Beloved in the Lord:

It has been some times since we have written to you concerning the work of the Seminary. We have been a bit negligent in this, and we apologize for our tardiness.

The second semester of our school year is well under way. Our first semester of classroom work ended the Wednesday before Christmas. We added two days to the semester because, with the lateness of Labor Day, the semester as scheduled was very short. After two weeks of Christmas vacation, during which many of the students returned home, we spent two weeks in exams, grading the semester’s work, and conferences with the students to evaluate their work with them. Our second semester began January 24.

We have a rather large number of students in Seminary this year. It is possible that we have one of the largest Seminary enrollments ever. In the Seniors Class we have three students: two from the Free Reformed Church and Ken Koole, from our Hope congregation. The Lord willing, Ken will be eligible for a call some time this coming summer. There are three students in the Middlers Class. All of them have been speaking in the churches, and many of you have heard them by this time. They are Rich Flikkema, and Bill Bruinsma, both sons of our South Holland Church, and Mike DeVries, a son of Pella. In the Juniors Class there are five students: Carl Haak and Dave Zandstra, from South Holland; Ron Cammenga, originally from Holland; and Ron Hanko and Steve Houck, from Hope.

There are also nine students studying in the Pre-Seminary department. Three are at the Junior level, four at the Sophomore level, and two are at the Freshman level, having just begun their college instruction this past semester. You can readily see from this that we have, at present, a large and busy Seminary. It may seem to us if there is scarcely room in the church for them all. But this is closely connected with our Mission labors. It remains always true that “the harvest is great, but the laborers are few.” Let us be thankful to God for these young men who seek the work of the ministry.

The readers of our Standard Bearer have been generous in their support of our Library. The result is that we have been able to purchase a large number of books since we have been in our new building. We have been careful to concentrate on buying books which will be of direct value to the studies of the Seminary students and the professors, and the result is that our Library is much enlarged. Don’t worry, though: we still have many unfilled shelves, and there are many books which we still must purchase.

We shall have to close for this time. We hope that there will be a little more regularity in our letter-writing in the future. We earnestly covet your prayers in behalf of our school. May God bless you all and the cause of our churches.

Fraternally, in Christ,

The Faculty