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2024 Summer Edition - Alumni & Friends Magazine

Venture in Faith

Moody couple follows God’s call to reach and disciple youth in Romania through authentic relationships


When Darius Bocsa asked Bia Olcoski out for a first date, he brought along a piece of paper with these three sentences scrawled across it:

  • I’m not just looking for a girlfriend; I like you for “you.”
  • I’m committed to going into ministry of some kind.
  • I’m going back to Romania when I graduate from Moody.

Darius shakes his head in humorous disbelief when he thinks back to that moment. “A piece of paper with three things written on it. Sounds like a great date, right?” he says . . .

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The Company You Keep

Two Moody alumni chaplains are reaching corporate Chicagoland for Christ


At 6:00 a.m. Wednesday, Chaplain Mike Pawletki ’03 MA ’05 hops onto the sideboard of one of the concrete mixer trucks lined up in Ozinga’s concrete production yards. Mike offers to pray with the truck driver, then heads to another truck for a confidential weekly check-in. By the end of the morning, he has visited nearly 100 employees in his role as a chaplain for Corporate Chaplains of America (CCA) working with employees at one of Ozinga’s Chicagoland locations . . .

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‘A Joy and Satisfaction from No Other Source’

Retired professor who almost missed his opportunity to teach at Moody shares his thoughts over a long, fulfilling ministry career


“In 41 years of teaching, I did what God wanted me to do, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. . . . Now I wanted to do something different in ministry with my wife. I believe we have more to offer people now than in any other time in our lives.”

In 2022, longtime Moody Professor Ronald Sauer, 77, retired from Moody’s faculty after 35 years of faithful service . . .

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I’m (Not) Leavin’ on a Jet Plane

Doc and Anna Bearss never dreamed they’d flee on a rescue helicopter after their recent trip to Haiti Bible Institute.


“Five o'clock came and we heard nothing. It was all quiet. Nothing at five thirty. Six o'clock came, nothing. Seven o'clock came and went. Nothing. All silence,” Jim (“Doc”) Bearss says.

With the coming dawn, Doc, his wife, Anna ’83, and 11 others were losing their chance for a secret helicopter rescue from Haiti.

On February 27, 2024, Doc and Anna had landed in Haiti, ready for the two-week module at Haiti Bible Institute. Everything was going as planned—until . . .

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