“God’s Faithfulness in the ‘Roots’ of Cairn University”

Those Pictured: Back Row: David Coots ’52, Joan Coots ’53, Mary Leventry ’45, Pearl Prince ’40, Mildred Lanz ’36, Walter Lanz ’39 Alice (Holsopple) Borden ’50, ORM General Director Theodore Hummel, Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost Front Row: Austin Shelly ’49, J. Barclay Harley ’52, Fred Ruth ’41, John Prince

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Words from a current Cairn parent and the daughter of an alumnus

Hi Cairn,
Greetings in the Name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. My name is Joanne Englehart, and my daughter, Joy Englehart, is currently in her third year at Cairn. Joy loves Cairn and so do my husband and I—to put it mildly.

My father, Austin Shelly ’49, (90 years old) attended Cairn when it was the Bible Institute of Pennsylvania. My parents were missionaries for many years in Venezuela with the Orinoco River Mission (ORM) (later merging with TEAM). I am currently going through my Dad’s presentation slides
and found this one that was of interest to me and thought it may be to you too. My Dad was a professor at the Instituto Biblico Las Delicias (a Bible institute) near the small town of Caripe in the mountains of eastern Venezuela for 12 years. Every year there was an ORM field conference held on the Institute campus.

This photo was taken at one of those conferences in late summer of 1962. I am sure that many of these dear saints have been “promoted to glory” (some I know have been), but I thought it was an interesting look back at the history and impact that Cairn University has made over the years in
our family. As an adult, I look at this photo and see many who spent their lives in Venezuela in various ministries: as professors at the Bible Institute, the principal and teachers at the Orinoco Academy (which I attended), church planters, film ministry workers, and an Orinoco river boat ministry worker. I asked my Dad about the photo. Here are his words:

“At our annual ORM field conference in late summer 1962, there were a number of missionaries who were graduates of what now is Cairn University. The Bible teacher for the spiritual life enrichment sessions of the conference was Dr. Edward Pentecost, who taught biblical subjects at Cairn for over 60 years.” I just wanted to pass it along and praise the Lord with you at God’s faithfulness in the “roots” of Cairn University.