Covenant News

Covenant Bible College Adds Faculty

STRATHMORE, AL (January 3, 2001) - Covenant Bible College (CBC) has made its mark in three different countries - Canada, the United States and Ecuador. President Neil Josephson hopes the recent calling of three new faculty members will aid the progress of two of the school's three campuses.

Bob and Deb Auger will serve as ministry arts faculty members at CBC-Ecuador in La Merced, Ecuador, which serves 37 students. The parents of four children, they will begin teaching in the fall of 2001, sharing the duties of the position. Both are experienced in Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) ministries, both at local and national levels.

Bob Auger is a graduate of Barrington College in Rhode Island, having studied music. He completed a master's degree in marriage and family therapy at the University of Rhode Island and is currently a licensed marriage and family therapist. Bob will lead CBC-Ecuador's choir while teaching and writing curriculum.

Deb Auger earned her undergraduate degree at Mankato State University in Minnesota and is in her second year at North Park Theological Seminary (NPTS) in Chicago. She will continue her seminary education while in Ecuador and hopes to complete a Master of Divinity degree. Her responsibilities include teaching ministry arts.

The Augers gained valuable ministry arts experience with Covenant Heartsong, a ministry based in Chicago and sponsored by the ECC's Department of Christian Education and Discipleship. In the early 1980s, each led a separate ministry team during tours throughout North America.

Later during that decade, they served as worship and youth pastors at Deerbrook Covenant Church in Humble, Texas, as part of Bandwagon Ministries, an ministry that helped Midsouth region churches through the ECC's Department of Church Growth and Evangelism. They also aided in the production of Quigley's Village children's videos.

At CBC-Canada in Strathmore, Alberta, Bret Widman has accepted a call as a full-time faculty member, serving as an instructor/discipler beginning in February 2001. He graduated from NPTS in 1992 and served in McMinnville, Oregon, after leaving school. He has most recently been a youth pastor in Bellevue, Washington, at Newport Covenant Church. Widman will be sixth full-time instructor/discipler for CBC-Canada, which serves 85 students.

"We just feel overwhelmed beyond what we had prayed for and dreamed of," said Josephson of the new faculty members and the growth at CBC that prompted the calls. "We're in awe, we're really thankful," he said. "We typically look for pastors with teaching gifts rather than faculty members who are academics. Bret (Widman) has both of those qualities. And the Augers were known to (CBC faculty members) Paul Lessard and Brian Fraible and have wonderful ministry backgrounds."

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