Mike Kestler
West Coast Baptist College student
Music this semester
Feb 22nd
As promised, here’s an overview of what I’m getting to do musically this semester. (Disclaimer, this sure does reek of self-promotion to me, so take this with a grain of salt.)
Chapel piano is the best. I mean really, I get to play a 9′ piano while almost 1,000 people sing some great hymns! I remember the first time I played in chapel last semester, I was on second piano (the one that doesn’t matter and that no one can hear) playing with a senior, and I was more nervous than when I played my first special in church ten years ago! Even though I told everyone I played “chapel piano,” I really only played about 4 times last semester. (Like I said, watch out for my self-promotion.) This semester, I really do get to play first piano every other week, and just doing that has stretched my ability and made me work harder. When the line of college administration walk onto the platform behind you and head to their seats, they’re not stopping, and nothing will stop Bro. Wall (not height, nor depth…), so you’d better be ready! There’s a song called Let Us Fix Our Eyes on Jesus that has come to be so real to me after playing in chapel. When Bro. Wall gives that preparatory beat, if my eyes are anywhere else but on him, I will ruin the song; if I block everything else out though, and focus on his hands, I will play the song perfectly. It’s not unlike our relationship with the Lord, and it was a great illustration to me.
I also play for two tour groups and some various soloists and small groups, all of which combined, keep my schedule hectic and my music binder full. I have been able to travel with one of last year’s tour groups to some churches near us for the last couple of weeks. The group is awesome to be with, and I’m glad that I’m getting some experience this spring without as much pressure as we’ll have this summer. Practice with my summer group is going well, and they’re singing in chapel for the first time tomorrow! One of my good friends asked me to accompany him in church the other Wednesday night, and he did a great job with a song called It’s Real, you can watch it on YouTube here.
Last bit of informative news: I also get to teach nine piano students from the Christian school here, they are doing very well, and we’re starting to work on pieces for them to do for the recital in May. Speaking of… I take lessons too, from Bro. Hopkins, who is, in my opinion, the best. We’re working on some exciting things this semester, can’t wait for you to hear those!
Spring semester started
Feb 4th
We’re a week into classes today, and 1. This will be an easy semester academically, and 2. I love the college administration. Allow me to explain.
I have a 16 credit class load this semester, but most of those are in Missions and Music, which I’m most interested in, which makes it much easier to enjoy. Dr. Don Sisk teaches Intro to Missions (required for nearly everyone I believe) and The Making and Ministry of a Missionary (a study of the Apostle Paul). One of the reasons I came to WCBC was to learn from Dr. Sisk, and he only teaches here during the Spring semester, so when I saw those two classes from him that I was able to take, I jumped at them this semester. This morning in Intro Dr. Sisk taught part of his lesson on what the Bible says about world-wide evangelization. 
It’s amazing to sit in a classroom a few feet away from a man who led BIMI for so many years and was so instrumental in sending the gospel to the world. If you want to learn Missions… what can I say? He’s the best!
Congregational Songleading, New Testament Survey, Principles of Graphic Design, Practical Theology, Men’s Ensemble (tour), and college orchestra round out my classes. Next semester I’ll take some harder Bible classes, but for right now, I’m happy to be able to focus a lot of time on my piano lessons with Bro. Hopkins and my Missions classes.
Now, to why I love the college administration. I have had the privilege of getting to know many of the faculty and staff, and I’m aware that most of the students here know them too, but every time I get to talk to one of them, they take the time to not only be friendly, but to get to know me. Yesterday I decided to drop in to Dr. Weaver’s (the Dean of Students) office (under good circumstances [I don't think I'll enjoy it as much if I have to go for disciplinary reasons]) and say hi to him. He took about fifteen minutes to talk with me and share some of his life with me (like when he took a tour group consisting of nine guys, chosen only for their musical ability, not their character).
Never again.
