Summer Bible School
Three week summer Bible school, just what you’ve been waiting for! If you haven’t checked out our website yet, this might give you a good excuse. Next July we are going to offer a three-week Bible school course, giving you or someone you know the opportunity to dig deeper into God’s word, to be physically and spiritually refreshed, to make new connections, maybe revisit some old ones and to explore some of Sweden. If this is not for you right now, would you pass the information on to anyone you think might benefit from these three weeks and, of course, plenty of fika? Oh, and as an added bonus for those of you with family, we will provide childcare during the sessions.
You can find more information and how to apply by going to the Holsby website and clicking on “Summer Bible School” under the “Bible School” tab.
Update on the Gym Project
“So, how is the Holsby gym project going?” We get that question a lot. We are encouraged by the interest in this project and want to give you an update.
Every time we get to talk to a friend of Holsby about our plans to build this beautiful new facility for exercise and refreshment, the reaction is the same: “What a wonderful idea! This is a real need both for the Bible school and the summer camps and retreats.”
We are very grateful for those who have already expressed their support of this project through their giving. Lots of modest donations, a few large donations, but always with a spirit of encouragement and partnership. We know that generosity is alive and well among our Holsby friends.
Over the last 12 years, we have done all we can to invest wisely, spend prudently and save carefully. And with the Lord’s help and blessing, we have been able to put aside a sizable amount to build the Holsby gym. But a large project like this would deplete all our savings and still leave us with a significant debt to pay off. We feel that would not be prudent.
Our hope was to begin to build in the spring of 2017, but we have not received enough in donations to break ground yet. Our Holsby Leadership Team has decided to extend our fundraising efforts for another year and, God willing, begin to build in the spring of 2018. That will give us one more year to save some money and, hopefully, to raise a lot of donations – both small and large.
“So, what can I do?” you may ask:
- Some of you may not be able to afford a large donation, but you could afford to send a monthly amount over the next 12 months that will add up to something significant. Consider becoming a monthly contributor.
- Some of you have the means and the vision to invest a much larger amount in the expansion of the Holsby campus and ministry. Those gifts are very much needed.
- Some of you may know of family, friends or acquaintances who are looking for a worthy project to support. You can present the project to them on our behalf.
- All of you can support this project through your prayers. We can only do this by God’s help and His blessing.
Go to the donation page on our website and you will get all the instructions you need. You will also find a brief one-page fact sheet about the project that you can share with others. Please consider how you can partner with Holsby and invest in the lives of young people from around the world.
I want to support the Holsby gym project
The total cost is 1.9 million U.S. dollars. We already have $800,000 in donations and other funds set aside for this project. Now we need your help to raise the rest of the money.
We would be very grateful if you would share this project on social media and with your friends and family.
Watch out! Luke is coming to Calgary
Luke is coming to Calgary!
Though the Calgary Stampede has already come and gone, the highlight of your summer still awaits you. That’s right, the Torchbearers Tour is coming to Calgary on August 12-13, and I (Luke Thomas) look forward to seeing you there. Meet up with students and staff from your school year and possibly others who might just be living down the road from you. If you’re not in Calgary, but in need of a good excuse for a road trip, come and enjoy these couple days of fellowship, reminiscing and teaching from God’s word. You can also check out the Torchbearers website to see where else the tour will be going this summer.
When: August 12-13
Where: Foothills Alliance Church; 333 Edgepark Blvd NW, Calgary
Other information: torchbearers.org; http://torchbearers.org/tour/2016/Calgary_AB
Holsby.org – same address, new website
Holsby has a new website! Check out the fresh and innovative design. It is full of beautiful images and graphics, and has lots of helpful content. This new website is now optimized for viewing on smartphones and tablets.
Holsby.org
Holsby’s attractive new website
This project came together very quickly under the expert guidance of Samuel Weirich, a volunteer programmer and designer from Germany. Samuel has been able to accurately capture the ethos and vision of Holsby and then communicate it with this attractive and accessible digital tool.
Samuel Weirich – Holsby web designer
Take time to explore and click your way through the various pages. And then be creative in helping us get the word out about the new Holsby website through your own social media and personal connections. It is a great tool for sharing with potential students and their parents.
If you are an alumnus of Holsby, pay special attention to the “Alumni” tab in the “Connect” menu at the top of the page. There you will find instructions for linking up with a Facebook group specifically for the year you attended. Join the group and get back in touch with your old roommates and friends!
