By Scarlett Birge, student news writer, Office of University Communications
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Opening Campbellsville University’s first chapel service of the spring semester with the theme of “Jesus Our Peace,” Kyle Witmer, pastor and missionary to Thailand, said, “You are not expected to be at peace.”
“Peace is elusive,” Witmer said. He said peace is often defined as “being without conflict. However, conflict is inevitable and “stress is very real,” he said. Reading from John 16:33, he spoke of the troubles of the world and how we can trust in the Lord to help overcome our struggles.
Witmer said having external peace of being in physical comfort can often lead to the belief that it is equivalent to internal peace. Reading from Colossians 3:15, he said internal peace can only come through Christ.
“God is more interested in who you are becoming than what you are doing,” Witmer said as he spoke about finding peace in God. Following the call of the Lord and giving thanks were what he emphasized.
He said, “Finding your calling begins with ‘whose’ you are.” Peace is found by finding who you are in Christ, Witmer said.
Witmer said resentment can often hinder achieving peace, but that watching what God is doing and staying near to him is a constant reminder of finding true peace. Witmer urged everyone to “go with peace.”
Witmer and his wife, Debby, are serving as missionaries-in-residence at Campbellsville University.
They have two children, Hannah and Brennan, who are students at Campbellsville University. Their other two children are Julia and Emma.
Debby and Kyle serve the Thai Karen Baptist Convention (TKBC) Siloam Bible Institute in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where they work in pastoral education and leadership development.
Young people from the Karen ethnic group attend the school with the goal of following the call of God on their lives to be pastors and evangelists among the Karen villages in the hills of Thailand.
Kyle is also involved in continuing education with TKBC pastors and evangelists. Debby is providing worship leadership to conferences in the area and helping with the English language program at Siloam.
The Witmers continue discipleship with their own children through homeschooling.
Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 14,000 students offering over 100 programs of study including Ph.D., master, baccalaureate, associate, pre-professional and certification programs. The university has Kentucky based off-campus centers in Louisville, Harrodsburg, Somerset, Hodgenville and Liberty with instructional sites in Elizabethtown, Owensboro and Summersville. Out-of-state centers include two in California at Los Angeles and Lathrop, located in the San Francisco Bay region. The website for complete information is www.campbellsville.edu.
Campbellsville University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award certificates, associate, baccalaureate, masters and doctoral degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the status of Campbellsville University.