All FPU faculty and staff—and many students—are aware that the five members of the WASC accreditation site visit team are on the main campus today after two of them visited the Bakersfield Center on Tuesday. The team is very well suited to understand our Christ-centered educational mission and our special role in our region, our churches and our world. They will meet with people from every area of Fresno Pacific and inquire about anything and everything that helps them determine how well we are achieving the outcomes we seek to produce in the lives of our students. This includes everything from science to sports and spiritual formation. Everything from our financial strength to our online technology. The operations of the Board of Trustees, the Business Office and the School of Business. Everything!

Team members will briefly summarize the essence of their main findings and their guidance for us by mid-day on Friday. Immediately after hearing this informal report, the Board of Trustees will begin its meeting—one of three such full board meetings each year—that will go into the night on Friday and end sometime Saturday afternoon. So this edition of Connecting Points is actually two points.

Point One is very simple: Please pray for accurate insights and great wisdom for everyone involved in this massive and extremely important accreditation process, including the WASC team members. Ask God for his Holy Spirit to guard our speech. Despite all the hard work over all these years of continuous improvement, it is terribly easy for one wrong statement to cause confusion, doubt and mischief. And pray also for the trustees who must begin the institutional process of responding effectively to the accreditation report as they approve the 2015-2016 budget that starts May 1, and the plans and policies that will direct our work for the church and society in the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Point Two will come in a special email early next week with a summary of the WASC team initial report to us and a summary of the major actions of the trustees.

Pray with confidence and stay tuned.