There are plenty of exciting things happening at Holsby. We will be highlighting some of our plans and projects in upcoming posts on our FikaTime blog and our newly updated Facebook page. So stay connected and stay in touch!
Alumni visits
“Alums” return to visit Holsby from both far and near! It’s a joy to renew acquaintance and witness God’s continuing work in their lives. Two such visits were a part of our experience in June.
Beebe – Hagen clan
A large family group graced the campus early in the month. Pam Hagen Beebe, from 1982-83, came with her whole family and some of her extended family (which included Swedish relatives from a nearby village, who have even sent their kids to Holsby for confirmation camps). “It was such an amazing experience,” she stated. There were 21 of them altogether. Their time was limited, but after enjoying a tour of the campus, they even eagerly managed to conquer the adventure course. “That will certainly be a memory for all of us,” Pam shared. “Your staff was so gracious and patient as our group struggled through each segment of the course.”
Pam (Hagen) Beebe 1982-83
Pam reflected about her Bible school year: “I attended Holsby between my high school and college years, hoping to get deeply rooted in God’s Word and gain a global outlook on Kingdom work before I set out to prepare for my vocation. When I returned to the States, I became a teacher and a pastor’s wife. Now we are enjoying a season as the presidential couple of Westmont College in California, and I continue to see the many ways that my time at Bible school prepared me for our ministry.”
Gayle Beebe with their kids – eagerly awaiting their turn on the adventure course
During their visit, Pam met Morgan McCornack, the daughter of one of her Holsby classmates (Scott McCornack). Morgan is on summer staff after being a student here this past year. Maybe there will also be a “2nd Gen” student from the Beebe family in the future. “It is my great hope that one of my own children might return for their own experience at Holsby,” Pam concluded.
Wally Schoon, Pam Beebe & Morgan McCornack
A church group from north of Gothenburg was here for a week of family camp at the end of June. They’ve been coming to Holsby every summer for many years. One couple in the group is Dag and Gun Linwik (formerly Dag Wikström). Dag was a Holsby student way back in 1978-79. His story is an amazing one of God’s love and grace.
Dag (Wikström 1978-79) & Gun Linwik
One day on a business trip, Dag picked up a couple of young people who were hitchhiking! They were Holsby Bible school students, who were bold to share their faith. What they said piqued Dag’s curiosity – so much so that he located Holsby and came for a visit on his next business trip. It was spring break, and so not many were around on campus. But there just happened to be someone there when he drove in. They directed him up the hill to the Schoon house.
On the way up, Dag stopped to ask further directions of someone who just happened to be walking the hill – who just happened to be a student, and who (at that precise moment) just happened to have left (because of cat allergies) the neighbor’s house where Wally and Donna were having “fika”!! Dag parked the car, knocked on the neighbor’s door – and we all soon learned his reason for coming to Holsby. A deep conversation ensued – of what it meant to really know and love Jesus Christ. Of course, the neighbors had to listen too.
Wally & Donna with Dag & Gun
Eventually the dialogue moved to the Schoon home. Sometime after midnight, Wally asked a key question of Dag: “What keeps you from receiving the Lord Jesus into your life?” And so in those early morning hours, a new life was born into the Kingdom of God! That autumn, Dag came to Holsby as a student so he could grow more deeply into his new-found faith in Jesus Christ! All these years later, Dag and Gun have an active faith within their church fellowship and its surroundings.
Things don’t just happen in this life of walking with the Lord! God had all the pieces in place long before they were put into action to bring Dag to Himself! I do not remember if those students who witnessed to the life of Jesus ever knew the results of Dag’s response to the Lord in his heart. But eternity will reveal their faithfulness in sharing the life and love of the Lord Jesus within their everyday circumstances!
Awesome Wonder
When were you last in “awesome wonder” of our God? If we understood the totality of His wisdom, not limited to, but wonderfully represented in creation’s gifts: the blooming of a flower, the hungry songs of nesting birds or the shades of shifting light, I think we would be in a constant awesome wonder of Him. How much more when we add to creation’s gifts, His intentional interest directed towards us through the infinite power of His sovereignty and His intimate love experienced through His community. Both of these are life changing and, though not always acknowledged, they would also lead us into a constant awesome wonder of Him.
As you watch this slideshow, a summary of this year’s Bible school, many of you will know and remember the awesome wonder that is behind the fellowship of all that takes place here at Holsby…an awesome wonder that has changed our lives and will continue to change us until Christ returns.
