ISTL had their graduation ceremony on October 25, 2019. It was a great moment for ISTL to see that another 8 students successfully had completed their studies and graduated. Those students were filled with joy and gratitude to the Lord and to the ISTL staff for guiding them on this important journey in their lives. We hereby congratulate Gjergji Kollumbi, Albana Kollumbi, Destemona Jani, Emi Levendi, Eduard Kovaci, Edi Morava, Genci Hyseni and Mimoza Shabanaj.
The graduation ceremony was a celebration of sending servant leaders throughout Albania to spread the Word of God and to build up churches. When I first met Hervin Fushekati, almost four years ago, I sensed God’s hand on the ministry of ISTL and I thought that this is a ministry that I want to support. Little did I know then how our Father would lead me to get involved in this way. My dad was a pastor and Bible School teacher while my mom stayed at home to look after my two brothers and me, so from the beginning of my life I was taught the stories in the Bible. At a very early age I also learned how churches work, especially the de-sire to tell lost people about Jesus Christ. I was very young when I first committed my life to Jesus and was baptized when I was 15. From a career perspective, I start-ed out as a teacher and spent about 25 years in education being a classroom teacher, building principal, university and college professor of education, and a policy analyst in government. Then I became the executive pastor in a local church in Canada, after which I worked for a manufacturer of a soil amendment product.During my life I have served on various Boards: our church, a Bible college and seminary, a Christian literature distribution ministry and the denomination’s district executive committee.
Through personal friendships with the leaders of Equip Leadership Canada (ELC) I heard about ISTL in Albania so I accepted an invita-tion to accompany some of the ELC people to Albania to meet with the ISTL team. Hervin and I had some wonderful conversations so when the invitation came to join the new Board of Directors, I prayed about it and soon I found myself part of this Board. In all of these volunteer board roles my focus has been on ways we could be more effective for Him.
Jim Thiessen
Chairman of the ISTL Board