We are a vocational training program. Our students learn by doing. We use an apprenticeship and discipleship method to train students one-on-one and in small groups.
By limiting our school to only 12 students per year, we can ensure that every student is given individualized attention to help them reach their goals and fulfill their vocational calling.
Our program is designed to produce ministers who use writing as a resource for the Kingdom of God. The desired result is the transformation of hearts and minds for Jesus Christ, media is one of the means our students will be prepared to use. First and foremost, we’re producing individuals who are trained and authorized to go into communities and share the gospel, to enact the will of God, and to see lives transformed.
To this end, our curriculum breaks into three primary categories.
Spiritual Development & Supernatural Ministry
The most important pillar of our curriculum is spiritual development. Our highest calling is to connect students with the Holy Spirit, and to establish their firm foundation in Jesus.
Classical spiritual disciplines form our platform. We will train students to posture themselves in a manner that is receptive to the Holy Spirit through prayer, meditation, fasting, solitude, worship, and study, among others.
We will live out these disciplines, and continue to grow, through one-on-one discipleship, evangelism and disciple-making opportunities in the community, and community service.
We have learned to expect God to show up in signs and wonders when we minister, and our students will participate and learn to minister through healing, deliverance, and prophecy, appropriate to their gifting and calling. Our students will operate in the supernatural and see God move in miraculous ways.
Importantly, we are not a school of theology, and we do not intend to “teach the Bible.” We expect that students, while all agreeing to and adhering to our statement of faith, will come from diverse Christian backgrounds. Our objective is to challenge all of our students to use a consistent method for reading and interpreting the Bible, and to seek to see the Bible, as written, lived out in their lives. Living, working, ministering, and worshipping together will require us to teach some elements of practical theology, but we won’t be teaching a comprehensive, systematic theology.
Creative Writing
We will teach students to write well, to produce consumable media products.
Our intention is to produce media that changes hearts and minds. Rather than pursuing an artistic model for self-expression, our objective is industry-oriented. We will train our students to produce media that Americans want to spend their time and money on.
Peer critique is an anchor point of our training model. Students will spend a great deal of time constructively criticizing each other’s work. The ability to assess quality and identify opportunities for improvement is critical to perpetual self-improvement over a writer’s career.
Our curriculum will train students to write fiction, short and long form, non-fiction, and poetry. We will also spend time exploring marketplace writing – technical writing, blogging, feature writing, and advertising copy. Students will leave the school with the ability to not just write creatively, but with saleable writing skills so that they can pay their bills while they develop an audience for their work.
All of these areas will be taught hands-on. Students will complete the school with a portfolio of work in hand, including novel-length work.
Professional Development
Simply knowing how to write well isn’t enough. We will also teach students how to treat writing and content-creation as a job, how to build appropriate professional relationships, how to develop an audience for their work, and how to pay their bills in this industry.
Students will not just be gifted with knowledge, but will spend time building their professional network through the course of two years of hands-on training. Consistent with their individual callings and objectives, students will leave with a portfolio of salable work and an established marketing network.
We will also teach students the professional and life skills to pursue their calling in a healthy and productive manner. That includes instilling proper work ethic, professional boundaries, client management, and small business budgeting.
These three pieces—Spiritual development and supernatural ministry, creative writing, and professional development—form a foundation. This comprehensive life, work, and ministry curriculum will form whole, successful ministers, capable of leveraging the opportunities presented by modern media while standing steadfast in their faith.
When we send ministers into the media, it’s the lions den. Our students will be ready.