- Dr. Toby Weaver 2-3-2010
I think I have mentioned this before, but the last few months I have been so thankful for all of the wonderful things that have been placed in my life of late. I know that the Lord has blessed so many of us so abundantly, but I can’t help but be grateful for all that He’s done for me.
I’m looking forward to telling you about what I’m doing musically this semester.
I’m listening to Holy is He at the moment.
Upcoming musical opportunites
Jan 15th
One reason that I needed to stay in practice over Christmas break was that I learned the other night that I made it on the summer tour group. Most of the music that the tour groups sing is fairly simple to accompany, but I would appreciate your prayers over the next few months as we get ready to travel.
Also, without giving too many details, there is another amazing musical opportunity that I’m praying will work out. I would have the chance to accompany an amazing violinist in some special concerts here in Phoenix, and it would help to develop me in the area of classical music. When I first began studying piano, I was being trained classically, since then things have taken a turn for the worse. For about nine years, I didn’t have a teacher, so much of what I learned, I learned incorrectly on my own, and I didn’t learn much theory at all. This next semester I’m going to be studying more classical music with Bro. Hopkins, and playing with a concert violinist will help by forcing me to have the music perfected enough for a concert.
So, these two posts are most of my five week Christmas break (one week left to go), and the break did exactly what I had hoped, it got me rested back up and looking forward to school again! Thanks for all of your encouragement, Philippians 1:3 comes to mind at the moment.
I can’t give a blanket promise for more posts next semester, but I will make an effort to turn this into something that’s enjoyable to read on a regular basis. Thanks for reading! Here’s one more song for you: Sing the Mighty Power.
Christmas Break recap
Jan 14th
West Coast, along with some other Bible colleges I think, gives us five weeks off to enjoy with our family at Christmas. And to work on projects for the next semester… yeah, that didn’t happen like I had hoped, but that’s ok. I am aware that this blog is supposed to be about my experiences at college, so let me warn you, this post doesn’t have a thing to do with college.
Now that half my readership is gone, let’s start.
We were able to schedule it so my mom came to Phoenix at the same time as me, and even though I’m content to be at school, I didn’t realize just how much I missed her. It was wonderful to spend a couple weeks with her, but she did have to leave right after Christmas.
Not before she babied me after my medical procedure though… oh yeah, I had my wisdom teeth removed on this trip too! I had a great doctor, so the procedure went well, and aside from a little trouble the first day, I healed very well and was able to eat Christmas dinner with the family. I did make the mistake of trying to much solid food too early, before I discovered that it’s not actually physically possible to chew when the back of your mouth is swollen. The bruising on my jaw is almost completely gone now, and thankfully the fat cheeks went down within about a week. As of last week when I went back for a checkup, the doctor told me that everything was healed perfectly, thanks to everyone who prayed that it would go well.
The Nigerian missionaries, David and Comfort Jacobs, whose ministry I visited last May, live here in Phoenix when they are in the states, and I was able to visit with them a couple of times. Even though I went to visit their ministry, I hadn’t actually seen them since I was very young (no, you don’t get to see the picture) so it was a wonderful reunion. They are returning to Nigeria at the end of this month, and I’m sure they would appreciate your prayers.
The hardest thing about break has been the lack of a piano to practice, but I’ve found people who’ve never heard me play before and begged them to let me use their pianos. Actually, I’ve gotten to do most of my practicing on an area church’s near-mint condition Yamaha C5. The other day I recorded a few songs with my new iPhone, so if you’d like to hear what I sound like after a semester of piano lessons with Daniel Hopkins, you may be rudely disappointed, but here’s People Need the Lord.
Ten years
Dec 31st
I remember turning 10 back in 2000 and feeling so amazed that I was finally in the double digits and that we were in a new millennium… wow, a lot has happened since then! I’ve seen a lot of dreams come true; as a matter of fact, I’m living one of my dreams right now just by being a student at West Coast. Music has taken me to places and put me on platforms that I only dreamed of (and that all who heard me play ten years ago could not fathom). Some of my heroes are now my friends, and I get to learn from the most amazing group of Christians that I have ever met. God has been good.
