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About Master Builders Pastors' College

Defined:

The MB Pastors' College is a program designed to assist the local pastors and elders in MB churches to train a new generation of pastors and elders. This program is designed to come alongside the local church in this endeavor, recognizing that the task of raising up pastors and elders is primarily a local church function. But we recognize that both the leadership team of MB and existing pastors can work together to help in this important endeavor. The MB College will train both pastors and elders since there is much in both ministries that overlap. There will be some supplementary training and material for those enrolled in the college who are called to be Senior Pastors.

Candidates

Candidates for the MB College shall be drawn from the local churches solely by the recommendation of a local church’s pastor and elders. We will not receive any candidate for the MB College who is not recommended by his pastor/elders. All candidates will be provided on the recommendation of their pastor and elders.

Selection Process

The following describes the process for candidates entering the school:

The pastor of a local church fills out a Recommendation Application for a candidate and sends it to Masterbuilders. That application gives a thorough description of the candidates involvement in the local church; commitment level, level of training, relationship to pastor and elders, general reasons the pastor feels that this person is a viable candidate.
MB Pastor’s college contacts pastor by phone to discuss candidate entering school. Important matters are discussed regarding candidate’s call to leadership and entrance into school. During this call the MB College ascertains that the pastor has discussed this with the candidate and that the candidate agrees to enter the school. After confirmation by pastor in phone contact the MB College then….
Sends candidate an application for entrance into the MB College. At the same time a letter is sent to the pastor notifying him that the candidate was sent an application. The candidate must fill out the application completely as well as send it back with the application fee.
MB College contacts pastor again and discusses his acceptance into the school
Candidate receives a letter confirming his acceptance. The pastor of the sending church also receives a letter of confirmation

Local Church Involvement

The pastor and elders of a local church shall be completely involved in the training of candidates to insure that both the local church and the school are working together closely. This reflects our conviction that biblically training of future leaders is a local church matter with five-fold translocal ministry lending support. So it is imperative that every local pastor and elders recognize this before submitting candidates since they will be asked to be involved in this entire process.

On the local church level a candidate must be involved in the following ways:

Has been responsible for an area of ministry in the local church (deacon, small group leader, prayer team leader, missions leader, etc). It is our belief that the only way a pastor can know that a person is called to pastoral/eldership is by having first observed him in some form of responsible ministry. The local church is the testing ground for leadership.
Personal mentoring by pastor and elders. The pastor/elders must be willing to meet with the candidate regularly for personal mentoring purposes. The pastor is also asked to cooperate with his training by checking the work that he does and reporting back to MB. In this way we will ensure that the local church is deeply involved in the training of the candidate.
The candidate will be included in some of the local church’s elders’ meetings to observe.
The candidate has some preaching/teaching experience in the local church (can be teaching a small group, special class, pulpit ministry)/ The pastor will evaluate the teaching/preaching ability of the candidate.

Curriculum

The curriculum of the MB College will consist of guided theological/biblical studies along with attendance at 3 Intensives annually held at various MB churches. The student’s work done in theological as well as Intensives will be turned into the local church he springs from for evaluation and oversight as well as \ to the College.

The purpose of the Theological/Biblical studies is not to give the candidate a thorough knowledge of all biblical and theological topics but a basic overview and good foundation in the following subjects:

Systematic Theology
Biblical Worldview
Christian Disciplines
Basics of Bible Interpretation
Church History
New Testament Church Life (ministries, gifts, offices, etc.) The Intensives will be held at various participating church campuses around the country. There will be one in winter, one in spring and one in autumn. A candidate must attend all of these intensives. The Intensives are for times of impartation and practical skill building in leadership and pastoral ministry.

The Intensives will deal with the following topics:

Principles of leadership (working in the local church, servant leadership, team building, etc).
The Leader’s Personal Life (margin, keeping balance, healthy living, family)
Pastoral Ministry (learning how to deal with people properly, counseling, caring)
Conflict Management (resolving conflict, ministry conflict, church discipline)
Preaching the Word (learning to handle God’s Word properly in public ministry)
Church Management (administration, running a staff, structure, handling monies, building, etc.)

* In the future we may try to video tape these Intensives so that they can be available. This would not be to replace attendance at the Intensives but in the case of those who are unable to attend for various reasons (sickness, crisis, etc.)