August 2026

Greetings in Christ!

It has been an eventful summer and the new school year is right around the corner (New Student Orientation just began!). I am grateful to get to share with you all that the Lord is doing in my family’s life and at Indigenous Bible College. Your prayers for us are greatly valued!

Partnering with Aaron Betselie and Dził Ná’ Odiłii Bible Church

The IBC family has been celebrating the fruit of many years of relational discipleship and spiritual mentoring this summer! On June 28th, Irvinson Jones (IBC Class of 1999) officially handed over the position of shepherding the congregation at Dził Ná’ Odiłii Bible Church to Aaron Betselie (IBC Class of 2025) after many years of mentorship.

A group from IBC traveled to Bloomington, New Mexico to celebrate Aaron’s installment in June, and several staff from the Native Mending the Soul team
returned in August to share about a biblical understanding of trauma, abuse, and healing at the church’s annual camp meeting. We are praising the Lord for Irvinson’s investment in Aaron’s life and leadership, and are thrilled to be able to support Aaron in his new role. Please pray for Aaron as he seeks to be an effective servant leader to this congregation.

Angie Serving at Broken Arrow Bible Ranch

Our youngest daughter Angie spent most of her summer  serving at Broken Arrow Bible Ranch near Gallup, New Mexico. Many past and current students have come to IBC as a result of our friendship with Broken Arrow and several graduates serve there in meaningful ways. You can learn more about it at https://www.brokenarrowbibleranch.org/page/about-babr. It was special to see Angie invest in the camp’s ministry to Native young people. Sarah and I spent many weekends traveling back and forth from Gallup to visit her this summer.

Angie grew spiritually in tremendous ways over the summer, and her heart for Native young people is growing stronger. Please pray for all four of our kids—Abby (19), Lizzy (18), Angie (16), and David (15) that their hearts for the Lord and ministry would continue to deepen.

Vacation & Rest

Sarah and I took some time off in late June and early July. We had some great family time together—including a personal prayer retreat for Sarah in Sedona. We are always grateful for the rhythms of the academic year that allow for some extended sabbath in the summer.

Sarah’s Master’s Program

Sarah began pursuing her master’s in counseling at Colorado Christian University this summer! We traveled to Denver together at the end of July for her first week-long intensive on CCU’s campus. Pray for wisdom and perseverance for Sarah as she begins this exciting and challenging journey. All of our counseling faculty are adjuncts (not full-time at IBC), so having a full time staff member with a master’s degree in counseling will be a significant investment in the wellbeing of our students. Sarah supported me in finishing my doctorate 15 years ago and it is exciting to be supporting her in a similar manner!

Staff Retreat

We had 21 staff members present for our annual staff retreat in Phoenix this year. It was a meaningful time of prayer, conversation, planning and fellowship as we prepared to start the school year with what will likely be IBC’s largest student body ever! Please pray for the IBC staff, all of
whom wear many different hats in service to our students. Pray, too, for the several staff transitions that we are facing in the next year—that God will raise up new staff members to serve at IBC. Pray that God would equip each of us with an abundance of grace, compassion, and love for our students as we begin a new school year.

IBC Finances

After 14 years in a row “in the black” IBC ended the 2025-26 fiscal year about $20K in the red. A full report will be coming out in the Fall newsletter. Please pray for increased financial provision for the college.

Enrollment Growth

The incoming freshman class is a healthy one, consisting of eleven students from three different tribes. This will bring our on-campus student community up to 34, and could bring our total student body – including potential part-time students – up to 50 or more! We are so grateful for the 15 upper-classmen who attended retreat this last weekend to prepare to serve as student leaders! Please pray for all of our students as they get ready to make the transition back into the school year, and for the provision of housing for our growing campus community.

There are many more exciting things coming in the next few months, and I can’t wait to share them with you at the appropriate time! July 1st marked 18 years of our service at IBC for Sarah and me, and we are confident that the best years of IBC are still yet to come!

Gratefully serving Indigenous peoples in partnership with you,

Jason & Sarah Koppen