DIBOR

Sunday night I had the distinct privilege and honor to graduate the first class of DIBOR. Marty, Ephraim, Nate, Michael, Brittney and Sian (left to right, back to front) all completed their first year (DIBOR 1). And this being the first class–the pioneers of the program–I was especially proud.

But another emotion certainly had a prominent place…one of extreme awe: That the Lord would allow me to see such a day. Have you ever had a moment where complete mistakes, or things you never intended to be more than a fleeting thought, became realities? Not to get too sentimental, but my children are like that. Neither of them were “planned” (praise God!) and yet have become the greatest little blessings of my life. When they both were born, I found myself saying (at the risk of letting you all be very sarcastic), “How did this happen?”

When I first came up with the word Dibor, I hardly thought it would go beyond the Word document I was working on, let alone the name of an international school or a title of an actual human being. And when these students first arrived and we were loading mattresses into the church office building, all I could think to myself was, “Why are earth are these people here? Are they crazy? Am I crazy?”

The point being, what truly do we ever intend to be something amazing? What ideas originate in their most infant stage from our own selves? What good really comes from us?

My conclusion: nothing. It all comes from the Father.

Many thanks to my beautiful wife for not only supporting this vision, but for inspiring it to continue. And to all our staff: Brad, Robin, Chrystelle, Pastor David, Pastor Kirk; those who supported from the side lines, J, Jackie, Linda, Christian and our numerous guest speakers; and to Tim Woods who first presented the idea of making real Dibor–thank you, swordbrother. Much love to Joseph and Melinda, our two students who are halfway through their first year, as well as to those Associate Level students who made it through year 1. And finally, my congratulations to Dana and Sarah who graduated from the TYM program. Well done everyone!

Christopher Hopper
President

The long-awaited Dibor promo video is finally here! Of course, it’s understandable as you actually need people to interview who have been through the program. Even though the first year isn’t over, we felt there was enough to promote to constitute a video now. This will be going out with our new brochure. If you or anyone you know is interested in attending, please download the application and send it in! We’re currently recruiting for the September ‘08 semester.

Ever wanted to know what it looks like here at Kirstell, the Dibor Campus in Depauville, NY? Well, Marty and Nate took the time to shoot a little video about their lovely room.

Ahhh…if it was only this beautiful all the time…

(And we love the background music, guys!).

Enjoy!

Greetings from the frozen realm of beautiful northern New York! Christmas and New Year’s passed us with wonder and delight, especially for the first ever Dibor New Year’s Masquerade Ball held at the Lyric in Clayton, NY on December 31st. Brad and Robin Ringer spent most of January ministering in England while Pastor Christopher and the rest of the staff held the fort down, preparing for the 3rd Dibor Conference held this past weekend, January 25th-28th.

Things kicked off Friday afternoon with a screening of The Passion of The Christ (Mel Gibson) over at the Hopper’s residence on their big screen. For one whole hour after, the entire team sat in silence, meditating on one statement: “Jesus did this for me.” After dinner, Jennifer Hopper led the conference in worship followed by a message from Pastor Christopher on having the Father’s heart for the lost. Worship resumed and went until after 11:00pm.

Saturday began with a session on service–but it was not in words, but deeds. The men headed down to serve at the new building project in Watertown while the women stayed and thoroughly cleaned the entire campus.

After lunch, David Lugo shared on personal worship (bringing his marvelous sense of humor) as did Hannah Hayner, one of New Life’s worship leaders. The day ended with a profound and spontaneous open-mic time with the team publicly sharing, confessing and repenting of things God is dealing with in their lives.

With all that done, the stage was set for a powerful Sunday morning service at New Life, the home church for the Dibor Disciples. Pastor Christian Fahey shared a powerful message about living in the inheritance of the Holy Spirit’s power, which in turn ushered the congregation into an extended period of worship and multiple altar calls, all running into the second service! Sunday afternoon was spent back at the Hopper’s where Robin spoke about resisting complacency for the perishing world and Chad Fairchild spoke profoundly on the culturalization of the Gospel (which included story time!). The day concluded with worship and a group re-cap of all the things the Lord was revealing.

Monday morning, Pastor David Hayner, newly retired from over twenty years with the United States Army (congratulations!), brought a riveting message about the “rules of life,” the principles that bring freedom in serving God and others.

This was the largest and most successful of our conferences to date. Many thanks goes to all of those volunteers that helped make it a success, including the members of New Life Christian Church.

