Welcome to the 2024 summer edition of Moody Alumni & Friends Magazine! This online-only edition features powerful stories of how God is using Moody alumni to serve Him around the world. We hope you enjoy it!
Venture in Faith
Moody couple follows God’s call to reach and disciple youth in Romania through authentic relationships
When Darius Bocsa asked Bia Olcoski out for a first date, he brought along a piece of paper with these three sentences scrawled across it:
- I’m not just looking for a girlfriend; I like you for “you.”
- I’m committed to going into ministry of some kind.
- I’m going back to Romania when I graduate from Moody.
The Company You Keep
Two Moody alumni chaplains are reaching corporate Chicagoland for Christ
At 6:00 a.m. Wednesday, Chaplain Mike Pawletki ’03 MA ’05 hops onto the sideboard of one of the concrete mixer trucks lined up in Ozinga’s concrete production yards. Mike offers to pray with the truck driver, then heads to another truck for a confidential weekly check-in. By the end of the morning, he has visited nearly 100 employees in his role as a chaplain for Corporate Chaplains of America (CCA) working with employees at one of Ozinga’s Chicagoland locations . . .
‘A Joy and Satisfaction from No Other Source’
Retired professor who almost missed his opportunity to teach at Moody shares his thoughts over a long, fulfilling ministry career
“In 41 years of teaching, I did what God wanted me to do, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. . . . Now I wanted to do something different in ministry with my wife. I believe we have more to offer people now than in any other time in our lives.”
In 2022, longtime Moody Professor Ronald Sauer, 77, retired from Moody’s faculty after 35 years of faithful service . . .
I’m (Not) Leavin’ on a Jet Plane
Doc and Anna Bearss never dreamed they’d flee on a rescue helicopter after their recent trip to Haiti Bible Institute.
“Five o'clock came and we heard nothing. It was all quiet. Nothing at five thirty. Six o'clock came, nothing. Seven o'clock came and went. Nothing. All silence,” Jim (“Doc”) Bearss says.
With the coming dawn, Doc, his wife, Anna ’83, and 11 others were losing their chance for a secret helicopter rescue from Haiti.
On February 27, 2024, Doc and Anna had landed in Haiti, ready for the two-week module at Haiti Bible Institute. Everything was going as planned—until . . .
