Untitled Page

San José, Costa Rica: 1982 - 1984
Worked on five-family mission team in the Hatillo area of San José. Primary area of responsibility – personal evangelism—conducting Bible studies and training members from Hatillo congregation. Left congregation of 250 members.

Cali, Colombia: 1985 - 1987
Worked in small congregation that brought together both lower and middle class members. Primary area of responsibility – Personal evangelism, preparation of new evangelism materials, preaching and teaching classes. Left congregation of 40-50 members with Colombian evangelist to continue work.

Miami, Florida: 2001 – present
Work with the Atlantic International Bible Institute, a branch of Sunset International Bible Institute in Lubbock, Texas, in the role of Dean or Director of the school. Primary responsibilities: administration, teaching, developing curriculum, student recruitment, fund raising, and church planting.

Trinity Theological Seminary, Newburgh, Indiana
Enrolled in Ph.D. in Theology program

Children: Timothy Scot (11/12/83), Amber Nicole (03/22/85), Benjamin Caleb (11/30/89), and Joshua Caleb Titus (07/29/01).

Atlantic International Bible Institute

Atlantic International Bible Institute (AIBI) is a branch school of Sunset International Bible Institute (SIBI) in Lubbock, Texas. Located in Miami (Hialeah), Florida, the school is strategically situated to serve all of South, Central and North America. The institute operates under the direction of Truitt Adair, director of SIBI, Truman Scott, dean of all SIBI branches, and Kirk McAfee, dean of AIBI. The primary function of the school is to equip Christian men and women to effectively communicate the “whole gospel to the whole world (especially the Hispanic peoples of North, Central and South America) wholly to please God.”

THE MISSION: Equip Christian men and women to effectively communicate the “whole gospel to the whole world (especially the Hispanic peoples of North, Central and South America) wholly to please God.” AIBI pursues this purpose within the framework of basic theological and ministerial commitments which include the formation of faithful spokesmen in accordance with II Timothy 2:2 (“. . . what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”), who possess the following characteristics:

· Spiritually: Individuals who enjoy a personal, loving relationship with God and who lead their lives according to a system of values rooted in and nourished by the Bible, the word of God.

· Intellectually: Individuals who are able to think for themselves and who have adopted a creative, critical and investigative attitude.

· Educationally: Individuals who apply their knowledge toward the material and spiritual well-being of all people.

· Culturally: Individuals who promote the Christian identity and lifestyle inspired by the objective, universal and enduring values of our Heavenly Father.

· Socially: Individuals who promote the interdependence and harmonious coexistence of all people.

· Politically: Individuals who love and respect man’s inalienable rights, created in the image and likeness of God.

THE PROPOSITION: The shortest distance to global evangelism is through the multiplication of trained spokesmen.

The graduates of AIBI will complete an intense training discipline equivalent to advanced study in universities and Bible graduate studies. The training will be focused on all the books of the Bible, acquiring preaching and ministry skills and growing in personal fullness. Each student will be motivated to be sure of his message, to be passionate in its proclamation, to be guided by evangelistic purpose and to be committed to building growing, reproductive churches.

The AIBI Residence Program presently consists of a three-year, thirty-course curriculum offered in both Spanish and English. Our primary center of operation is in the educational wing of the Hialeah Church of Christ located at 7700 W. 20^th Avenue, Hialeah, Florida. Facilities for the school are spacious and provide plenty of room to expand. Some of this huge facility is being occupied by the offices of Child Hope Christian Children’s Home. The rest is dedicated to the Bible institute. Currently AIBI occupies four 20 x 20 classrooms, one 20 x 20 library, three instructor’s offices and one secretary’s office. Classes meet on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. Courses are taught in pairs over an eight-week period resulting in 37-40 classroom hours per course.

In 2001, Kirk McAfee was selected by Sunset International Bible Institute to serve as the second dean of Atlantic International Bible Institute, in Miami, Florida. Having served for over nineteen years as a missionary in Central and South America, and the Caribbean, he is uniquely qualified to serve in his appointed capacity as dean of the institute. Among his many responsibilities are teaching, developing curriculum, student mentoring and church planting.

After five years of service in the Quito School of Biblical Studies in Quito, Ecuador, Jorge Pineda joined the staff of AIBI in May, 2002. Brother Pineda is a 1994 graduate of Sunset International Bible Institute and a well-grounded student of the Word. He is an effective communicator who is passionate in evangelism and has displayed great skill in working in team efforts. Brother Pineda shares teaching duties locally, as well as on the Cuban ministry team, and he will coordinate the AIBI Extension Program.

At the request of the Cuban brethren and in cooperation with Cuban church leaders, the staff of the AIBI has formed a Cuban Teaching Ministry Team presently developing the following three stage program:

Cuba Seminar School. Two seminars per year for three years. The first seminar was in October 2001. The objective of this stage of the program is to conduct in-depth, three-day seminars with select church leaders, leaving them with printed copies of all the materials at the end of that time. Then they take the material and teach it to other churches in their respective areas. These seminars are attended by approximately 30 evangelists and church leaders representing all the provinces of Cuba.

