Dear friends,

First of all, let me share that the Lord has answered your prayers for an Academic Dean! Just last week Gene Stevenson was offered–and accepted–the role of Academic Dean. He is in his late-30’s, is pursuing his doctorate, and has a great passion for cross-cultural ministry–and a growing burden for Native Americans. Gene is moving to Flagstaff next month with his wife Bethanie and three children, and will be part-time the first year as he raises his support. Would you pray for Gene and his family as begin raising financial support to join the staff, and for their preparations to move to Flagstaff? Thank you for diligently praying with us for the Lord to meet this need, and praise God for His provision!

IBC is “down to the wire” in our last week of the school year. Today and tomorrow students are taking finals, turning in their papers and projects, and completing course evaluations. Thursday is Graduation Prep Day where the prospective graduates confirm their readiness to “walk” in commencement on Saturday. We have 21 students on pace to graduate on Saturday: 10 certificates, 5 associates, and 6 bachelors. Due to the fact that our degrees are progressive, most of the certificate and associate graduates will go on towards the next degree, but we want to celebrate each of the benchmarks of faithfulness along the way. Would you pray for these 21 students that they would each finish strong?

At the end of the day Thursday we have our traditional Bachelor’s Dinner, where the entire staff and students celebrate those who have gone all the way to completion of their bachelors degree. The SIX bachelor graduates this year are the most ever in the history of the school. I’ve had them in my Senior Seminar class this semester, discussing difficult ministry questions and preparing them to write their senior thesis, and I have been very impressed by their wisdom, courage, humility, and–most of all- by their love for Jesus and for people. Would you pray specifically for these six students and for the Lord’s lead in their lives as they are launching out into ministry and leadership?

Above is the invitation to the four events that are happening this weekend–and we also have an alumni breakfast Saturday morning!. This is the biggest weekend of the IBC year, with 180 people expected for the Graduate Lunch and 300 people for Commencement. Please join us if you can, but regardless would you pray with us that the Lord is glorified through everything that takes place and that everyone in attendance is drawn towards faith in and obedience towards Him?

Finally, I want to ask you to pray for our accreditation progress. Two years ago, immediately after receiving Candidate Status with ABHE in February 2017 we discovered we had to be state authorized to get the identification number (OPE) for Title IV funding–AND that the state of Arizona didn’t do that for schools like ours. It took a full year to get the state law changed (April 2017 to April 2018). It has taken another year to be ready to be considered for authorization. After working extremely hard to submit all the documents for our application for state authorization in February of this year (in time to be on the agenda at the May 23rd meeting of the Arizona State Board meeting for Private Postsecondary Education; https://ppse.az.gov/), the state board came back just last week with a significant number policy edits for us to complete. I and two other staff worked through the weekend and are working long days right now to get these changes made in time to still be considered by the state board this month–and avoid any further delays. Would you pray for this process and for a favorable response from the state on the 23rd? What a journey this has been!

Thank you for being a part of all that is taking place this week through your prayers and financial support. You are an important part of the IBC team that makes it possible for us to give these students a quality transformational education and to graduate them debt free!!

Dr. Jason Koppen
President
Indian Bible College