Dear friends of the Indian Bible College,
I’m writing this on my way home from the annual conference of the Association for Biblical Higher Education (www.abhe.org) in Orlando. Over the last two days I sat with several Bible college presidents who are facing significant obstacles, hardships, and transition in their leadership. It was a stark reminder of the challenges that many Bible college leaders face (and I have occasionally endured); it also made me incredibly grateful to be in a season of relative stability and institutional health.

Since the beginning of the year I’ve spent quite a bit of time in day-long meetings: the board meeting for American Indian Missions (www.aimi.org) on January 14, the IBC board meeting on January 27, and the evaluation review of the Association of North American Missions (www.anamissions.org) on February 10. I am one of the “weirdos” who enjoys these kinds of meetings. It is truly beautiful the way the Spirit leads a group of men and women who are humbly seeking His direction, so it is a privilege to work collaboratively with godly and wise leaders in accomplishing the mission of training Native Americans for ministry.

Thank you for your prayers for enrollment: all 26 full-time IBC students returned this semester and three new students (pictured above) have joined, which puts us up to 29 on-campus students—the highest residential student body in four years. Enrollment has fully recovered from the negative effects of COVID! We have 14 names on our prospect list for Fall! Keep praying for the Lord to call more men and women to pursue an education at IBC.

The annual Ministry Immersion Trip is heading to serve on two reservations in South Dakota in late March. Would you pray for the Lord’s blessing upon the preparations for this important opportunity? Please pray, too, for transportation for this trip; IBC has had two vans go down in the last few months with mechanical problems. AND we recently had another vehicle totalled in an accident on I-40 (the three female occupants were miraculously protected). So we are seeking the Lord’s direction and provision for affordable means to get the student body to and from South Dakota.

Continue to pray with us for the Lord’s provision for an Academic Dean. Our current interim Dean will be stepping back to an adjunct faculty role in June, and I’ll be reassuming the position (for the fourth time) as we seek the Lord’s solution for a long-term leader in the Academic Department.

As you probably know, IBC’s last two campus expansions have added facilities that are not adjacent to the rest of campus. The picture on the left shows a recent chapel service in the Student Center, purchased in 2018. We now need to buy some homes to add housing and tie our campus together. In the fall we approached the owners of the six homes we would like to buy and none of them have an interest in selling. Please pray with us for the Lord to move the hearts of these owners so that they would be willing to sell. We’ll need several of them to reach our goal of “75 by ‘25”.

Sarah and I are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and prayers for our oldest daughter Abby and her health challenges (undiagnosed abdominal pain for almost four years). The last treatment path (liver issues) has had no effect, so we’re on to the next possibility (partial blockage of blood vessels). Please keep standing with us in prayer as we seek answers and remedy for this ongoing physical condition.

I often include a family picture in these updates; the picture above shows our family with the Bigman family (Business Administrator Luckie, Director of Hospitality Lanora, and their two children Camron and Madison) on a recent trip to visit a supporting church in Colorado. Sarah and I are so blessed to share life and ministry with dear friends like these, and we hope and plan to continue to do so the rest of our lives. Please continue to pray for all the IBC staff—for unity, endurance, and financial provision. I would love to answer any questions you have about how to partner further in the important work here.

As always, we are gratefully serving Christ by serving Native Americans—and grateful for your partnership,
Jason & Sarah, with Abby, Lizzy, Angie, and David Koppen.