About Us | Iris Abilene & Camp Barkeley

Vision

Iris Abilene Camp Barkeley exists to restore, equip and mobilize the body of Christ through experiencing the manifest presence of God.

Mission

Iris Abilene Camp Barkeley is a global nonprofit training center dedicated to individual transformation through the gospel of Jesus Christ, the equipping and sending of sustainable leaders, and the stewardship of personal, Kingdom, historical and environmental gifts that God has given.

Iris Abilene Camp Barkeley

Iris Abilene Camp Barkeley is a training center located on 1,000 acres of the historic World War II Camp Barkeley United States Army training base. Our unique surroundings consistently remind us of God’s faithfulness and challenge us to preserve the resources He has entrusted to us, as we become a part of His story. As Christians, we value Israel and its people. The soldiers who trained here aided in the liberation of Jewish people in WWII. Knowing the past, we are overjoyed God has preserved this place and has now transformed Camp Barkeley to train soldiers of a different kind.

The mission of Iris Abilene Camp Barkeley is to equip leaders to further the kingdom of God.

We accomplish this by providing times of respite and healing for those currently involved in ministry and by offering training events and certifications in biblical education, disaster relief, cross-cultural studies, and much more. Our training programs are prayerfully and specifically designed to prepare each student with the tools they will need to be mobilized. We mobilize leaders to be sent both domestically and globally to work in the church, parachurch organization or marketplace to spread the good news of Christ.

Under the banner of Iris Global Ministries and as a Partners in Harvest affiliate, we provide missional and pastoral ordination to successful program candidates with sending opportunities through these partner networks.

We have a heart for what God is doing globally, but have a distinct passion to see the community of Abilene transformed by Jesus. By linking arms with partner organizations here in Abilene and reaching out to the community through our House of Hope ministry initiative, God is being glorified and the lives of those in need are being transformed.

If you have a passion to serve the poor, partner with other believers and organizations, see the church grow and lives be transformed by Jesus — Camp Barkeley is the place for you. Come be a part of something greater than yourself and see what God is doing in West Texas!

Be Restored, Be Equipped, and Get Mobilized!

Iris Abilene Camp Barkeley Core Values

Transformation & Intimacy
The gospel of Jesus Christ restores intimacy between God and man. This reconciliation allows us to know God, hear His voice, worship Him, and go forth and minister in His love and power through the Holy Spirit. We value full gospel transformation and intimacy with God as a priority, from it flows sustained development and ministry.
Training & Discipleship
Christ commissioned His followers to make disciples. By equipping believers with a diverse set of tools we are fostering a level of preparedness that leads to effective ministry. While we value training as a means to see others come to Christ, we remain consistently dependent upon God to sustain us and wait in anticipation for Him to reveal Himself through miraculous signs and wonders that He might be further glorified.
Unity & Partnership
As a part of the body, believers are united with Christ and one another. This unity and covenant promotes the use of God given strengths and gifts as well as the development of biblical community. We value partnership for it mobilizes individuals and resources to the areas of greatest need and effectiveness.
Stewardship & Preservation
God entrusts believers with talents and resources to further His kingdom. Biblically based stewardship inspires us to extend our ministry into the realm of preservation. We value the stewardship and preservation of native habitat, historical infrastructure and all other resources, for God is the true owner of all things.

Iris Global Core Values

We understand that we can find God, and can experience intimacy, communication and companionship with Him in His Presence, if we share His love for righteousness.
We are totally dependent on Him for everything, and we need and expect miracles of all kinds to sustain us and confirm the Gospel in our ministry.
We look for revival among the broken, humble and lowly, and start at the bottom with ministry to the poor. God chooses the weak and despised things of the world to shame the proud, demonstrating His own strength and wisdom. Our direction is lower still.
We understand the value of suffering in the Christian life. Learning to love requires willingness to suffer for the sake of righteousness. Discipline and testing make saints out of us, and produce in us the holiness, without which we will not see God’s face and share His glory. With Paul we rejoice in our weaknesses, for when we are weak we are strong.
The joy of the Lord is not optional and far outweighs our suffering! In Jesus it becomes our motivation, reward and spiritual weapon. In His Presence is fullness of joy, and with Paul we testify that in all our troubles our joy knows no bounds (2 Cor. 7:4). It is our strength and energy, without which we die.

IRIS Global: Iris Abilene Statement of Faith

WE BELIEVE:

The Bible to be the only inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God.
John 16:13; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 Thessalonians 2:13

That there is one God, eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 43:10, 11; Matthew 28:19; Luke 3:22; John 14:16

In the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ,
John 1:1, 14; 20:28-29; Philippians 2:6-11; Isaiah 9:6; Colossians 2:9

His virgin birth,
Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:34-35; Isaiah 7:14

His sinless life,
2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; 7:26-27; 1 John 3:5; 1 Peter 2:22

His miracles,
Matthew 4:23; Luke 6:17-19; John 3:2

His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood,
Colossians 1:14, 20; Romans 5:8-9; Ephesians 1:7

His bodily resurrection,
1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Luke 24:4-7; 36-48; Revelation 1:17-18

His ascension to the right hand of the Father,
Acts 2:33, 5:30-31; 1 Peter 3:22

And in His personal return in power and in glory.
Acts 1:11; Philippians 2:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 4:13-18; John 14:1-3

That justification by faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential for the salvation of lost and sinful man.
Romans 3:24-25; John 3:3-7; 1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 2:1-16; Revelation 5:9; Acts 4:12; 1 Corinthians 6:11

The prime agency for the work of God’s Kingdom is the Christian local church functioning under the sovereignty of our Lord Jesus Christ. To the church have been entrusted the ordinances of Believer’s Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Acts 2:41-47; 16:4-5; Matthew 16:18; 28:18-20; Ephesians 1:22-23; 1 Corinthians 12; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

In the present ministry of the Holy Spirit which includes: the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as an experience distinct from regeneration; His indwelling, by which the Christian is enabled to live a godly life; His supernatural gifting and empowering of the Church for its work, life and worship.
Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-8; 2:1-4; 10:44-46; 1 Corinthians 12, 14

In the return of Jesus Christ, to consummate His Kingdom, in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; those who are saved unto the resurrection of life, and those who are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
John 5:28-29; Mark 14:62; 2 Thessalonians 1:2-10; Revelation 1:5-7; 20:4-5; 11-12

In unity for all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ and desire to seek community together. We want to become more like Him in every way, who is the head of His body, the Church. We are called to love Him and one another and are enabled to do this only as His life flows in and through us.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Matthew 22:37-40

That marriage is the basic human relationship between one man and one woman, and as such is intended to reflect the relationship between Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom, and His bride the Church.
Genesis 2:18-25, Ephesians 5:25-32