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Purpose International School of Leadership

A New Paradigm for Ministry Impartation

By Paul Crites

With the emerging global Church, rising Marketplace Minister and Kingdom mandate it is clearer than ever that this generation of leaders will look nothing like the past. I have decided not to just “ride the wave” but fully embrace the newness that this wineskin provides for spiritual, social and cultural changes.

What Is Going On?

Just about any pastor who graduated from seminary or Bible College and who has been in the ministry for five years or more will say words to the effect that "I wish I had spent more time in school learning how to do practical ministry than learning the subtleties of theology or the dates and details of church history or the nuances of Greek and Hebrew exegesis or the philosophy of ethics."

Today most institutions that are designed to train people to do ministry have a curriculum that features 80 percent theory and 20 percent practice. And even the practical parts are frequently more directed toward maintenance of an existing institution than toward dynamic, entrepreneurial, Spirit-empowered, visionary growth that breaks off the boundaries of traditional training.

George Barna's Words

Researcher George Barna has examined this situation more closely than most, his conclusion?

He uses fairly strong words: “Most pastors agree that they were inadequately trained for the job of leading the local church. Yet, seminaries continue to forge ahead, providing much of the same irrelevant education that has been their forte for the past century.”

One response has been churches creating their own ministry education centers to raise up leaders and teachers from within their congregations. Another response has been for churches to hire believers who have secular training and experience in professional fields and allow them to learn the content of ministry realities while they are on the job. There is little doubt that churches are in desperate need of effective leadership as the challenges confronting the Church become more complex, more numerous and more daunting.

Don't Tinker with a Broken System

Barna goes on to say, "But how will those leaders be identified, developed, and nurtured for effective ministry leadership? Is there a role for the seminary in the future of the church? If so, what should that seminary look like and what would its ideal role be? If churches continue to rely on seminaries—or some alternative developmental structure—to provide them with leaders, it is imperative that the leader training grounds be reshaped. Mere tinkering with a broken system won't provide the answer; creating a holistic, strategic and intelligently-crafted process is needed."

I cannot help but agree with George Barna that some radical change in the way that individuals are being trained for practical ministry needs to take place. It sounds like a paradigm needs changing. In fact, I had been thinking this way for since 1997, the day that God gave me a life-changing word and told me that I was to start my own school and that the curriculum would be vastly different from anything that I had ever imagined. In obedience, I began developing The School of Purpose which later became Destiny Christian College. This is such a radically new paradigm for training pastors and other leaders that I am sure it couldn't have emerged from my own wisdom; it had to come as revelation from God!

The Early Days

The first years of DCC were challenging. There was great pressure to conform to traditional academia but I said no to theological party lines, academic restrictions, accreditation issues and government influence. There were no enrollment goals only a desire to impart what God had given me in a systematic flow of purpose, order and increase. I began with three students around a conference table and the school has continued to evolve over the past nine years with satellite campuses in four states and a Distance Learning Program. We have seen well over 300 students graduate with many in full time ministry, government service or successful business today.

Reflection and Direction

At the end of 2006 I sought the Lord about the kind and quality of training taking place around the country. Was it following the pattern of the original vision and word given to me? I had been much occupied with the 4:11 Network the past two years with new church plants and the challenges that go with that focus. In 2006, I submitted myself and our school to Dr. C. Peter Wagner’s organization, ACEA, Apostolic Council for Educational Accountability. Judy and I flew to Colorado Springs to sit under Apostle Wagner who I had been his student in the early 90’s at Fuller Theological Seminary in California. We had a wonderful time in Colorado and met many great men and women of God as I reestablished my relationship with Dr. Wagner.

Impartation Matters

Within days of our return from Colorado I was reminded of the words of the original mission statement of DCC, “to raise up and prepare a prophetic generation of leaders who understand and fulfill their divine purpose and destiny in order to impact their world.”

The call of training godly leaders for the church, market place and government has never left me and has been rekindled like never before. I have worked vigorously to retool our present two year program into an accelerated nine weekends over nine months school. With emphasis on leadership and new infusion from the Holy Spirit comes the new name: Purpose International School of Leadership, which will be based in Nashville, Tennessee at our ministry headquarters.

Building a Team

I will carefully instruct my faculty that their primary assignment in class is not to transmit information. Rather it is to impart to the students anointing for practical ministry. Certainly large amounts of information do get communicated, but it is secondary to the spiritual transactions that take place in the classes. This mindset has two immediate implications. First, academic credentials are not prerequisites for faculty recruitment. My desire is to recruit a faculty of men and women of God who have known track records of serving as effective apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. The second implication is that this kind of education does not require either exams or grades.

Regional Extension

My plan is to spread geographically all over the country through our existing DCC campuses and new regional centers. Each regional center will be anchored by a regional Assistant Dean who will facilitate members of my apostolic team who will travel and teach classes in the area.