It's Time...God's Timing

A number of years ago, I had completed all the Berean courses and was ready for the last step: applying to the District to become a certified minister. My intention was to become a full-time, $1 a year children's pastor at my church. And then I saw what kind of a boss the senior pastor was the other 6 days of the week. So, I stepped back and continued as the lay leader, which I still am.

Yesterday, I was thinking about what would have happened had I gone through with joining the church staff back then. I may not have sought to uncover the Bethel controversy (see Gold Dust and Feathers thread). I may have fully supported the senior pastor, not digging deep into why my church was crumbling. And whenever he inevitably chose to resign, for whatever reason, I would have had to do the same. And then gone to another church. Things would have been different, for sure.

At the last overnight prayer at church, I was up in the balcony when I was given three words: Finish the process. Although I hadn't thought about it for years, I immediately knew what the words were about. Go through the process of becoming a minister. I've already talked to my pastor and our sectional Presbyter, and have all the paperwork for next Fall.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to do afterwards. Definitely not looking to serve in another church. Maybe just keep doing what I'm doing. For now, it can be an encouragement to my 15-year old grandson, who feels called to be a youth pastor. And maybe someone who is on the bubble will look at my age and think, "If he can do it..."

Shared all this with my best friend last night. He sat back in deep thought and said, "I have all the Berean course books, but I backed away from doing them at the time."

God's timing is perfect.

I too had begun upon that path. I finished 4 or 5 of the classes & then got busy. Never been back to finish.

An article in this week's AG News caught my attention, and it contained a link to something I've never heard of before. There's a relatively new option to obtain your AG minister's credentials. Before, you had to choose between going to Bible college ($100,000 or so) or taking Global University online courses ($2000 or so). Now, you can check out:

www.pathway.training

This is a Springfield-approved site where you can go online and take the required courses. There's even a section where you can take practice tests to see how ready you might be for the actual ministerial application. It's only been in place since 2019, so it's not a guarantee that all districts are ready for it. You'll have to check.

You can go as fast as you want through the courses. From what I can see, it's only...you won't believe this...$50 a month.

That is fantastic.  My wife just took a chemistry class at the local junior college, and it cost her $1,400.00 for a 4-credit course.  (She already has her Bachelor's Degree in Geography, so she is just doing it for "funsies").

This would allow her to be as full-time as she wants for $600.00 per year.

However, she is also the church secretary and treasurer.  Even if she wasn't going for "minister's credentials", it would be well-worth it for the information and documentation of "continued education" in courses of Finance, Accountability, Staffing, and Legal Subjects.

I'm working on one of the Pathway courses: The Spirit-Empowered Church. I don't know if it's representative of all their offerings, but I sure do like it. Even though you can do the Berean courses online with Global U, it's still just reading text on the screen. With Pathway, it's a combination of reading, videos of notable Pentecostals, and writing short impressions of the material. Very, very good. I highly recommend it.

joecool wrote:An article in this week's AG News caught my attention, and it contained a link to something I've never heard of before. There's a relatively new option to obtain your AG minister's credentials. Before, you had to choose between going to Bible college ($100,000 or so) or taking Global University online courses ($2000 or so). Now, you can check out:

www.pathway.training

This is a Springfield-approved site where you can go online and take the required courses. There's even a section where you can take practice tests to see how ready you might be for the actual ministerial application. It's only been in place since 2019, so it's not a guarantee that all districts are ready for it. You'll have to check.

You can go as fast as you want through the courses. From what I can see, it's only...you won't believe this...$50 a month.

Great news ! Thanks