Spring Update 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s hard to believe that another school year is coming to a close. This completes our fourth year at ICS in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. In the past four years, we have seen God do some incredible things at our school, and we praise God continually for what He has done and is continuing to do in our ministry and in our lives.

This year, I (Jason) once again led the school mission trip to the Philippines. We took a group of 10 students and 3 adults, and it was an absolutely incredible trip. One of our freshmen, Sara Bae, came to know Christ as her Lord and Savior on that trip. All of us were impacted by a new understanding of God’s grace, as well as through the relationships we built there with the Filipino people. To hear a sermon I preached about our trip, go to this website: http://www.songtanbaptist.com/2014/04/06/the-thing-about-mission-trips-2/

This year was also a year of shaking off spiritual apathy. In a school where Bible is a class and the Gospel is preached all the time, it is common for students to become numb to hearing God’s Word. Recently, however, many students have been starting to ask questions about their lives, their beliefs, what they’re living for, who they are, and other questions of that nature. It is as though they are finally awakening to the fact that the world is not as it should be, and there is something they are missing that they can’t find in their grades, their friends, or their entertainment. It is our hope and prayer that they continue to ask these questions and genuinely seek answers, in order that they may have an encounter with the true Living God.

One major praise we have this year is the hiring of a new school director, Mr. Robert Newman. Mr. Newman has been serving as the director of the NICS school in Kabul, Afghanistan, and has decided to transfer to our school next year to serve as our director. He has already been working with the leadership team to start new initiatives and make improvements to our school’s academic program. We are all very excited that he is joining us. He has a lot of passion and great vision, and is eager to serve the Lord here in Korea. Please pray for him as he and his wife, Cynthia, make the transition to South Korea this summer.

As many of you know, we have had a recent addition to our family. Ethan Matthew Lantz was born on February 8, 2014. He has been such a joy to us. We have been adjusting well to becoming a family of four, but please continue to pray for us as we learn how to raise two children while still remaining active in our ministry at the school.

Finally, we continue to give thanks to you, our brothers and sisters in Christ. You have been such an encouragement to us. Your prayers, your emails and facebook messages, your care packages, have lifted our spirits and helped us to continue working hard in our ministry. Your financial support has been a huge blessing to us and has allowed us to bless others as well. We are truly grateful to have such a wonderful church family. We will be traveling to the U.S. this summer, and we would love to meet with you and share more about what we are doing, as well as encourage you in your daily lives. We will be in Indiana in mid-June, and we will be in Ohio towards the end of June and into July. Please don’t hesitate to send us an email to let us know how we can be in touch this summer. You can email us at jasonlantz@icsptk.org

Blessings in Christ,

Jason, Gail, Isaac, and Ethan Lantz