Back in September, we all knew that the day would come when our beloved students would receive their diplomas and leave ARISE. Even though we know this it does not make saying goodbye any easier. Thus, the Commissioning service is always a bitter-sweet event.

The afternoon began with a Spirit-filled song service led out by the students followed with prayer by Pastor Mark Howard, one of the students’ favorite adjunct instructors. Various students shared testimonies of how the Lord brought them to ARISE and the work He did through them while at ARISE. These testimonies were just some of the many instances of God’s providential workings in this class. The service was highlighted by the baptisms of three graduates. Alison Kast, Ben Brendle, and Brooke Durst had all been impressed by the Holy Spirit to fully commit their lives to Him while attending ARISE.

As the evening continued, Pastor Scott Moore led the charge to the students by sharing some thoughts from the Bible and having the entire class stand and repeat, “Go, and preach the Word of God!” After the diplomas were handed out, the service drew to a close with a song of dedication called, “I’ll See You When We Get There”, sung by Billy Otto and Cristy Kay. Pastor Nathan Renner and Matt Parra concluded the Commissioning service with a prayer of dedication.

The Lord truly blessed this class during their time here and we pray that He will continue blessing them for His service as they, “Go, and preach the Word of God!”

“’…Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’” Acts 22:16b. It was a high Sabbath at Discovery Bible Fellowship as seven people entered the watery grave of baptism and were raised into a new life in Jesus Christ. Antoinette Comiska has been coming to DBF since last year’s Discover Prophecy meetings. Martin Maria has been studying the Bible with ARISE Bible worker Ezequiel Vasquez and Martin made the decision to be baptized. Travis Alexander, Luis Ortiz, Jerod Busl, David Baron, and Ricky Wade are all current ARISE students. Peter Poyser, who is also an ARISE student was baptized later that evening in the lake at the Achatz’s home.

We are happy to announce the arrival of a new staff member at ARISE. Randy Ban is our new Administrator and has already made a positive impact on our team. After receiving the offer to be the Administrator, Randy and his wife, Shandra, prayerfully accepted the position, quit their jobs, packed up a U-haul, and drove 2000 miles from Alberta, Canada. Randy and Shandra are both ARISE graduates and have been feeling called to full-time ministry ever since they left ARISE. Randy graduated from Canadian University College with a Bachelor of Business Administration and has a passion for furthering the Lord’s work. Randy and Shandra are excited to be here and they are praying that the Lord will bless their efforts during their time here.

Another year has quickly come upon us and ARISE is now in full swing. This year’s class is our largest ever with 53 students coming from all over the globe to create one determined and energetic group. Countries represented include USA, Canada, England, and Australia. The students come from extremely diverse backgrounds and cultures yet they are all unified in their desire to spread the Gospel of Christ to the entire world. The year began with a powerful Week of Prayer by Matt Parra and was capped off by a very moving and reverent Communion service led out by Nathan Renner. Bible Boot Camp was once again a success as the Lord blessed the teaching of His doctrines to the students. As with every year, ARISE had a day of great fellowship, recreation, and food hosted by the Achatz family, Discovery Bible Fellowship members. It was a wonderful day that was climaxed by the baptism of one of the Canadian students, Diana Lara. Diana recently started to attend the Seventh-day Adventist church back in her home town of Sylvan Lake, Alberta and decided to enter into a full commitment by being baptized once she got to ARISE. This year is shaping up to be one of our best yet. Please keep the ARISE students and staff in your prayers as the Lord continues to bless the spreading of His Gospel.

Royce Odiyar heard the calling of God on his life during his junior year of High school. Five years later he graduated from Canadian University College with a Bachelors degree in Theology, determined and convicted to serve the Lord with unrelinquished commitment. The Lord directed him to ARISE for evangelistic training. And now more than ever before Royce is compelled by the urgency of the times in which we are living and believes that we must no longer delay in spreading a last day message to a last day people!

Rubia Borges is 27 years old. She was born in Brazil and raised speaking Portuguese. Recently, she graduated from Andrews University with a Masters Degree in Community Counseling. Rubia's diversity in language and education has prepared her to do work in different countries. In the Fall of 2007 Rubia attended  ARISE  and realized the urgency to share the Word of God. This is the reason why she decided to join the ARISE team as a full-time Bible worker, to spread the message about the Lord's soon return.

Laura Andrews is a 19 year old with a contagious faith. She is just a baby in her walk, but her boldness in her witnessing surpasses the spiritual maturity of many of those around her. She was raised in the cold state of Alaska, but interestingly enough her spiritual experience began thousands of miles away in Brazil. Now she is actively fulfilling the Gospel Commission and challenging those around her to do like wise.

Does God Exist? If you have any doubt just make sure to ask Isai Almeida. She is a 20 year old student at Western Michigan University who has decided to lay down the books for a year to appeal to others to believe in the God of the Bible. Her name actually means, "God exists", so this serves as a constant reminder of her Christian duty to appeal to others to follow the living God.

