When NAIITS launched a partnership with Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., part of its ongoing goal was to encourage graduate-level education among native Christian leaders.

NAIITS chair Terry LeBlanc, national ministries director of My People International, told "Charisma" magazine in the June issue, out now, that the partnership is building "a theological foundation for the visioning of new mission paradigms to reach indigenous peoples with the gospel."

LeBlanc, who is of Mi'kmaq and Acadian descent, has been working on a doctorate in intercultural studies at Asbury for the last two years. His daughter, Jeanine LeBlanc, is also there, working on a Master of Divinity degree.

"As the center of gravity in the Christian world shifts, indigenous peoples long excluded as contributors to the church's understanding of the nature of the kingdom, community, mission and family are now coming to the forefront in our Western institutions," Richard Twiss, a Rosebud Lakota who is pursuing a doctoral degree in missiology at Asbury, said. The full report on North American seminaries and First Nations leaders can be found in "Charisma."

The students currently in the Asbury program are all involved in mission outreaches in North America and abroad. As president of Wiconi International, Twiss is involved in international evangelistic teams and has traveled to Pakistan, China, France, Germany, Tibet, Argentina and Peru.

Darrell Whiteman, Ph.D., dean of the E. Stanley Jones School of World Missions, said Asbury's commitment to training indigenous church leaders is based on "this being a 'kairos time' in church history and reflects [the school's] willingness to help create genuine partnerships with First Nations leaders as a response to this 'appointed time.'"