Alumni and Friends Dinner, October 20, 2006 - Address by Michael Raiter

Transcript of welcome address by Rev. Michael Raiter, Principal, Bible College of Victoria

(Given via video at the commencement of the inaugural Alumni dinner, Friday October 20, 2006.)

Good evening. I’m sorry I can’t be with you this evening but my wife is there and she’s much prettier than I am and much more fun to be with!

We’re thrilled at how many of you have come to our first alumni dinner! In fact we’re thrilled to be at BCV.

I’ve been struck since I’ve been here at the immense impact BCV has made in the lives of so many people, both here in Victoria and overseas. I was in Singapore last year and met there a number of pastors who told me they were graduates of BCV.  I hardly speak at church in Melbourne where I don’t meet at least one MBI or BCV graduate.

We’ve had some wonderful years at BCV. But let me say I think the task ahead of us is more challenging and more daunting than ever before. For in many places the convictions that guide BCV have been forgotten – our conviction that Jesus Christ is the unique Saviour of the world and the only hope for a lost mankind. Our conviction that at the heart of the life of the people of God must be the Word of God and our conviction that to serve God you need first and foremost a transformed mind, a renewed mind, a mind steeped in the plans and purposes of God.

We at BCV don’t apologise for the fact that we are a conservative college. We hold fast to the historical gospel – that Jesus died on the cross in our place, for our sins. That Jesus rose bodily from the grave and our Lord will come back to judge the living and the dead and to vindicate his people. And we believe in the Word of God as sufficient for all of our needs. That was the first task of the apostles – not to wait at tables, but to preach and to pray. The first gifts God gave to his church were apostles, prophets, evangelists - teaching pastors with gifts of the word, It is by the word of God that each person lives every day, and not by bread alone.

These are great convictions and they have been forgotten. The church has lost confidence in the supremacy of Christ, the sufficiency of the bible and now, in Melbourne, biblical preaching is a rarity. But I am confident of the future and I shall work hard for BCV to make an even bigger impact in the years to come. He has given our staff and faculty a wonderful unity. We have tremendous support from you in both prayer and giving. We have new staff coming on board.

No work in the world compares in greatness and grandeur with knowing God and making him known. Please continue to partner with us in this most wonderful of all works.