President's Biography

Personal Testimony

Dr. Michael B. Pawelke and his wife Linda

Although I was not raised in a home that was warm to faith, I did receive some exposure to religious concepts through Sunday School. While these experiences planted thoughts of God in the mind of a young boy, they were not complete enough to plant the seeds of faith. My first memorable experience with the Bible was when I was attending a small country school in Muskoka, Ontario. I was in grade five. We had a guest visit our class who was representing the Gideons. I only remember two things that he said that day. The first was after he handed out a small burgundy New Testament to each student. He told us to open up our new gifts and write our names on the inside panel of the cover. We all promptly complied. He then told us about the back cover and how this too was a place where we could sign our names, but that we shouldn't do so unless we were willing to trust Christ with our life.

Three years later my parents' stressed marriage came to an end. The months surrounding their separation negotiations were very difficult. However, amidst this I remembered a caring man and a little burgundy New Testament. I dug out that little Bible and started reading. I have not stopped reading it to this day. It was this New Testament that pointed me to a God full of love. I embraced that love in faith and continued to read, grow, and mature as a follower of Christ.

While in secondary school I began to sense an ever-growing interest and passion to serve God with my life. This resulted in enrolling at Briercrest Bible Institute in order to prepare for vocational Christian ministry. It was there that I met Linda, my wife. We both completed our Bible College programs; I continued in Seminary training while Linda studied Nursing. We were married in 1984.

We have two adult children, Breanna and Matthew. Breanna is 25 and is married to Jonathan Giesbrecht. Matthew is 22. Both are followers of Jesus.

Vision

My calling is to love, lead, feed, and seed.

My primary calling is to love and honour God by pursuing my highest potential as a devoted, ever growing, and balanced disciple of Jesus Christ with a deep commitment to cultivating the values of faith, hope, love, obedience, authenticity, integrity, purity, humility, generosity, wisdom, compassion, perseverance, excellence, self-discipline, forgiveness, service, and joy.

My secondary calling is to love people and empower and ever increasing number to realize their highest potential as disciples for Jesus Christ. My priorities begin in my home as a considerate husband and involved father, and extends into the Christian community and into the world by providing effective leadership, equipping believers, and planting the seeds of truth in the lives of lost people.

Education