It’s a morning chapel service at Latin American Bible Institute
in La Puente, Calif., but it feels like a political convention.
"Our Fellowship
is growing in its Spanish-speaking numbers," says President
Isaac Canales. "My goal is to restore the vision and sense
of mission that the school had under its founding fathers and mothers
back in 1926."
Sixty or so students are cheering
and applauding their candidates for student government posts in the
chapel building on the corner of the beautiful LABI campus. The student
body president – just elected by a show of hands while he and other
candidates waited outside – makes a short speech.
"Thanks for your confidence,"
he says in Spanish. "I know the other candidates would have done
a great job, too."
When the positions have been filled,
and the students have prayed for the newly elected officers, everyone
pours out of the back door and heads to classrooms nestled among palm,
orange and eucalyptus trees on the newly renovated campus. The mild
climate, resident songbirds and greenery give the "new" LABI
an edenic quality that goes along with President Isaac Canales’
mission to transform the institute into a "jewel" among Assemblies
of God Bible institutes.
"Our Fellowship is growing
in its Spanish-speaking numbers," says Canales. "My goal is
to restore the vision and sense of mission that the school had under
its founding fathers and mothers back in 1926. We provide both English-speaking
and Spanish-speaking leadership for churches around the world."
Instructing students in both languages is one of the strengths of the
school.
In a psychology class taught (in
Spanish) by Professor Anna Perez, 12 students, six men and six women,
are discussing essays they’ve written. Jaime Acevedo, 21, who came
here from El Salvador, asks a question about demons.
"It’s best to fast and
pray before praying that a demonized person be delivered," says
Perez. "Your own life has to be ready." The school is decidedly
Pentecostal.
The students then give short presentations,
taking the podium and briefly explaining a psychological concept, then
discussing it.
The school draws from an impressive
range of western states and foreign countries. In this class alone are
students from Argentina, Mexico, Guatemala and Peru. Together, the diverse
student body is pursuing an education that will equip them for ministerial
work in the United States or in their home countries.
At noon the cafeteria fills up quickly
with students and lively conversation. Administrators eat alongside
students at tables decorated with flower centerpieces.
When they finish their meatloaf
and cherry pie students head to the dorms to study and socialize. Laptops,
music and desks piled with textbooks give the men’s dorm its motif.
Jaime Acevedo has returned from lunch and will soon start his psychology
homework, which he says is substantial.
"I’ve been here a year
and a half pursuing ministerial studies, and I love it," he says.
"The professors have a good relationship with the students. I have
learned to depend on God and have more faith. After I graduate I want
to go back to El Salvador and help my father at the [5,000-member] church
he pastors."
There are 176 students living on
campus, and another 1,600 receive pre-college-level training through
extension courses or through the Internet. Canales has assembled a faculty
that includes professors from nearby Fuller Theological Seminary, USC,
UCLA, Azusa Pacific, Claremont and others.
Canales was educated at Vanguard
University and Harvard and taught at Fuller for 20 years before accepting
this position. His father was the first person to graduate from LABI
under the GI bill and Canales remembers running around the LABI campus
as a boy.
Now he passes on a passion for missions
and his legacy in Pentecost.
"The pastors we train send
missionaries from their churches," he says. "That is foundational
to who we are. We want to attract students who have a definite call
from God and are excited about being a pastor, or going into the marketplace
with a background in ethics and faith, or going on to seminary with
a strong emphasis in urban multi-cultural study."
Canales and the students and staff
at LABI are enthusiastic about the direction the school is taking and
hope to achieve candidate status for accreditation in the next three
to five years. This could make it the first Hispanic-run and Hispanic-owned
Christian college in America to do so.
"It’s time to rebuild
with the Spanish joy and the excitement of Kingdom life, as our Lord
tarries," Canales says. "This is the new LABI, the Moody of
the West."
