“We realized that we couldn’t just walk away from these teachers after seeing them one time,” says ISPs Founding Director Blair. “We had to somehow help these people.”

As the CoMission was drawing to a close in 1996, most people assumed that International School Project (ISP) Convocations would also be finished. But there were still more than 60 Convocation cities that had not yet been reached with follow-up.

Some of the ISP leaders met at a retreat site to discuss the future of the project. “We felt like God had individually (and then together) burdened us that we had to continue ISP,” says Pat T. “It was a burden that the Holy Spirit laid on our hearts.”

Will ISP Continue?

It was during one of those “last” Convocation trips in Fall of 1996 that the ISP leadership faced a grim reality: They didn’t have the funds and thus ISP was officially ending. In fact, the ISP staff and key national partners had an elaborate celebratory banquet during that “final” trip to Irkutsk and Angarsk. The ISP staff estimated that they needed to raise at least $100,000 by December of 1996 in order to follow up the remaining cities.

“There were people weeping,” says Blair, as he recalled the meeting during that trip where they told the team of 57 people that the International School Project was ending. Key volunteers, who had participated on the early teams, begged ISP to continue.

One couple who were part of the Irkutsk/Angarsk trip pledged a significant amount of the money anonymously. Blair recalls, “They told me privately that they would commit to a matching fund of $50,000, but ISP had to come up with commitments for the other $50,000.” By the end of that trip, the entire $100,000 had been pledged.

As a result of the faithfulness and generosity of key volunteers, and the faith to believe God was not finished with ISP, more than 103,000 teachers have been reached with the gospel message since 1991.

Will you partner with us?

We reflect upon God’s goodness to ISP during the past 30 years, and we also rejoice in the opportunities He continues to give us. Just as our volunteers were largely responsible for helping ISP continue in 1996, we invite you to partner with us today to equip future generations with the gospel.

What will your legacy be?

“Why We Put ISP in our Trust”

“One of the few experiences comparable to the joy of leading someone to Christ is the joy of making ‘eternity-impacting’ choices with God’s money,” states Randy Alcorn in his book The Law of Rewards. “Both are what we were made for.”

“When we give to ISP,” says ISP alumnus Vance Simonds and his wife Candy, “we receive both these types of joy. We know of no other mission work that so effectively ‘leverages’ the spread of the Gospel. ISP reaches teachers who reach tomorrow’s generation of kids.”

For more information about putting ISP in your will, contact ISP Development Director, Lynn Dobosy.

Next stop: What happened when ISP went back to the more than 60 cities?