Happy “official” summer!
It has been said that the test of the health of a higher education institution is the level of activity on campus when classes are not in session. In other words: How active is your school evenings, weekends, and during the summer? When I arrived to the Indian Bible College six years ago (July 2008) the campus was “dead” after hours and on weekends. In the summer there was, on average, two works teams and little else happening.
This summer we are seeing more activity then ever: we have about one-third of our student body staying on campus(most of them to work), our first summer school class (with six students), seven work teams (the first arrives next week) helping with work projects and community outreach (kids clubs for our multi-ethnic neighborhood; this is new this summer), and a weekly Praise & Prayer night for students, cell church members, and work teams. This is creating a level of activity and excitement we’ve never seen here in summer before! Please pray for the students that are staying on campus this summer (most of them to work) that they would use their time well and continue to grow. Pray, also, for the community outreach the cell church is doing with the work teams.
One of my favorite things to do is to perform weddings; tomorrow (Friday) I will perform my 12th wedding ceremony and first for a couple that is already legally married! They are a young Navajo couple with two children that were married by a justice of the peace years ago but want to make a witness for Christ to their family and friends. Please pray that my leadership tomorrow would be clearly reflect Christ to all those present.
Would you also pray for my writing project this summer? When I wrote the discipleship materials IBC uses through my doctoral dissertation I committed to redesigning them for local church use some day. There are more requests for these materials than ever before and I really need to accomplish this over the next month (in the midst of all the other summer activity!) Pray for wisdom in blocking out the time to get it done.
Most of you should have received my summer prayer letter; I have attached it in case anyone did not receive it (or in case you would like to pass it on to others). Thank you for standing with us in prayer and financial support,
Jason & family