focused, hear more clearly, and to start stepping out and speaking and doing what I hear Him say with more confidence and clarity.”
Now, she says, accepting the position of Director of Admissions is just “another step in saying, ‘Yes, Lord, I’m available.’”
With the First Quarter in full swing, the campus is beginning to feel more and more like a family. Students are getting to know each other better but most importantly, each student in his or her own way is getting to know the Lord better.
In this morning’s chapel service, the song of the congregation rose together as we sang, “Worthy, Worthy, You are Worthy, Worthy is the Lord” from the song entitled “Alabaster Jar.” We are taking that proclamation into to the streets of the local city of Utica this Saturday.
Bethany’s students will be participating in the festival “Worship in the Parks: A Tribute to Our Creator.” Two worship teams from the school will take part, as well as Third year student Samuel Torres, who will be one of the featured speakers.
As God has brought us together to this school to become a family, we will now go out and tell the local area and the world why He is worthy. This is only the beginning.
- Stephanie Polivka, Third Year student
Even this early in the year, we are seeing in our students a real love and desire for the Lord. This first week or so as we are getting the students oriented to Bethany, the Lord has already begun to call them to empty themselves of “those things that so easily beset us” and to fill their lives with more of Him.
On August 30, we spoke to the student body in chapel about purity, and it was 2:00 in the afternoon before some of them had finished doing business with God, getting cleansed, forgiven and recommitting themselves to pursuing a holy, upright life before Him. It was wonderful to see their response to Him, and we believe this is only the beginning of what God intends to do in their lives.
The Mars Hill Network, a Christian radio station based in Syracuse, New York (WMHR, 102.9 FM), recently interviewed Jack Picataggi about the school and its recent name change.
Picataggi's interview with host Dan Dunn aired at 11:30 a.m. on September 1 on the station's Spotlight program, which highlights ministries, authors and spokespeople from various public and community organizations.
You can listen to the interview at: http://www.bethanybtc.org/Resources.htm?http%3A//www.bethanybtc.org/resources/radio_spot.htm
The 2010-2011 school year opened at Bethany Bible Training Center with Registration on August 23, followed by worship and Orientation on August 24.
“We have a great group of students this year,” commented Director of Admissions Clay Laughridge, who also noted that the incoming First Year class is the largest since 2003, with students from Nigeria, South Korea, Canada, Bolivia, Cuba and Tanzania, as well as students from as close as New York state to as far away as Oregon, Texas, Florida and Virginia.
“As we start this new school year, we are so encouraged by the desire for God we see in the students the Lord has brought in this year,” observed President Jack Picataggi. “There is a real excitement and anticipation among the students, faculty and staff for what He is going to do this year.”
Third Year student Daniel Canton agreed, remarking that God has been moving and that “the teachers, the students, the staff, all seem to just really be open to what God wants to accomplish in all of our lives during this school year.”
Second Year student Jesse Spradlin said that already this year, “God is showing Himself faithful and revealing to me that the best is yet to come.”
New to the course schedule this year is the Devotion class for First Year students, taught by Dean Joanne Picataggi, which is intended to help students develop a consistent personal devotional life from the start of their time at Bethany.
Mark Mills-Powell is joining the on-campus faculty from Cambridge, England, to teach Church History and James for the first three weeks of the First Quarter. Bethany Board member and 1974 Pinecrest graduate Tom Worth is also returning to teach Romans.
Registration for the First Quarter is open until September 3; Second Quarter Registration is October 19.
by President Jack Picataggi
From Pinecrest’s earliest days, a sign has hung in our Small Chapel with the words, “Occupy ‘Til I Come.” We have always believed this sign signifies God’s mandate for us as Christians to be representatives of His kingdom in the earth.
Since our founding in 1968, we have endeavored to “occupy” the unique role God has called us to as a “School of the Spirit,” where students can come apart to surrender their lives to the Holy Spirit for His training and transformation and to establish a vital relationship with the Lord. For over four decades, Pinecrest has been set apart as a place where God would know His people and His people would know their God.
As we look back over Pinecrest’s history, we acknowledge those who have gone on before us and paid the price to forge ahead in God’s purpose for this place. Many students and visitors have come and partaken of the presence of the Lord and the spiritual truths expounded upon in our pulpits; many lives have been changed and healed by the Spirit of the Lord and all He has done in and through Pinecrest. Joanne and I feel truly privileged to be a part of what God is accomplishing in and through this ministry.
Several years ago, Joanne and I visited The Bible College of Wales and met with Mr. Samuel Howells, son of founder Rees Howells. We asked him to lay hands on us to pray and impart, and as he did, he prophesied that we would lead a school in which God would raise up “end-time anointed ones.” We believe the Lord is in the process of preparing His Bride and that Pinecrest has stood for this day since He brought her into existence.
Now, the Board of Directors has prayerfully made the decision to change the school’s name to Bethany Bible Training Center. I view this change not as the end of what Pinecrest is and has always stood for, but rather the next step in God’s continuing purpose for us. I believe that, as in the Bible when God changed Abram and Jacob’s names to Abraham and Israel, our name change signifies a fresh equipping and enabling to accomplish the plans of God’s heart for our school.
In the Bible, Bethany was an insignificant house in a town outside Jerusalem, but when Jesus was there, it became a glorious temple for His presence. That is what we believe for Bethany as a Bible school. We could plan the most rigorous class schedule taught by the most prestigious Bible teachers with worship led by the most skilled musicians. But the truth is, without Him, all these things—our best-intentioned plans—are meaningless. God’s presence, His love and His grace is what changes us from who we are into who He has called us to be: ambassadors of His kingdom in the earth—to “occupy ‘til He comes.” No man can accomplish that!
So we desire God’s presence. We want to prepare our lives to be His habitation, that His very heart will abide in us as His people. Our prayer is that the Lord can look at our lives individually and at Bethany Bible Training Center corporately and say, “Here I have found a resting place. Here is a people through whom I can freely express My heart and My desires.”
In 2007, when Joanne and I returned to Pinecrest after my installation as President, we added another sign to the Small Chapel along with the sign, “Occupy ‘Til I Come.” This new sign echoes the cry of the Spirit and the bride in Revelation, and we feel it expresses to God this desire to be a habitation for Him. The sign, and the cry of our hearts—the very purpose of Bethany Bible Training Center—is this:
“Come, Lord Jesus.”
We are pleased to introduce our new website, wwww.bethanybtc.org. We hope you enjoy the new look to go along with our new name, Bethany Bible Training Center!
We will continue to add more content in the future, including new audio messages, devotional articles, and updated news, so keep checking back for updated information and resources.
