We recently opened applications for ReTrain 2013–14. It’s been amazing to reflect on what God’s been doing through ReTrain and where it’s come from.

ReTrain kicked off its first class in 2009 to serve Mars Hill, Resurgence, Acts 29, and the greater church-planting movement going on today. We developed it because we recognized the intense need for more leaders who understand God’s grace in Christ and celebrate being recipients and agents of grace.

What’s the vision for it?

Since the very beginning, the vision for ReTrain has been and continues to be connecting theology to practice. Many theological training programs focus on either information transfer or practical training, but ReTrain seeks to be a blend of both. We believe that unless training gets to the heart level, it fails. What our hearts love, our minds will ponder, and our wills will pursue.

That’s why ReTrain’s first focus is on discipleship: we first need to learn how to be a disciple of Jesus, and then the implications of that for how to do ministry. With the foundation of discipleship in place, we can then dive into the other three main emphases of ReTrain: preaching and teaching, counseling and community, and leadership.

Who is ReTrain for?

At the Resurgence, we care about serving Christians as they prepare to serve or are serving in ministry. Through Christ, God reconciled us to himself, and then he gave and entrusted the ministry and message of reconciliation to us (2 Cor. 5:18–19). Ministry is not just performed by church pastors and staff, but by all believers, and we want every Christian to have an awareness that they are participating in God’s mission.

ReTrain began with a focus on training pastors and church planters, but in recent years the focus has moved to a broader spectrum. We still want pastors and church planters in the program, but we’re also looking for men and women who are in any way leading in the church. At ReTrain, you will learn how to lead and motivate people as an effective, grace-saturated, and Christ-honoring leader.

What’s changed?

Though our vision hasn’t changed since that first year, many other things have for the better. Here are a few of them that you can look forward to for this year:

• When we started, tuition was $8,000. Over these few years though, we’ve been able to cut costs and bring the program to you at a much more affordable rate of $2,750. This price is actually significantly cheaper than your average credit hours at a seminary.
• After some trial and error, we believe we’ve found the sweet spot with the amount of work you’ll take on to make it manageable amid your busy life, yet still challenging.
• Each year, we’re able to lock down more partnerships with more seminaries where you can transfer your credits to continue your studies or finish your degree.
• This past year was our first video conferencing year and it’s turned out to be a huge success. This enables students to save time and money on travel by only having to travel to Seattle twice a year instead of eight times.
• Next year we’ll have a new site in Reno, NV at Living Stones Church. They are in the Mars Hill Network, but this is our first non-Mars Hill church location. Harvey Turner, Living Stones’ lead and preaching pastor, was actually in the first alumni class of ReTrain.

The class of students has also been growing each year, so I’m excited to see and meet who God will bring in this time around. We realize there are a ton of challenges to ministry, and we want to do all we can to serve you in your calling. If you want to get trained, we want to make the decision as easy as possible. Hopefully, ReTrain is a no-brainer.

Find out more about ReTrain and apply today