Ezequiel Vasquez is a 21-year-old that is living radically for Christ.  Ezequiel wasn’t always so spiritual. Although raised in a Christian home, Ezequiel denied even the existence of God.  By the grace of God, Zeke was plucked from the deception of Athesim and experienced genuine conversion.  Upon being converted, Ezequiel moved to Michigan from California to attend ARISE.  Now, not only is he a Christian, but he is in full-time ministry and is excited about wining souls for the kingdom.

“Please don’t make me choose between my job and my Jesus”.  As I heard those words enthusiastically communicated during Linda Stankiewicz’s testimony during Sabbath service in the newly planted Discovery Bible Fellowship Church, I knew it was all worth it.  The time and effort that went into training a new crop of ARISE students, the thousands of doors that were knocked on, the thousands of dollars spent on the meeting hall, the late nights of answering challenging questions about Bible truth, the hours spent in prayer, and the tremendous effort put fourth in getting church members involved –it was all more than worth it.  A heart was transformed, many hearts in fact.  Currently, 20 people have been baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist movement as a result of the Discover Bible Prophecy Seminar that took place during the month of November and the beginning of December.  Even more are regularly attending Sabbath services on the verge of making decisions.  

Linda has worked for the same lumberyard for the past 26 years.  Each year, on a Saturday in December, Linda is in charge of overseeing the recording and organization of inventory.  During the days that led up to “inventory Saturday” of 2006, Linda purposed in her heart that she would stay true to the Bible truth she had learned during the Discover Prophecy Seminar that she had been attending nightly for more than 1 month.  Finally, she mustered up the courage to approach her boss and let him know that she would not be able to come in to do inventory.  She said, “You know that I have recently been baptized, and that Saturday is my day to spend with Jesus -please don’t make me choose between my job and my Jesus”.  By the grace of God, she was granted the day off to spend with her Jesus.

Linda is just one of the encouraging stories resulting from the Discover Prophecy Seminar put on by ARISE, in conjunction with the Troy and Warren SDA churches, 3ABN and the ARISE Bibleworking Team.  On account of the fruitfulness of the meetings, a much-needed Adventist presence was able to be established in Sterling Heights.  More than 50 people have been consistently attending the new church each Sabbath.  About half of the congregation is made up of new friends from the meetings.  

With great joy, ARISE’s Pastor Scott Moore, has accepted the head pastor position for the new church.  His enthusiasm and genuine burden for the Sterling Heights community is inspiring.  Pastor Moore has been hard at work getting new and old members involved in outreach.  Already, 2 small group Bible studies have been initiated.  As of January, a new ARISE Bibleworking team has been assembled.  They will be working directly with Pastor Moore and the Discovery Bible Fellowship.  Pastor Moore says that he is looking forward to working with the 7-member team because of the over abundance of Bible study interests to follow up.  In only one month of follow-up work, Pastor Moore and the team have close to 30 in-home Bible studies.  

Future plans for evangelism for the Discover Bible Fellowship include, an all-day evangelistic meeting presented by Pastor David Asscherick at the Macedonian Cultural and Banquet Center, in Sterling Heights, a weekly “Live Free” health seminar with Dr. Vicki Griffin from March 14th until April 11th, and also the proliferation of church member led small group Bible studies, which will be the “bread and butter” of evangelistic efforts for the new church.  

Please pray for Pastor Scott Moore, the ARISE Bibleworking team,  the ARISE staff, and the newly planted Discover Bible Fellowship, as we go in search of others who will choose Jesus.

Jonathan Karlsson, Nicklas Olssen and Roy Doss, recently graduated from the ARISE program, and returned to their home country of Sweden.  The three young men (along with two others, Reuben Bognandi and Dan Millares) experienced a revival in their experience with Christ as a result of a week of prayer and training conducted by ARISE staff in 2005.  The decided to make the journey across the ocean to come and be trained to better reach out to their extremely secular countrymen.  After graduation, and time well spent at the General Youth Conference, the “Swedes”, as they were affectionately referred to at ARISE, wasted no time in getting to work upon returning home. 

December 9, 2006 was a bittersweet day for staff and students at ARISE.  Sad to part ways with new brothers and sisters in Christ, but excited to send off forty-three equipped, educated and empowered soulwinners.

You can find photos of the 2006 graduation in the image galleries section. Follow the link in the menu to the right.

Hallelujah!  Jesus Christ is on the throne and on Saturday night nearly 600 people attended the Discover Prophecy Seminar to prove it!  We actually had to open up another section of the meeting hall to accommodate all of the visitors!  Each of the 578 chairs was filled, and many stayed to hear the message even though they had to stand!  We are now approaching night number four, and the crowd has hardly diminished.  The Holy Spirit is moving on the hearts of the people of Sterling Heights.  David Asscherick has been preaching his heart out, convincing the crowd that they can understand Bible prophecy, that the Bible can be trusted and that Jesus Christ is coming soon.  Please keep everyone associated with these meetings in your prayers, especially Pastor Asscherick and the guests that are attending nightly.