Hello, I was just wandering if anybody knows of some really awesome Bible schools to go to. Not just to learn, but especially a place to just seek the Lord and grow as a Christian. (It would be good if they emphasize prayer also)I really don't know where to even look.
Has anybody been to Mt. Zion school of ministry, or know anything about it? Does anybody have any suggestions? Thanks, JM
Unfortunately, today most Bible schools and theological seminaries would be more accurately titled [b]theological cemetaries
From the sound of things you would be best suited to a discipleship training school.
Discipleship (following Jesus) is a very missing emphasis within our westernized Christianity; and DTS's ([b]D[b]T[b]S[b]strongly
Ywam (Youth with a Mission) has good ones. And the Salvation Army War College's are great I hear.
[url=http://www.ywam.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1]YWAM[url=http://www.ywamcimarron.org/]YWAM Cimarron, Colorado DTS
and
[url=http://thewarcollege.com]The War College
As far as the differences between the two schools...
YWAM will have more emphasis on world missions (in fact, if you do YWAM you will spend 6 months in training and 6 months in an unreached foreign land spreading the gospel); The War College will have more emphasis on urban missions, though they don't have any organized outreaches as far as I know, they are located in the slums of vancouver washington...
Both are excellent and very real mission fields-- It would be hard to go wrong at either one, it's just whatever the LORD wills.
I visited the YWAM Cimarron DTS last month, it's full of awesome disciples of Jesus. A good friend and sister in Christ is on staff there this year, and we visted her when she returned from Tibet!
Both schools have a very strong emphasis on prayer.
A few months ago I sent an email to the War College with one question, I decided the answer I recieved to this question would determine whether I would go or not... Here it is:
"I want to know one thing. What place does the prayer meeting have within The War College?
Thanks,
Adam"
The response I recieved was:
Hi- we pray the Bible together every weekday morning for half an
hour. We do prayer walks each weekday. We have a weekly Knee Drill
prayer meeting. And we have a War Room that has gone non-stop prayer
since February 2004.Much grace,
StephenC
I hope to attend the Salvation Army War College in Vancouver in a year or two.
Another organization you may want to look into is Operation Mobilization.
Or, I suppose, you could go to some place like western and talk all day about textual criticism, eschatology, who the real author of revelation is, and all sorts of boring stuff. ;-)
God bless ya!
Adam
Wow. Thanks brother, I will definately look into both of those. I heartily agree with you that alot of what's out there should be termed a theological cemetary: all head and no heart (just like alot of peoples "conversions" nowadays).
I think it says alot whenever a school places a strong emphasis on the prayer life. I read that at Mt. Zion they require theie students to arise everyday at 5:30 a.m. to spend atleast an hour with the Lord before they do anything else).
It sounds like you are looking for the same kind of place that I am brother; may the Lord lead us both. God bless,
John
Does anyone know anything about Dave Wilkerson's Mt. Zion school? From the sound of his Times Square Church Pulpit newsletter, the Holy Spirit has complete freedom there.
Praise the Lord! It was great reading up on the Salvation Army's War College!
Ravenhill once lamented that the only reason we need Bible colleges is because the local church has failed to do its job.
does anybody know anything about F.I.R.E school of ministry in North Carolina with Michael Brown and Bob Gladstone? Someone said that that was a really great school of ministry to go to. Also I heard about IHOP forerunner school of ministry. Anybody know about these?
PaulWest wrote:
Does anyone know anything about Dave Wilkerson's Mt. Zion school? From the sound of his Times Square Church Pulpit newsletter, the Holy Spirit has complete freedom there.Praise the Lord! It was great reading up on the Salvation Army's War College!
KingJimmy wrote:
Ravenhill once lamented that the only reason we need Bible colleges is because the local church has failed to do its job.
Runoff wrote:
does anybody know anything about F.I.R.E school of ministry in North Carolina with Michael Brown and Bob Gladstone? Someone said that that was a really great school of ministry to go to. Also I heard about IHOP forerunner school of ministry. Anybody know about these?
does anybody know anything about F.I.R.E school of ministry in North Carolina with Michael Brown and Bob Gladstone? Someone said that that was a really great school of ministry to go to. Also I heard about IHOP forerunner school of ministry. Anybody know about these?
