After a couple of years of relative dormancy in the progress of the ministry of Northern Plains Bbiblical Seminary (NPBS) there has been significant activity and forward progress in the seminary's life and ministry. At the beginning of 2010, two dramatic events occurred to indicate that God was moving the ministry of NPBS forward. Dr. Jon Hanson, retired from his position as the Director of the Agricultural Research Service Laboratory in Mandan and began to make good on his commitment of several years to devote significant amounts of to the NPBS ministry. At about the same time, Dr. Lucas Kavlie made contact with Pastor Terry Kern (President of NPBS). Dr. Kavlie grew up in Bismarck and spent a significant amount of time in his growing up years in various aspects of First Evangelical Free Church's ministries. Dr. Kavlie is now Director of Accreditation at Moody Bible Institute and Seminary in Chicago. He had been home over the Christmas break and heard of our interest in starting a seminary. He called to see if there was any possibility that we would be interested in a partnership with Moody. We were immediately interested and excited; we replied that we would love to pursue such a possibility and see what God has in in store for this venture.