As you were probably told when here, that awesome wonder isn’t because of Holsby; it’s because of Jesus Christ, who has never and will never leave us. Have a fika break and take a few moments to identify some of God’s awesome wonders in the midst of your work, your studies, your family, your church and the rest of your surroundings.
Northern Light – Conversion on the road from Damascus
Please take the time to read this encouraging story of light in the North!
It is relatively rare that the Northern Lights can be seen as far “south” as Holsby, but last week many students stayed up late to catch a glimpse of this mysteriously beautiful appearance in the northern sky. But I want to tell you the story of a different kind of light that is miraculously making an appearance on a regular basis here in Sweden.
The Northern Lights as seen from Holsby
News reports about the recent flood of refugees streaming into Sweden usually emphasize the problems, unrest and tragedies that have accompanied this great migration from the south. Sweden has taken in many thousands of people fleeing the war in Syria, the poverty in Africa and the daily uncertainty and even persecution in other parts of the Middle East. And yes, this mass movement of desperate refugees is inevitably accompanied by difficulties, but that’s not the whole story.
Last week, a young man whom we will call Mansoor (not his real name) for his safety, visited the Holsby campus. Mansoor came to Sweden from the Middle East about five months ago out of fear for his life. Back in his home country, Mansoor had begun to search for truth and took a special interest in the claims of Christianity. He assumed that by coming to Sweden, a “Christian” nation, his search would be successful. Little did he know that Sweden is what we call a post-Christian nation – and is now one of the most secular countries in the world.
The Swedish Church, which until 16 years ago was the official state church, is led by an archbishop who denies many of the central truths of the Bible. She has stated that belief in the virgin birth of Christ is an optional extra, and she can’t say whether Jesus or Muhammad presented a truer picture of God. It would seem that there is not much light in this part of the world – except for the occasional Northern Lights.
Anyway, Mansoor ended up in a relatively isolated part of Sweden together with 800 other refugees waiting to be interviewed, processed and hopefully resettled. The government is not equipped to handle all the social and human needs of these desperate immigrants. They languish in boredom in temporary housing with nothing to do except wait for their fate to be decided – will we be allowed to stay or will we be sent back to the war zone and/or possible persecution? Despite differing views about the wisdom of opening the borders to so many refugees, Swedes have generally shown generosity and compassion toward these people.
Refugees are flooding into Sweden
The local parish of the Swedish Church was overwhelmed by the needs of Mansoor and his fellow refugees. They hired some extra staff, including a priest to minister to their spiritual needs. In God’s sovereignty, this priest turned out to be “Johan”, one of the relatively few strongly evangelical priests within the Swedish Church. Johan also happens to be a former member of the Holsby board and has brought many groups of young people to Holsby as part of their confirmation instruction.
Johan and the members of his parish organized activities for the refugees, including a Sunday afternoon meal and worship service. After a hot bowl of soup, a small group of mainly Muslim refugees gathered to hear about Christ. In one of his sermons, Johan told the story of how a young and very fervent young man named Saul was on his way to Damascus, on a sort of spiritual crusade, when he was stopped in his tracks by a bright light. And there on the road to Damascus in Syria, where many of these present-day pilgrims grew up and are now fleeing, Saul came face to face with Jesus Christ. The irony and poignancy was not lost on the refugees.
Young Mansoor was the first to give his heart to the Lord and soon nine of his fellow refugees also encountered the Light of Life in the face of Jesus in that small parish in our post-Christian Sweden! Almost immediately, they all asked to be baptized. The leadership of the Swedish Church strongly discourages Muslim converts from getting baptized. In part, they are fearful that if these refugees are eventually sent back to their home countries their lives will be in danger because of their public conversion to Christ. But Mansoor and his fellow converts insisted on being baptized.
Mansoor, who speaks English fairly well, serves now as an interpreter for Johan as he continues to instruct these former Muslims in their new faith. His hunger for God’s Word is insatiable and Johan sensed that Mansoor needed more in-depth Bible training. “Let’s see if Holsby has a place for him!” And so, Mansoor visited our campus last week to see if we might be able to fit him in for our Bible school spring term.
As Luke and I conversed with Mansoor, we immediately recognized the reality of his faith in Christ. And we quickly agreed to offer Mansoor a scholarship to join our students for the spring term (the months of April and May). We are confident that Mansoor will be quickly accepted and drawn in to the Holsby student body. It will be a perfect opportunity for him to experience Christian community and be strengthened in his knowledge and faith.