At the May 2004 Seminar School AIBI conducted a graduation ceremony for those who had participated in the complete series of seminars. A new series of seminars with a new group of 33 ministers began in October 2004.

Accelerated Bible Curriculum. The team (Havana church leaders and AIBI) agreed that periodically four men selected to serve as the first instructors in a Cuban Theological Center—of course, the existence of such a center is subject to the approval and authorization of the Cuban government—will study in these accelerated classes. Once a year for three years these four men would travel to Miami for a six-week period to receive intensive instruction in four courses. This original plan has not been possible due to strict visa guidelines being applied by the U. S. government, so we are carrying out Plan B. This plan consists of digitally recording our classes on DVD and making them available to those who have been selected for this program. This teaching schedule has been (and is) as follows:

At the completion of these first two stages it is our prayer that the next phase can then be implemented.

Cuban Theological Center. The Center would consist of four full-time instructors working to train leaders and evangelists for the Cuban church. Many questions concerning curriculum and the actual operation of the Center are still in the planning stages.

La Hispaniola Bible Institute was founded on April 9, 1987 by Harold O. Paden, Jr. (a North American missionary) and Sílfides Matos Herasme (a local Dominican evangelist). After graduating three classes, the death of Brother Matos and the return of Brother Paden to the U.S., in addition to other factors, led to the closing of La Hispaniola for a period of several years. On April 12, 1997 the school reopened under a new name (La Hispaniola Bible Institute changed from La Hispaniola School of Preaching), with a new vision and a new seal (shown in the upper left-hand corner of this page). La Hispaniola is no longer focused solely on training preachers and church leaders, but dedicated to the growth and development of all Christian men and women for a more effective kingdom ministry to God’s glory. La Hispaniola is a Saturday school, holding classes from 2-9 p.m., and currently has approximately 25 students.

On May 13, 2001, SIBI/AIBI, represented by Truman Scott, Dean of International Studies, and Rudy Wray, then Dean of AIBI, and La Hispaniola, represented by Daniel Nin, Sonny Durán, and Kirk Allan McAfee, signed a ministry training partnership agreement. In this agreement SIBI/AIBI responsibilities include:

1. Provide academic and administrative leadership by means of the Dean in Miami to enhance the training effectiveness of La Hispaniola.

2. Certify La Hispaniola training program, facilitating the employment of SIBI credentials in the Dominican Republic and the granting of SIBI certificates to graduates fulfilling training requirements.

3. Provide teaching resources of educational equipment, materials and instructors, residential or visiting, as is deemed necessary to the development of the Institute.

4. Secure its agreed portion of budgeted funding through a field representative working in United States.

5. Give an accurate accounting of all funds contributed through SIBI efforts for the development of La Hispaniola and give timely reports to all contributors.

6. Insure the appropriate presence of Institute representatives to give credence to a La Hispaniola/SIBI affiliation.

7. Meet with La Hispaniola board regularly as agreed for consultation, planning and reporting.

8. Facilitate post-certificate studies with appropriate ministry recognition, including upgrading of certificates originating in other ministry training programs.

9. Share the concern for facility development to meet the expansion needs of the Institute.

The previously defined Mission Statement of the Atlantic International Bible Institute encompasses all divisions and programs of the institute. Due to a number of requests for intensive biblical instruction from individuals and congregations beyond our immediate ministry area AIBI has opened an Extension School under the direction of Jorge Pineda to meet these needs.

1. Growth in Biblical knowledge: Through the careful study of the extension classes.

2. Growth in personal relationship with God: Through the practical application of new knowledge.

3. Congregational and Family Enrichment: Through the presentation of special seminars on key family and congregational issues.

4. Germinal, reproductive church growth: Through the presentation of special seminars and the participation in supervised church growth activities.

AIBI is working with La Hispaniola Bible Institute in developing extension schools in Barahona and Puerto Plata. There are currently 30-40 studying in these two centers.

In 2005 we began to send our DVD courses to a Bible school in Mara cay, Venezuela under the direction of Jorge Pérez. Approximately 40 students meet on Saturdays for training in biblical and ministerial studies. They have already studied our Homiletics and Spiritual Formation courses. Also, Rudy Wray taught a one-week seminar there in the summer of 2005 and Jorge Pineda is scheduled to conduct a seminar in the summer of 2006.

Recently we were contacted by Nestor Montes, Vice Dean of the American Bible Institute in Medellin, Colombia. That school is considering the start of their own extension program in Colombia by establishing teaching centers in two different cities, Cali and Bucaramanga. They are developing a plan to train Colombian church leaders using our training materials. We are currently in communication with them to work out the details of a ministry partnership in which we would supplement our DVD courses with periodic on-site seminars and workshops.

