Making the World Feel at Home
1.13 million international students study in the US. Up to 75% are never invited into an American home. 80% lose their faith within a year of returning home. We welcome international students into genuine friendship with believers — and equip those who encounter faith to become leaders in their home countries.
"When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself." — Leviticus 19:33-34
International students are not random visitors. 67% come from countries where Christians face persecution. 41% come from nations where the vast majority has never heard the gospel. They come to us — the largest voluntary migration of educated young people in human history.
This is not a hospitality program. It is a frontier missions strategy operating on American campuses.
"Every year students come from around the globe to study in the US. As we develop friendships with these future leaders and executives, we have an opportunity to reach our world for Christ." — Billy Graham
Three Metrics That Matter
We connect international students with the Church, invite them into genuine friendship with believers, and equip them to return to their home countries as influential leaders who integrate faith into their work.
Students connected to the Church through genuine friendship
Students equipped through discipleship and faith & work integration
Graduates sustaining faith and leading in their home countries
From welcome to worldwide leadership
Every international student walks through a journey. We meet them at each stage — and measure what works.
FY25 pipeline — 6.4% reach-to-empower rate. Individual student tracking begins Fall 2026.
Year 1 → Year 3
10-Year North Star
Scaling from 11K to 200K requires innovations we haven't proven yet. We're transparent about that.
87 Alumni, 30 Years
What Students Say
"Before IFI, I had been in America for two years and never once been invited into an American's home."
— Student from East Asia
"I was a new believer who accepted the Lord as my savior for a few months. It was a very blessed year for me and it was crucial to build the foundation of my faith."
— X.T., ISEED alumni, East Asia
"Even today as a full-time worker living in Asia, He is building the bridge of peace! So many doors have opened up."
— Y.I., ISEED alumni, 15 years in cross-cultural work
47 years of faithful work. Now, a plan to prove it works.
Does hospitality lead to faith? Does faith survive the trip home? Can volunteer-led ministry match staff-led quality? We tested all 8 of our assumptions against 245 sources and 238 million words of missions research. The honest answer: no one in the field has proven these yet. So we're running the studies ourselves.
Faith Retention
Survey 100–200 alumni to verify the 80% attrition claim
Volunteer Quality
Compare outcomes at 3 volunteer-led vs. 3 staff-led sites
Church Sustainability
Determine if churches maintain ISM engagement after 6 months
Hub Viability
10 members in 6 months or pause expansion
Four tests. Four decisions. This is how we earn trust — by proving what works and admitting what we don't know yet.
Your Gift, Their Future
Every dollar goes further because we measure what works and stop what doesn't.
First meal, first friendship, first belonging
Discipleship, training, and send-off preparation
A Faith & Work Hub in a home country — sustaining faith after return
Institutional partners: ask about our three fundable packages — $150K Welcome Pipeline, $100K Faith & Work Integration, $100K Hub Expansion.
Why Friendship — Not Programs — Changes Everything
The research is clear: belonging predicts faith retention, and friendship is the vehicle. Serving food to students isn't friendship. Sharing meals with them is.
to become casual friends
to become close friends
the window — first semester is critical
without contact, relationships drop 2 layers
Hall 2019, Dunbar 2015, Hall & Davis 2017
What We've Built
Every tool here was built with ministry workers and shaped by their feedback. Try them yourself.
Loading tools...
The only ISM organization that builds the full pipeline.
Run 4 validation tests. Track individual students for the first time. Grow to $450K and prove what works.
11,000 students welcomed. 1,500 empowered. 5+ Faith & Work Hubs launched in home countries. $1M revenue.
200,000 welcomed. 10,000 empowered. A proven, fundable model for the entire ISM field. See the framework →
Get Monthly Updates
What shipped this month. What changed because of you. What's building next.