Institute for Global Opportunities

IGo Ministry trips: Did they change my life? More than I can ever say in a brief paragraph! For me, it was getting out of my safe little comfort zone and gaining a new perspective of what life on earth is really about. It was experiencing the joy and passion that was so alive among many of the Asian Christians and so absent in many North-American Anabaptists. It was going into places where the gospel hadn’t ever been taught. It was being with people that had absolutely nothing, yet showed unlimited hospitability to us.

Over the past few months we have produced a DVD which summarizes the development and implementation of our calling. From the establishment of the Institute in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to our mission experiences across Southeast Asia, this DVD will explain to you how and why we do what we do.

From the beginning IGo has envisioned not just teaching and training for missions, but to also be actively involved in missions/church planting as God leads. We have been taking the gospel to the Lisu Tribal village of Pang Klang for the past year and a half. Now, we have a former IGo student and his wife coming to proceed with the actual church plant. God has provided property for them to build a house on, but funds are needed to build the house. A typical shelter in Pang Klang costs $6,000-7,000 to build.

To summarize, the long-term team members based here in China were very impressed with both of the (IGo) teams who came to us from Chiang Mai. Throughout the two week Summer School all of them were fully committed to the teaching programme and enthusiatic to spend time with their Chinese students outside of the classroom. To be honest, it would seem that the general character of those within the Mennonite movement is ideally suited to living and working in China!

IGo’s four-floor training center

will include first floor administrative offices, a dining hall and kitchen, a second floor chapel and faculty offices, a third floor classroom, staff apartment and library, and fourth floor men’s and women’s dorms.

Give of Your Best to the Master

Howard Grose penned the words of this dynamic poem:
an articulate, convicting call upon the church to give of its best.

Have you ever read a book that has changed your life? Or used a reference work that has deepened your appreciation for the Word of God? An integral part of a Bible institute is a good library, stocked with books that will assist the students in their studies, challenge them in their personal lives, and most importantly, help them grow in their relationship with God. If well chosen, the library does not need to be large, but a good selection (variety and choice of books) helps adds perspective to the study experience.

Vibrancy. Vitality. Vision. These are words that describe Krystal Yoder. Krystal was born to Vernon and Fannie Mae Byler in Northern Minnesota in 1959. She was raised there and married Val Yoder in 1979.

Val and Krystal faithfully served the Lord as the Pastor of the Kitchi Pines Mennonite Church near Blackduck, Minnesota. Later the Lord opened the doors for them to serve as administrator of Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute in Harrisonville, PA.

The Kingdom of Thailand, previously known as Siam, is situated in the heart of Southeast Asia with Bangkok as its capital city. It shares a border with Burma to the east, Laos to the northeast, Cambodia to the west, and Malaysia to the south. Thailand is around 198,114 square miles, or roughly the size of the state of Texas. The country is divided into four natural regions: the north, northeast, the central plain, and the south. The north is a mountainous region comprised of ridges, natural forest, and deep, narrow alluvial valleys.