Joel Escobar, the son of a preacher from Naples, Florida, informed us about the steps they have already made to establish the first Bible center in Bolivia. This is going to be located in Santa Cruz in one of the finest congregation there. We are now in the process of working out a ministry partnership agreement with them.

SIBI has provided us a contact and asked us to follow up with a Bible institute in Jinotega that wishes to form a ministry partnership relationship with a U.S. Bible institute involved in training Hispanics for ministry.

We are currently already working with individual congregations and Bible institutes in both Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. We are in regular contact with Jorge Perez (Venezuela) and Daniel Nin (Dominican Republic), the directors of the respective works, and we travel at least yearly to each site to provide encouragement and additional training activities.

The works in Colombia, Bolivia, and Nicaragua are all still in the planning stages, but we hope to work out similar agreements with each locale and begin training within the next few months.

In addition to the various extension points which are using our video and written materials, AIBI is also in the process of setting up video conferencing capability through which we would offer our classes live to students at remote locations. We are initially looking at connecting with Hispanic works in Arlington, Virginia and Silver Springs, Maryland, as well as with our sister school, the Texas Gulf Coast Bible Institute (TGCBI), in Houston, Texas. Interest among several Hispanic congregations in the Atlanta area is also being gauged and possibilities considered.

For a relatively small initial investment, and a moderate monthly fee for DSL service or a T1 line, we can offer ministry training to students in other areas as they continue in their various ministries. Our students can meet people they never knew. Through the Internet, we can upload or download all notes, tests, power points, and other materials for the students. And all of this without having to travel further than the local church offering the service.

The congregations in both Arlington, VA and Silver Springs, MD have already purchased the necessary equipment and are waiting on us (AIBI) to “catch up” and begin transmitting our classes to them in August. TGCBI helped us purchase the primary camera for this video conferencing project. Repair and renovation of the video conferencing classroom and installation of the equipment and T1 line will soon be underway to meet our goal of an August start.

Through our Cuba work AIBI began to record and offer a number of its courses on DVD in July 2003. The courses currently available are: Homiletics, Spiritual Formation, Old Testament History I, Old Testament History II, New Testament Greek, History and Geography of the New Testament, Hermeneutics and The Christian Home. Currently under production by AIBI are the courses Prison Epistles and Galatians/Romans. Scheduled for production in August-December 2006 are the Minor Prophets and Gospel and Letters of John.

One of our goals for the not-too-distant future is to begin offering our DVD courses online through streaming video. With our recording equipment and software, in addition to the T1 line we anticipate having within the next several months, many of the components necessary for this project will be in place. I am currently taking a class in Adult Web Design, based on the Macromedia Studio and Dreamweaver software, to acquire the skills required to develop this project locally.

In October 2002 Jorge Pineda and Kirk McAfee began to feel and pray concerning the need to develop a program that would utilize both instructors and students of AIBI in an ongoing series of Hispanic church plants. With this program we hope to satisfy a number of needs at AIBI, in the area churches, and in the local Hispanic population. At AIBI, with only two full-time instructors responsible for all of the activities and ministries in which we are involved, we need a more structured and practical means of providing ministry training to our students outside the classroom. During their enrollment at AIBI we want them to engage in practical, “hands-on,” supervised ministry experiences so that they are more than theoretically prepared for kingdom service. In addition, we feel that this program will strengthen the local church by providing greater numbers of more thoroughly equipped Christian leaders and that it would benefit the community in general through an increased Christian presence and influence.

To achieve the goals of this ambitious program, we are working through the following five-stage cycle:

· Stage 1 (“Preparing the Land”) - Identification of target group and/or area; formation of the church planting team; development of goals and strategies.

· Stage 2 (“Sowing the Seed”) - Initial evangelistic activities; first converts; assemble and mobilize a core group around which the congregation will be built.

· Stage 3 (“Cultivation”) - Incorporation and maturation of new converts; increased evangelistic activities; formal congregational organization.

· Stage 4 (“Harvest”) - Develop an expanding small group ministry; identify and train leaders; improve and/or replace existing ministries.

In 2004 two new Hispanic works were launched in Broward County at existing Anglo congregations.

This work began early in 2004 under the direction of the elders of the congregation with Jorge Pineda serving as the evangelist for the new work.

MISSION

The Griffin Rd. Church of Christ exists to make and train disciples who Hill become disciplers of others. Matthew 28:19-20; Matthew 22:37-39

We relieve that a deep commitment to these words of Jesús will produce the following results:

• Baptize them: Fellowship (the formation and reproduction of Christian communities)

Build a multicultural Christian community for Hispanic and Anglo families under one leadership.

Current plans include developing core groups from one or both of these works to begin new church plants in strategic areas of Broward County.