The latest report from Johan is that 20 more Muslim converts are now asking to be baptized. The Light of lights is shining brightly in the North! Please pray for Johan and his staff. Let’s thank the Lord that He has His people everywhere. Over 60 refugees now attend the weekly “soup and worship service” at Johan’s church. And let’s pray for Mansoor and his fellow converts as they already face opposition from some of the other refugees.
“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (2 Cor 4:6)
If you would like to contribute to the Holsby scholarship fund so that needy students like Mansoor and others may attend, you will find instructions at the following link: General Donation
Your investment in scholarship students like Mansoor is a great way to spread God’s light to a part of the world that has so little true witness for Christ.
As a reminder, we would also encourage you to think about making a contribution toward the gym project. You can use this link: Donation to the Well
Opportunities to serve at Holsby
In the 11 years that I have had the privilege of directing the work here at Holsby, we have had more than 400 staff members serve in various volunteer or paid positions. Some have been here for a matter of weeks or months, others have been here for 15 years and counting. All have contributed to making Holsby a special place of spiritual growth and blessing.
Holsby volunteers
Each year, many seasonal volunteer positions need to be filled, and we urge you to contact us if you would like to invest your time and talents in this ministry for the spring and summer season of camps and retreats, or if you would like to serve a bit longer and help during the Bible school term. Click here for more information: Volunteer Opportunities
Holsby Campus
From time to time, we also need to fill longer-term positions that require a higher level of experience and more of a time commitment. We presently have two such openings, which may be of interest to you or someone you could recommend to us.
Accounting/Staff Services Coordinator: We are looking for someone who can commit to serving for a minimum of two years as our accounting/staff services coordinator. You should have some experience in accounting and a general understanding of finances/bookkeeping, as well as the ability to manage a variety of office tasks. For more details, click here: Accounting/Staff Services job description
Maintenance Assistant: We are looking for someone who can commit to serving for one to two years on our Holsby Maintenance Team as an assistant to our Maintenance Coordinator. For more details, click here: Maintenance Assistant job description
Because of visa considerations, our ideal candidates for the two longer-term positions above will be from the European Union. Please write to us at serve@holsby.org if you have further questions.
Holsby is a great place to serve. We would love to hear from you if you are looking for a place to serve the Lord in a friendly, fun and fulfilling environment.
Holsby Chapel
TEEBEE #18
Our group of special little “Teebees” (Torchbearer staff children) continues to increase! Our most recent newcomer is …
David Frederick Stephens
NAME: David Frederick Stephens
DATE: 15 January 2016
TIME: 10:11 a.m.
WEIGHT: 4200 grams (about 9 lbs., 4 oz.)
LENGTH: 52 cm. (about 20.5 in.)
PARENTS: Danny & Manuela Stephens
SIBLINGS: Moses & Samuel
After just a little over six hours of contractions, Manuela gave birth to their third son. She says it was her easiest delivery yet – and for that there was much praise! Another item of praise was that Danny was fully recovered before David was born after having been on crutches for four weeks with a broken bone in his ankle. It’s always nice when the husband can drive his wife to the hospital!
The name David is a Hebrew name and it means “beloved.” There is no question that this new little life is cherished by his family, and his name bears witness to that.
Danny shared: “In the Bible, David is called a man after God’s own heart. We pray that our little David will also grow to have a heart like God’s, and courage like David to trust the Lord and follow Him. We are now the parents of three beautiful boys, and we pray they will grow to be men who love the Lord!”
Two big brothers (Moses and Samuel) are also very proud of their baby brother!
Little David Frederick … as the Psalmist David put into words, may you also (as you grow) express your heart in this way to our Father God …
O my God,
in You I have unwavering trust
and I rely on You with steadfast confidence.
Do not let … my hope in You be disappointed ….
Show me the right path, O Lord;
point out the road for me to follow.
Guide me in Your truth and faithfulness
and teach me;
for You are God my Savior,
and I wait expectantly for You (my hope is in You)
all day long.
Psalm 25:2, 4-5
Update on The Well at Holsby
Luke Thomas (Bible School Principal) and Jonathan Miller (Camp Holsby Director) got together recently to talk about Holsby’s exciting new building project, “The Well at Holsby.” Would you take a few minutes to watch this update on our plans to build a gym, and then consider how you can help us by making a donation?
For a fuller description of the gym project and a digital “walk through” of “The Well at Holsby,” go to our website or see our original, more detailed post on Fikatime.
