October 2026

Greetings in Christ!

What a Fall semester we’re having! There are so many praises to share!

For the first time in school history IBC has more than 50 students! With 34 traditional on-campus students and 20 part-time (mostly nline) students, we have 54 total students on the roster this year. And we are anticipating seven bachelors graduates in May, which would be the most ever in school
history. Thank you for all your prayers for recruitment and enrollment over the last several years.

We also were just approved by NC-SARA (National Council of the State Authorization reciprocity Agreement) to offer online education in an additional 47 states, meaning that in January we’ll be able to offer our online part-time program to many more students!

I had a long but joyful trip September 21st-October 4th, visiting some of IBC’s partners in the Midwest and along the east coast. I first flew to Minnesota to serve another school in our association on an accreditation site team. Then, I rented a car and drove over 2,200 miles between Minnesota and Florida over the next seven days (you can see the route here) and was joined by Sarah in Michigan and our kids in Florida. We had the privilege of visiting a number of IBC’s longtime partners – including individuals, churches and organizations – and spendin time with new friends of the school. The long days of driving were tiring, but the time spent with these brothers and sisters was deeply encouraging. We even got to see the Detroit Tigers play a historic game at their stadium in Michigan!

We were especially grateful for the opportunity to visit Grace Church in Norton, Ohio for the first time. This church has been partnering with IBC for the past three years, sending work teams to campus and supporting Roger Scarbro, who serves on IBC’s Alumni Relations Team. We enjoyed seeing familiar faces from past work teams and meeting the church’s staff and congregation across the four services that Sunday. Adam Speas – who serves as a pastor at the Norton campus and as a member of IBC’s Board of Trustees – helped to film two videos highlighting IBC to share with the rest of the Grace Church community (you can view my interview with Adam here). The trip ended with the President’s Conference for our association https://www.abhe.org/), which was very helpful in my personal growth and professional development.

Just yesterday we wrapped up our Fall Conference on Christ and Culture (pictures above). It was a real blessing to have the assistance and participation of guests from across the U.S. and Canada. Wednesday’s chapel had over 80 people in attendance!

Finally, here is the best “new news”: we are buying one of the neighboring homes! See this letter for more information—and a link to a fun video highlighting this answer to prayer!

What an amazing time it is at IBC! And what a blessing it is to have you as partners with us—thank you!

Overwhelmed with gratitude,

Jason Koppen
IBC’s Chief Servant