Some things that I thought were the permanent foundations of my life turned out to be temporary and disappointing, but you know, the good has really outweighed the bad, and the disappointing events have dimmed in my memory, leaving the warm nostalgic memories, which I think means that I really did have it pretty good.
As I watched the ball drop in NYC on tv tonight, I reflected, and I can’t help but wonder where I’ll be in 2020… with whom I’ll be… and whose lives I’ll have touched between now and then. This last decade, people have poured their lives into me… this next decade, I want to make an impact on others!
What’s ten years compared to eternity? I guess Heaven will tell… but I’m looking forward to it!
Happy New Year!
this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 3:13, 14
Merry Christmas!
Dec 24th
I love the nostalgic memories of the excitement of the month of December from earlier in my childhood. The play or musical at church… the decorations at home… watching the presents pile up under the tree… eagerly waiting for Grandma to drive in through the snow… Christmas Eve, getting to open one present and listening to old-time Christmas songs on the record player… the smell of potpourri in the house… knowing Luke 2:1-20 by heart: the things that made Christmas, Christmas for me.
While those days are now in my wonderful, warm memories, Christmas is just as real and means even more to me now because of the Savior who was born and now lives in my heart. I pray that it means the same to you for the same reason, because then, no matter where you happen to be at Christmas time, your heart is full of gratitude and love because of Him.
Merry Christmas one and all!
It’s over…
Dec 18th
The semester is finished, and even though I’m happy to relax for a few weeks, I do miss school already. Before I started school, it seemed like it would never get here, but now that I’m in it, it’s going too fast! The proverb makes more sense now:
Only one life, ’twill soon be passed, only what’s done for Christ will last.
- China Inland Mission
We finished finals on Tuesday, and I think I did alright, but the day (that the report card comes) shall declare it. (All of these links are to the professors’ information on the college’s faculty page.)
I got something like a 97 in Freshman Speech with Bro. Goetsch, not sure what I got in Personal Evangelism with Bro. Ferrso, but he let us have open notes for 10 minutes! (Bro. Ferrso is awesome!)
Romans with Bro. Keely was a great class too, Romans was almost a verse-by-verse study of the way the book is laid out and how it describes the righteousness of God and our how we are affected by it.
Structure of the Bible with Bro. Butterfield was a good refresher course on dispensationalism, and almost a survey of the Bible.
I actually took Old Testament Survey with Bro. Lester, and I think I learned the most in that class. I would take as many classes with him as I could if I were just starting at WCBC. We learned much about the story of Elisha and the children who mocked his baldness (II Kings 2:24), actually we didn’t, but he is a great teacher and makes an hour-long class easy to stay engaged in.
US History I with Dr. R was a great first hour class as well, even if we’re sleepy, his teaching style is wonderful, and the practical life lessons he throws into the lectures make the class worth it.
English Grammar with Mrs. Goetsch was an easy class, and I signed up to take Composition with her next semester.
Most guys take Practical Theology with Pastor Chappell and Bro. Keely for four semesters, and as the name implies, it’s lectures by pastor and a couple guests each semester teaching us some of the very practical aspects of ministry.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my piano teacher, Daniel Hopkins. I have progressed more this semester than I ever did in an entire year or two. Bro. Hopkins is in my opinion, the best pianist here at Lancaster Baptist and West Coast, and if you get the opportunity to take lessons from him, or even listen to him play, soak it all in.
Really, every class was great this semester, and if I could rewind to late August when I was still more a high schooler than a college student, I would take the same classes. I have grown up so much since I’ve been here, in ways that I don’t think I ever would have had I stayed at home another semester. So, to close off this semester, I leave you with the theme verse of our church and college:
Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. Philippians 1:27
I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas season, a happy New Year, and I’ll see you back here at the end of January for the start of the next semester of school.