Participation

We ask all participants seeking three years of discipleship training leading to church (public) ministry and the completion of their calling, to know, seek, and desire to comply with the following biblical principles: (Lam. 3:40)

1. Be born-again of the Spirit. (John 3:3; Rev. 3:20)

2. Be water-baptized by immersion ONLY. (Mt. 3:16; Acts 2:38;Acts 10:48; Acts 22:11) 3. Be baptized in-the-Holy Spirit or seek to be so.(Lk. 11:10-13; Acts 1:5,8; Acts 11:16)

4. Know in your spirit (His Spirit witnesses to our spirit, Romans 8:16) that you are "called" by the Holy Spirit into study of the scriptures or into ministry. Ro. 8:28; 1 Cor. 7:22)

5. Know in your spirit that you are "anointed" by the Holy Spirit, that you have an anointing upon your life and person which is evident to others through the fruit of your faith walk, your love of God, your thirst for His Word His Righteousness, His Ways, and your unwillingness to compromise with the ways of men or the ways of the world. (Mt. 18:16; John 14:12; Lk. 4:18) It is readily understood that this does not imply that you are perfect and sinless in all of your ways. (Ro. 3:23)

6. Know in your spirit that you are "appointed" to a specific calling: to learn the Word and how to apply it (ministry) for others, or for your own life, or for the purpose of fulfilling God's plan for your life through appointment to an office of the church, such as pastor, apostle, teacher, prophet, or evangelist, as witnessed to you by the Holy Spirit through word of knowledge (discernment). (Heb. 3:2; 2 Tim. 1:11; Acts 22:10; Mt. 26:19)

7. Know and believe that the Bible is divine revelation, the inerrant and inspired Word of God, holy, and the only absolute truth. (2 Tim. 3:16; John 17:17; Num. 23:19)

8. Do not seek your "own" ministry and self-recognition but the Lord's glory. (1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17)

9. Be free of, or seek to be free of ambition or self-ambition, self- promotion, selfaggrandizement, self-importance, self-adulation or seeking the adulation of others, or any self-motive in learning or ministry. (John 3:30; 1 Cor. 15:31)

10. Seek to be a willing bondservant of the Lord , submitted, and surrender to the Holy Spirit to teach and lead you, and NOT lean on your own understanding. (Prov. 3:5,6; John 15:47; Ps.5:8; Ps.25:5; Ps. 27:11; Ps. 31:3; Ps. 139:10,24)

11. Recognize and practice FIRST MINISTRY to the Lord through thanksgiving, praise, and worship, as a YIELDED, EMPTY VESSEL, allowing the Lord to then minister THROUGH you. This is the ONLY way of ALL ministry in the scriptures. (Ezek. 44:1517; 2 Tim. 2:21)

12. Rely on the Lord to prepare you for ministry (Ro. 9:23) and depend (abide) upon His Holy Spirit and Him alone to TEACH YOU ALL things. (1 John 2:27)

13. You must provide recommendations from a minimum of two born-again, Spirit-filled witnesses who can attest to your Christian conduct, desires, integrity, and seriousness with which you take your faith walk with Christ. (Mt. 18:16) It is preferable, but not necessary, that at least one of the references be from a Spirit-filled pastor who has been involved in your spiritual walk with Christ. Both parties must attest that they witness in their spirit that you are called of the Lord to be edified by personal study or for ministry or other use as the Holy Spirit leads.

14. Seek and be willing to walk by FAITH (trust) in Christ alone. (2 Cor. 5:7)

15. Seek, and walk in humility and be willing to stay humble and keep yourself humble before the Lord. You must have the heart of a servant to serve the Lord. (1 Peter 5:5,6 ; Ps.51:17; Mt. 18:4; James 4:10)

16. Seek to walk your faithwalk with the Lord in a contrite spirit before Him. (Isa.57:15 ; Ps.34:18)

17. Practice the fear of the Lord (which means to hold the Lord God in reverence and in awe because of who He is, and because He is the holiest of all.) (Prov. 1:7 ; Prov. 9:10 ; Prov.15:6,33 ; Isa. 66:2)

Please take the time to read the scripture references above. If you understand what God is seeking from us ... a trusting, obedient heart of submission, a heart which thirsts for the knowledge of Him, His Word and His Ways, a heart which is contrite and humble in the fear of the Lord, you may then desire to participate in the school of ministry. If you know that you will embrace and be willing to submit to these scriptural directives, and hold them as your ideal of study and conduct, and you KNOW that the Lord is tugging at your heart to enter into a deeper faith walk with Him through an increased life of prayer and study, you are invited to participate in the School of Ministry. Enrollment is open to all.

The program operates on the "honor" system. There are no written examinations. Reliance and trust is placed upon the participant's own integrity and honesty before God in making his/her commitment to study faithfully and regularly, and to complete the studies. It is understood that study is a means of glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ and is not to be taken casually in the light of His calling. The participant may work at his own speed and may take more or less time to complete each course. Support in scripture study, discussions, or in ministry is available by phone, written communications, or audiocassette tape on an as-needed basis, to add personal supervision of the disciple without fostering dependence upon man or control. All disciples are asked to periodically and regularly communicate their progress and concerns to us, so that we might better be used by the Holy Spirit to serve, guide, and direct them in their maturation in understanding and handling the Word of God and the principles of ministry.

We ask all christian believers seeking less than three years of discipleship training, not leading to church ministry but for personal edification or personal ministry, to examine themselves to see if they comply with the following biblical criteria for the Holy Spirit to operate and manifest in their lives:

1. Be born-again.
2. Be immersion-baptized in water.
3. Be baptized in the Holy Spirit or be actively seeking this baptism. (Lk. 11: 10-13)

See scripture references previously mentioned for the above. Note also that it is highly desirable that the believer seek to embrace the Biblical teachings and ideals mentioned in items 4-18 above, even though there may be no intention of seeking public ministry, other than on a one-toone basis when the occasion arises and as led by the Holy Spirit. These principles are to be ideally held up for all to embrace, since scripture tells us that God is not a respecter of persons, that is, he treats all the same and expects compliance to His Word from all, in the same way. These requirements for shorter courses or periods of discipleship are the absolute minimum necessary to benefit from the ministry of the Holy Spirit to you. Without them being understood, embraced, and received by faith, the Word of God cannot be opened to your spirit to perceive the "rhema", the revealed Word BEHIND the written Word, the "logos".

If you are a bom-again, water-baptized, Spirit-filled Christian, then, you may participate in any of the home study programs offered, as the Holy Spirit leads you.