Dear friends of IBC,
The first week of school is completed and we are up and running! Read on for pictures & paragraphs highlighting the start of the year—with lots to pray for!
All of IBC’s 22 staff (most of whom are part-time; pictured above) were able to be a part of the annual Staff Retreat in Prescott August 7- 10. It was a very meaningful time of prayer, planning, team-building, and policy work. I am so incredibly grateful for these folks—12 of whom are Native American and all of whom serve at great sacrifice! Please join me in praying for these amazing staff.
One of the best developments this summer was IBC graduate Joshua Ortiz taking the Dean of Men position from Josh Manning, allowing him to take the Academic Dean role. THANK YOU for all your prayers in recent years for the Lord’s choice for IBC’s Academic Dean; Josh has only had the title for two months and he is already doing a great job and is freeing me up to be a more effective college president (and pastor and husband and father). Praise the Lord! Please continue to pray with me for Josh and Joshua in their new roles—and for the other staff that are affected by this change.
The Advanced Discipleship class began on August 22. Four new student leaders participated in the first part of the course and were later joined by all the “veteran” student leaders for the one night retreat August 26-27. The picture above is the Student Life staff and student leaders at the retreat. Please pray for these student leaders as they seek to minister like Jesus to their peers—and to each other.
We started the semester with 44 students on the roster: 22 full-time students and 22 part-time. Most of the part-time students are attending class online via Zoom from around the country. The eight full-time students in New Student Orientation are pictured to the right. The three young men on the left (Carter, Andrew, AJ) are brand new to IBC; the lady in the middle (Mildred) went from part-time to full-time, and the four men on the right (Kai, Kyle, Roman, and Micah) have all returned to IBC after months or years away. The middle six are Navajo; Carter and Micah are Apache. Please be praying for all 44 IBC students—but especially these eight!
On September 3rd I emceed “Orientation Chapel”—the first chapel of the year—where we review and remind ourselves of the institutional goals. See picture to the left—which is timely because Saturday was World Beard Day! The beard is for my wife Sarah, who loves the “Viking Mountain Man” look.
I’d encourage you to follow the school on Facebook, Instagram, and/or YouTube. Thanks to a student employee, IBC’s social media is WAY more active than ever before, and we have some student/graduate testimonial videos coming to our YouTube channel in the coming months.
If you’ve come by IBC’s campus any time in the last 5 years you’ve almost certainly been greeted by Bob Richardson, IBC’s Office Manager. Bob has served at IBC as a full-time volunteer for 15 years. He is currently fighting cancer, and it isn’t going really well. He has scaled his hours back to just two afternoons a week. We recently celebrated his birthday as a part of New Student Orientation (pictured above). Please pray for complete healing for Bob.
A partner Native American ministry recently closed their program and merged with another cooperating organization. The hope is to develop a gap year program for Native Americans on their campus (near the Four Corners area), and I’ve been asked to spearhead the “Ministry Council” that would design this program. Please pray for these efforts, especially for unity and clarity for the 10 people from various ministries that are meeting via Zoom to discern the Lord’s direction for this much-needed new program.
After two years of architectural design and editorial requirements from the city we FINALLY have approved plans for the remodeling of the Fitness Center
(the outbuilding of the Student Center facility; pictured above.) Now we can get to work! We need skilled volunteers (especially electricians) to help make the renovations. Contact me if you or your church can come help.
One final picture before we’re done. The picture to the left is a “picture of four presidents.” Can you guess why? Aaron (far left) was last year’s student body president, and Kyon (far right) is this year’s student body president. And Abby is the student body president at Flagstaff Christian School this year! I’m a proud papa! Please pray for these two Navajo men who are in their last year as IBC students, and please pray for healing for Abby as she is in her last year of high school (and taking three college classes).
Thank you for your partnership with us in prayer and, for many of you, in financial support and volunteer help. We are so blessed to have you walking with us as we train Native leaders for Native (and global) ministry.
Gratefully serving Jesus by serving Native Americans,
The Koppens (Jason, Sarah, Abby, Lizzy, Angie, and David)
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