I've run into some folks from FIRE here in NC (it's not too far from where I live). It's been a year or two since I have, but I must say, even though I fully believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit being for today, the FIRE students I have personally encountered are off-their-rocker weird. IMO, they are too much like Rick Joyner's School of the Spirit, and are teaching counterfeit gifts.
I have also talked to a person who formerly attended the church FIRE is associated with, and must say that though the person seemed to have an axe to grind with the church, his concern for some serious problems within the church were no small matter.
I'd recommend you stay away from them.
If you want solid teaching grounded firmly in the word of God, and are looking to get such from a Pentecostal perspective, and looking to live in N.C., I recommend Lee University's Charlotte Campus, where I personally graduated from. This satelite campus (with the main one being in T.N.) is small and personal, with only about 100 students, and 2 or 3 full time teachers, with about 4 other part-time teachers.
I've run into some folks from FIRE here in NC (it's not too far from where I live). It's been a year or two since I have, but I must say, even though I fully believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit being for today, the FIRE students I have personally encountered are off-their-rocker weird. IMO, they are too much like Rick Joyner's School of the Spirit, and are teaching counterfeit gifts.
I agree 100%. Just look into Michael Brown a little bit, and you will think that is the weirdest ministry. They are closly associated with things like The Toronto Blessing, and the pensacola outpouring. I'm sorry, but I dont need to see people running and screaming, and laughing in hysteria, to know that christ lives in me.
I would recommend Mt. Zion. My best friend will be going there in August. I would check out their website to make sure. But from what I hear, it is amazing.
I hope this helps a little,
God Bless
Here are my suggestions from personal experience and involvement:
1. [url=http://www.asbury.edu/]Asbury College
2. [url=http://www.bcom.org]Bethany College of Misions
To the others that have posted. Let's be careful how we categorize other schools and ministries. Let us not tear down other brothers and sisters in Christ.
Kind Regards,
Derek
Do you have to go to bible college to be in ministry? I mean like a pastor of a church or a youth pastor.
No
only if you want to make lots of money
Have you looked into "Bush" university? The tuition is free. ;-)
I'll tell you what I have been told. When I discussed going back t college to be a pastor, my pastor told me that the only thing seminary was really good for were the contacts that you make there...that the book knowledge I could get on my own.
With that said, I think it would be a lot easier to go to college and get a degree in pastoral ministry. Here in the States, I have had a harder time breaking into ministry because my degree is in education.
Finally, I would find a pastor/mentor that is willing to spend time feeding into your life and willing to support you through the training stages. Someone that will let you get your feet wet.
Kind Regards,
Derek
I am at a University right now and I'm graduating in May 2007. I do know that God has called me to minister in the workplace, and I know that later on in my life God is going to move me into full-time leadership. So, I've just been wondering and praying if I should go ahead after I graduate and get a degree in ministry so that when God does call me into full-time ministry I will have a degree. But if I don't need a degree then I just want to go straight into the marketplace. Because I really don't want to go to a cemetery (I mean seminary). But if God wants me to go I will go.
I don't know much about the FIRE school, but I have listened to Mike Brown's teachings. I don't know about weird manifestations, but I do know that the man teaches sermons about dying to self, being set apart from the world, doing God's will...etc. None of his sermons have ever encouraged me to leave the faith, become lukewarm, look or act like the world. Leonard Ravenhill was his mentor as well. Do you think Ravenhill would condone that stuff?
some of his sermon titles are:
Called to Die
Are you Backsliding?
Enough is Enough
Little Foxes and Big Sins
Take up your cross
Others can, You can't
all of these encourage a deeper relationship with God.
Some of his audios are on this website: http://www.icnministries.org/revival/audio.htm
perhaps you could hear some of his teachings and decide for yourself if he is a false teacher or not.
sorry if my tone sounds harsh, I didn't intend to :P
I do know that the man teaches sermons about dying to self, being set apart from the world, doing God's will...etc. None of his sermons have ever encouraged me to leave the faith, become lukewarm, look or act like the world.
