Dear Friends,

For years now we have sought to be a school full of Christ’s grace and truth (John 1:14).  But how do we know if students are perceiving and embracing this?  Two weeks ago we had a chapel for confession and repentance and were amazed at the response!  Chapel normally goes 65-75 minutes; this chapel lasted 2.5 hours!  Ten students and one staff member shared their struggles and sins with the whole school; after each person we gathered around them and prayed for them.  The amazing thing about all this is that it is culturally inappropriate for Native people to reveal vulnerability; for these students to be this open and honest requires tremendous courage and willingness to pay any price to be whom Jesus wants them to be!

 

Our students recently spent a week on the annual Ministry Immersion Trip; 20 students went to Phoenix (with ministryon the Gila River and Pima reservations) and eight students went to New Mexico (with service on the Navajo and Zuni reservations).  The results were fantastic!  Seven Navajo teenagers trusted Christ through the students’ ministry in Window Rock (the Navajo Nation capital); numerous churches and missionaries were very encouraged.  Many had never had a missions team of Native Americans come before; they’d had White and Korean teams but not Native.  The local leaders were amazed at the maturity of the students, as were the staff that were with the students on the trips.

 

Some Prayer Requests:

  • Our family is working with a group of students to plant a church and we have decided to formally “inaugurate” our commitment to each other as a local church on Easter Sunday.  Please pray for the Lord’s blessing on this new little cell church plant.
  •       We have SIX prospective new staff that are hoping to arrive this summer, two full-time and four part-time(“Associate Staff”).  It is clear that the Lord is staffing the school for further growth! Please pray for wisdom as we continue to interview these men and women and to make plans for how to see them fit in to the growth of the school.  Pray too that the Lord would fund the school for further growth.
  • Sarah is doing a Mending the Soul abuse recovery group with two Native ladies that have endured deep and profound emotional and spiritual trauma; please pray for Sarah and her work with the two wounded ladies.  Pray also for myself as I am going through the process with two other staff men, preparing to offer it for male students in the Fall.

I have never seen lives changed at the rate and depth as here at IBC—thank you for being a part of it with your prayers and financial support!

The Koppens (Jason, Sarah, Abby, Lizzy, Angie, and David)

P.S. During the Ministry Immersion Trip and Spring Break weeks some of the staff did a lot of work on accreditation.  One of the exercises we did was to go through every part of IBC’s ministry and identify how it all fits with our mission and goals.