New book about International Bible College

Submited by Lyle Esau, M.A.
 
A former resident of Moose Jaw, Lyle Esau, has written a history of International Bible College, a Church of God Bible college, which came to Moose Jaw in 1962.

In 2012, the college closed, due to student enrollment issues. When Lyle came to IBC in 1986, he needed some research material about the college for a history course he had been assigned to teach. Finding none, he wrote his own book.

In 1935, a group of students ventured across the windswept winter prairies to a small school in North Dakota. On their return, they were stranded when their vehicle broke down. The next year, 1936, IBC was founded in the little town of Consul, SK. The following year the college moved to Robsart, not far from Consul. Today Robsart is a ghost town. From there the college moved to a campus in Moose Jaw, then on to an abandoned World War II Air Force training base near Estevan. In 1961, the largest building on that complex, a former aircraft hangar, burned to the ground. The college moved back to Moose Jaw the following year. 

For the duration of IBC’s stay in Moose Jaw, students worked in various businesses throughout the city and served as volunteers in places such as Valley View Centre, Chez Nous Senior Citizens Home and Ina Grafton Gage Home for Seniors, among others. While IBC’s former students have taken up a great number of occupations around the world, some still live in Moose Jaw.

The book is available for purchase through Amazon.ca. Signed copies of the book can obtained by texting the author at 587-253-0128.    

Lyle Esau was a long-term instructor at International Bible College. He holds a Master’s degree from Briercrest Seminary.