We’d also like to give a warm welcome to our two new Resident Level Enrollees, Melinda and Joseph, and our new Associate Level Enrollees, Stephanie and Kelly. We are also very blessed to have Katie Tobin on as Personal Assistant to Robin Ringer. Our team continues to grow, and the dynamic here at the Dibor Campus, now affectionately being referred to as Kirstell, is growing each week. Thanks to all those of you who continue to lift this pioneering work up in prayer.

~Dibor Web Staff~

Welcome to winter in northern New York! At least that’s what the staff has been saying to the international disciples not as familiar with snow (do they get that stuff in Costa Rica and Burma?). While the temperature keeps dropping and the snow keeps falling, the gang has been more than busy with things to keep them warm and lots of exciting news to tell.

DIBOR’s second of five annual conferences was held back in early November. Rich with guest speakers and worship leaders, the four days acted as a diving board, first with a spring upward, and then a deep dive to follow. DIBOR President, Christopher Hopper, began things with a journey into the books that inspired the program, and even more, a journey into his heart, one that desires to see this generation rise as the influencers of culture and protectors of Truth that God has called them to be. Brad Ringer, DIBOR’s Director, used the Sunday evening session to plunge into the taboo realm of purity before God. Needless to say, it was powerful and revealing in so many essential ways.

But the deepest dive of all came on Monday morning when Jennifer Hopper, Mr. Hopper’s wife, shared on the “secret place.” She gave much of her testimony, telling of her first 40-day fast at the age of 15 just to pray for the salvation of perishing souls in her high school. One of the most powerful statements was made when she related a story that happened to her during a large conference in Florida with many well known speakers. God prompted her to step outside and leave the meeting to spend time with Him under the stars. He then simply said to her, “You know, I have many teacher, preachers, pastors and prophets, but I have very few friends.”

From here, Jennifer went into a time of worship, leading us truly into the secret place, encouraging us to take a journey with the Father into paradise, allowing Him to lead us into places of His Spirit that we’ve never been before. It was a precious time in God’s presence,making four hours feel more like four minutes, everyone wanting so much more.

November was also an exciting time of conferences abroad. The disciples traveled to Binghamton, NY as part of a Youth Equipping Weekend hosted by Main Street Baptist Church. It was a full two-days of teaching, testimonies and encouraging area youth and youth leaders in their pursuit of reaching Broome County.

Next, the whole crew left for Saturate ‘07, an international youth conference held at Elim Gospel Church in Lima, NY. It was a wonderful time of “being ministered to,” with powerful times of worship and preaching from Adam McCain, their very own Christopher & Jennifer Hopper, and bands Isaiah 6 and hopeLight.

From there, the team traveled to Liverpool, NY where they ministered at the New York State American Baptist Youth Conference at the Holiday Inn. They had many wonderful opportunities to pray for teens and share their testimonies, including two spontaneous water baptisms in the hotel pool lead by Christopher & Brad! (see photo at right) It was definitely a growing experience for everyone and an amazing opportunity to be used by the Lord in ministry to others. (We also celebrated Marty’s birthday party: pictured left).

Most recently the disciples enjoyed an unexpected blessing of a “kitchen shower.” No, the kitchen on Campus didn’t get a wash-down (although it wouldn’t hurt!), but it was lacking some odds-and-ends to make mass-meal-making a little more viable. So a number of women from New Life Christian Church got together and threw the disciples a kitchen shower full of much-needed (and appreciated) gifts. From pots and bowls to spices and cloth napkins, the ladies lavished a bounty of cooking aid on the team. There were many smiles and laughs all around, even room for some powerful testimonies!

Last night we had an accident among the team. But God is faithful! No one was hurt, save for a beat up old Chevy Lumina. Marty was on his way to pick up some team members at the campus for their weekly Tuesday night host-family dinner. But heavy snow and ice made the roads very slick. While doing about 40-mph, a deer crossed in front of him and he swerved. Normally, it would have probably been fine, but the road conditions sent the car into the ditch where it flipped.

Miraculously he was unharmed and able to call us in for support. A farmer in a tractor even stopped to see if he was OK. But the car was not: smashed windshield, a severely bent axle and general body damage. Needless to say we are very grateful to the Lord for His mercy on Marty as it could have been much worse.

Thanks for all your continued prayers from around the globe!

Every Tuesday morning at 7:00 AM, Dibor Disciples have First Principle Devotions. Lead by one of the Dibor staff members.

This past Tuesday October 2nd, Brad Ringer taught about “Service” and our motivations behind it. Because if Christ is not our motivation in service, it can quickly turn ungodly, and peoples needs are not met. Creating bittenerness in other peoples hearts and ungratefulness.

Cluster