I agree! I've listened to quite a few of his sermons and have read his "Jewish Objections to Jesus" books. I've never discerned anything remotely heretical about Mike Brown's ministry. I think people give him a bad rap because he's linked to Brownsville. Big deal. I've been blessed by Steve Hill's messages. Hill was endorsed by Ravenhill. People made a big deal about the manifestations, and said "This can't be of God!" yet if they saw some of the manifestations that took place during the early Salvation Army prayer meetings (like unsaved men floating in mid-air over the crowd and dropping at the altar), they'd think they were in a demonic seance! People freak out when certain things don't fit into their preconceived theological frameworks (I know I'm sometimes guilty of this!).
We ought to be careful with how readily we label people here as "false brethren" and "heretics"; remember, the church crowd said the same thing about Wesley and Booth and Fox in their days.
We ought to be careful with how readily we label people here as "false brethren" and "heretics"; remember, the church crowd said the same thing about Wesley and Booth and Fox in their days.
Nicely said and it's true. True in Jesus' time as well.
We are all called to minister where we are and to make disciples. Being called to be a pastor is a different calling. Since you are about to graduate, a ministry school, like what has been mentioned would be better. Francis Frangipane has a good training school that can be done from home and that isn't expensive. You can even be ordained through it after completion of level 2. I've taken the level one training and it is excellent. It would be a good addition to any degree or further training you might take. It's called [url=http://www.icitc.org/]In Christ's Image Training
Kind Regards,
Derek
Since when did it become necessary for man to ordain God's ministers?
If you read the books of that uneducated and probably, 'not the sharpest knife in the drawer' type, Peter, you know THAT man can put two words together really well. How Supremely intelligent are his writings. So, from a mere laborer to a scholar by the unction of the Holy Ghost, seems likely. Re read Peter.
If money, position and standing are of import, then get that degree, get that ordination. If you have a calling of the Lord on your life, if you are burdened for the lost or have an ability to help someone along their way, do so-preach!
Regards,
-Brudel
I would say that man will confirm where God has already called and ordained. Of course it is not necessary to be ordained or comissioned by man. When that is done, it is man's recognition of what God has already done.
In the natural, I would say it is more straight forward and practical to receive some training. To receive support and encouragement. To have a safe environment in which to practice and gain experience from a mentor. A college, ministry school or seminary would be a good place to be trained up. Even the disicples, including Peter were mentored by Jesus for three years. Jesus gave them opportunities to get their feet wet (sendiing them out two by two, feeding of the 5000, etc.). It wasn't until after these three years and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that you have Peter preaching his first sermon. Yet Jesus had called him Rock long before man could have confirmed it to be true.
The training and the comissioning by man may not always be necessary, but it can be helpful and a very positive experience. Ultimately you have to decide for yourself if it is right for you.
Kind Regards,
Derek
I think that if you want a job as a Pastor, most church denominations require that you are ordained, which means some training is necessary.
Best wishes in your search!
and May God Bless you!
KingJimmy wrote:
Ravenhill once lamented that the only reason we need Bible colleges is because the local church has failed to do its job.
Are you saying that Bible Colleges aren't a good thing, or just giving an aside as to why many local churches fail in their purpose?
MSeaman wrote:
I think that if you want a job as a Pastor, most church denominations require that you are ordained, which means some training is necessary.
So, it seems you need to decide who you work for, and who you answer to...
Classroom training is a good thing, but it's not what makes you a godly man, a shepherd of a flock, or anything else. It can help in learning doctrine, etc., but that's only one piece to the puzzle.
Are you saying that Bible Colleges aren't a good thing, or just giving an aside as to why many local churches fail in their purpose?
I'm all for Bible colleges... I have a degree from one, and am now in seminary, and would like to one day teach at one perhaps. Ravenhill's quote, which I agree with, I believe is an attempt to bring the local church to its full purpose... as a training house for all the saints.
If you are looking for a college to go to then I would recommend [url=http://www.moody.edu/]Moody Bible College[url=http://www.ses.edu]Southern Evangelical Seminary[url=http://www.tms.edu]The Master's Seminary[url=http://www.lacollege.edu]Louisiana College
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