May 2024

We’re almost there! Commencement is scheduled for May 18th at 2 p.m. PST. If you would like to join our live stream, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30AqdbOKYwY.

Two students are graduating with their bachelor’s degrees. Both have taken music at IBC, so I had the opportunity to spend one on-one-time with them. I featured Mikal a few months back. I have a great deal of respect for these two men! What a privilege it has been to watch them grow during their years at IBC! They are both hard workers and have great potential as strong influencers for Jesus.

 

Photos courtesy of Daniel Esplin

Mikal is Hopi and Kornell is Navajo. After graduation Mikal plans to continue working with youth at the Flagstaff high school dorm for Native kids where he is currently serving. He would also like to assist another IBC graduate who is working with youth among his own people, the Zuni. Kornell is committed to continuing to serve at IBC in the maintenance department for at least the next two years. Our facilities and streets have never looked as good as they do now under his oversight!

Please join us in praying for all the graduates, including those receiving one-year certificates and two year associates. Thank you.

Also attached is a page-and-a-half report from the participants in the ministry trips last month, in case you would like more information from the students themselves.

Thank you for reading and praying!

Gratefully,

Martha

Spring 2024 IBC Trip Highlights
Ministry Immersion Trip to White Mountain Apache

• One student served as a teacher’s assistant, which “confirmed why she’s at IBC… to someday be an art teacher on the Rez, understanding the youth’s lives and sharing the gospel with them.”
• Several students served at “The Kennel” – a place for Apache youth to hang out and have fun. Some of the teens they met are not believers and most have gone through rough stuff in life. An IBC student shared how moved she was by the opportunities to share truths from the Word of God and to encourage them. She said, “a small mustard seed was planted and I was amazed at how God’s Word came alive for me and that the Spirit prompted me to share different things.”
• A few of the students had opportunities to teach at church services, for communion and at a worship night. One IBC student said, “I knew there was an unbeliever in the worship service, so when I shared my testimony of coming to know Jesus, I felt it was a message for that teen.”
• All the students on the MIT seemed to be vessels being used by God and pursuing God and His Word.
• On this trip, an IBC graduate staff member returned to her home where she said, “it was good to be back home and it felt peaceful since I was there with the IBC family. God allowed me to be excited to be home at this time and I cried for my people every day hoping that the Lord was working in their lives to bring them hope.” This graduate has a renewed vision for returning home to minister to her people someday.

Northwest Tour to NV, CA, OR, WA, MT, and ID

• An IBC graduate shared how it was hard for him to be back where he grew up, but he was there to see his son and this time saw himself as the NEW person in Christ, not who he was when growing up. The team went to the Nez Perce Rez (Idaho), where his auntie and cousins surprisingly all came. His family is very “traditional” in their beliefs (not Christian), but his aunt was impacted by his testimony. Afterwards, she was crying and hugging him saying she was sorry. She said she wished she would have done something about the abuse. What an answer to prayer for the opportunity to make amends with family members. On this trip he became clearly burdened by the needs of his people.
• One student shared how through this trip and the opportunities to share with dozens of people where God has brought him from, he was moved to stack memorial stones on the ocean beach.
• While in Oregon after a church service, a student was surprised to meet a lady from New Mexico, the state where she comes from. She was able to encourage that woman who was missing home. This student also shared how God used a song to remind her of the many opportunities the Lord has given her, as well as His faithfulness, and to give her a continued burden for her family members who don’t yet have a joyful life (not Christians). She cried a lot about her family, since she’s a first-generation believer.
• “It was a joy to meet so many of the IBC donors and prayer warriors, as well as to learn a lot, share many fun moments, and hear each other’s stories of what they’ve gone through to get to this place right now.” God changed students’ lives through this trip.
• An IBC graduate and current staff member said she was excited to see how much the students are persevering and the joy the Lord has given them. Seeing the faithfulness of God for IBC and in the students’ lives was powerful. She also met several women who shared stories of healing and joy in their history of trauma.