So when I got back to Matamata after the time in Wellington, we went off to find a suitable Bible College. We went to Faith Bible College, where we felt we could best fit. Milton Smith said “No, you need more than we can give you. We offer the bare minimum in Greek and don’t teach Hebrew.” He suggested we go to BCNZ to get the best training in Hebrew in Greek and exegesis. Oh no, that was where I didn’t want to go. I had picked up the brochure for BCNZ in Wellington but had felt it wasn’t right for us.
We made an appointment to see Alan Knight the registrar at BCNZ. When I said I felt that we were to be “there” for two years, Alan told us that as a man with a degree I should be doing the degree course which would take four years given the way the course was structured. I told him I wasn’t interested in the piece of paper at the end, I just wanted the ability and the skills to become a good Bible translator. But I felt that we were do two years. He scoffed and told me I couldn’t do that. That Hebrew course was structured so that Hebrew I and Hebrew III were offered in the same year and Hebrew II in the alternate year. Alan told us, “You would have to do four years here Ian to achieve what you need.”
I told him again that we thought we were to be there for two years. He told said that would be impossible and I should do the MTh level course. As soon as he said that the phone rang. It was Bill Osbourne, the Hebrew professor, ringing to ask Alan about the availability of a classroom in the summer holidays in which he would cover first year Hebrew in an intensive course over 6 weeks for some people heading overseas. The registrar’s mouth dropped open in surprise and he said he had someone in the office right then who was a candidate for such a course. Could he do the intensive course as well? “It seems that God has opened the door for you, Ian” he said when his conversation with the Hebrew Prof had concluded. Yes, God had opened the door.
I spent each of the two years at Bible College following after one professor. In my first year it was the Old Testament and Hebrew professor, Bill Osbourne. I followed Bill everywhere. I did first year, second and third year all in the same year. So everything connected across all of my classes. In my second year I did the same thing with Basil Brown, who had come as a guest lecturer for that year only. I got to follow Basil around to every class he taught in New Testament and NT Greek, combining all three years in one. Again I saw the overview at the same time I was learning about the details. No one has ever done that before in the history of the Bible College. I had a unique opportunity. At the end of the time they said “Ian, we can’t give you an MTh because you have not fulfilled all of the requirements for the Degree but we will give you a Diploma of Biblical Languages, with only one recipient ever, you.” When God told me to teach them “like I taught you”, I knew what He was telling me. “Teach them the way I taught you.”