First Initiatives

With 3 weeks into the job, I started several new initiatives, first of which is the publication of a College magazine to be ready before Lunar New Year. The editorial committee is working hard. We had an 90 minutes meeting yesterday and shifted through all the photos and several articles to be included in the Magazine. There are 4 students with the office secretary and my colleague as the editor. I appointed myself the advisor of the inaugural MTS magazine.  We hope to publish 3 times a year, giving our friends, sponsors and churches news updates, prayer needs, and hopefully by the 3rd publication we can get a couple of solid theological pieces written up.
There is much to do I had a walk round the College Thursday afternoon which was work day to inspect on the many things that needed attention. Maintenance of buildings alone will run into tens of thousands Ringgit. Further, our HQ's contribution to the College's budget is reduced by 30% and part of my job is to raise funds. Thank God for his faithfulness but the College is entering uncharted waters with no fixed source of income except the occasional donations from churches and individuals. School fees have been increased this year but we can't rely on fees alone and our students are mostly from very poor families. I have received countless requests for scholarships in the past week. If there is an urgent need, it is the family quarters. These houses are barely livable and we will need to build soon if we want to attract families to study at the College.