We hope this finds you well! After a wonderful Easter weekend, we were thrilled to all make it to Spring Break this week! We have been ready for some rest and good family time. But there’s big news this week to share on a few fronts, and we continue to be amazed by how God is working through our students!
IGSL’s vision has always been to see our graduates impact their spheres of influence for Christ’s kingdom. The Armed Forces of the Philippines, with long struggles with corruption, has recognized that our graduates are leaders of character and moral integrity; thus, they send us some of their up-and-coming officers for our MA in Transformational Leadership. After ten years we now have 26 graduates in the Philippine Army, Navy, and Air Force!
Two years ago, the Philippines Air Force added to their officer training school, a special leadership development unit called the Aviation Leadership and Excellence Nexus (ALEN). A team including recent IGSL graduate Major Meanne Vinas, continued to press until the Leadership Forum became a reality in November. Former Air Force commanders shared their insights on leadership as did one of our IGSL colleagues (see below) who shared a biblically based framework of servant leadership modeled on Jesus Christ as well as his own personal testimony. The event included 1,200 personnel across the nation. This first-ever forum was considered a breakthrough success.
Major Vinas had a great vision for this, but it started as her proposal for her IGSL senior capstone project. She has a heart to see the Air Force glorify God in both character and excellence and she went above and beyond. She wrote, “I feel like I have a front row seat watching God at work changing the Philippine Air Force! We are trusting God for the next steps.”
I remember first meeting Major Vinas when she audited one of my classes when she was deciding whether to attend IGSL or not. I was trying something new that day and I was walking through the Lord’s prayer as a framework contrasting worldly systems of leadership with leadership grounded in God’s Kingdom. She told me just before her graduation that that class was a big part of her choosing to come to IGSL and it’s so fun to see God use her to influence the Air Force, but also see her growing personal ministry of small groups that began just by having “zoom coffee time” with peers during the pandemic. She took PIM with Christine as well! Keep praying for her and for our other alumni representing Christ throughout the Armed Forces of the Philippines!
God Bless!
Brian & Christine