Evidence for God from Science

So I know I've been away for awhile (maybe for some of you that's a sigh of relief ), and will probably be away for a bit more. I wanted to share with you a major project I and a few others are working on.

The Emmaus Biblical Training Center

Basically, I'm starting an online Bible school. We're going to be offering certificates, not degrees, simply because the sad truth is that formal degrees take waaaaaaaay too much time and require waaaaaaaay too much money to complete. And while the return on investment is (or can be) fabulous in terms of personal knowledge and spiritual growth, the financial ROI is pitiful. Further, as someone who has been through Bible college and seminary (twice) as well as Clinical Pastoral Education and have been certified with the Association of Professional Chaplains, what I can honestly say is that the vast majority of theological education is pretty useless when it comes to every day ministry.

Please note that I am NOT downing formal theological education. There will always be a place for BAs and MAs in biblical studies and related fields, MDivs, and PhDs in theology. But that place is getting smaller by the year. The student pool is getting smaller. Churches are closing there doors. The ones that remain open are either very, very large (megachurches) or tend to be very small (less than 100 people) and so cannot afford to pay a full time pastor. As such, paying for formal education makes less sense than it used to.

So enter EBTC. For those who don't have the time or money but still want a great taste of formal theological training, I think this is a great option. Classes are cheap (~$50 rather than $300-600 at a seminary) with a lot of the same material. No papers, but plenty of serious quizzes to make sure you are getting the material. They're also shorter than a typical college class--five sessions which should take you about a week to complete each--with no formal start and end date. Enroll when you want; work when you want; finish when you want. Right now there are two instructors/course designers. Me (you already know my credentials) and Dr Tony Guthrie (MDiv, ThM, PhD). We are soon adding a spate of other highly qualified instructors, all of whom have at least masters degrees and some have done doctoral work. I expect to have about eight instructors by March, each with two or three courses of their own. And that means I expect to have about 30 courses up and running by then.

Right now, the formal launch will be January 1. We will have one certificate in basic biblical studies up, which will be a five course program (Intro to Biblical Interpretation, NT Survey, OT Survey, Survey of Basic Theology, and Intro to the Spiritual Life). We are also hoping by the end of January to have two other certificates up and running--one in apologetics and one in teaching/preaching.

So yeah, LOTS going on. I'll be updating you all over the next several weeks. Needless say, we're really excited. So keep those of us working on this project in your prayers. We're generating a lot of interest and I'm spending a lot of my (very limited) free time working on this stuff.

See y'all around!

EDIT: SEE LIST OF AVAILABLE COURSES HERE

Very interesting. I'm interested. What do I gotta do?

Me too

Me too. I want in.

Especially if professor Morrison is teaching.

Who?

Storyteller wrote:Who?

Professor Morrison.

Aka Chris Morrison.

Aka Jac3510.

RickD wrote:

Storyteller wrote:Who?

Professor Morrison.

Aka Chris Morrison.

Aka Jac3510.

Thought you meant temuera morrison

Nessa wrote:

RickD wrote:

Storyteller wrote:Who?

Professor Morrison.

Aka Chris Morrison.

Aka Jac3510.

Thought you meant temuera morrison

You mean professor Jango Fett?

This ain't Star Wars, my dear!

Furstentum Liechtenstein wrote:Very interesting. I'm interested. What do I gotta do?

Right now, pray a lot and wait until January.

I'm actually sitting here working on a class now--a section on soteriology for the survey of basic theology course. I'm finishing the first lecture now and hoping to do a second one later.

If you're on Facebook, you can go check out and like/share the page. I know this thread is a giant ad, but if this thing takes off it could be really, really huge. After basic salaries (and we won't be paying out six figure things to anybody . . . everybody on board understands that this isn't about getting rich), all the proceeds are going to go to church planting, benevolence, and supporting indigenous churches and church plants abroad. So know that the money isn't going to be funding buildings, retirement accounts, football teams, salaries for administrators, and so on. It's all going to ministry, and that's one of the reasons I'm so excited about this. We're hoping/planning on having 1000 students next Christmas. That's the goal. If the typical student takes one class per month, that's $50,000/mo. Imagine how many people we can reach with that kind of money if the VAST VAST VAST majority is going to missions. And with all due respect to seminary trained white missionaries, that's not what I mean. I'm talking about locals--people in countries where $30/mo funds a full time local missionary who knows the language and culture. We could fund HUNDREDS of them . . .

I mean, suppose one missionary plants two or three churches a year (which is not uncommon, btw), of 10-20 new converts. Small churches, yes, but that allows for deeper discipleship. So that's 20-60 new converts per year. What if we were able to fund just 100 missionaries next year. That could be 2000-6000 new converts. Each year!

I could talk about this stuff forever. Really, we're just super excited. So just be watching and praying. We have a blog on the website that we'll be updating twice a week starting next week. Read those articles and share them. Did I mention prayer? Please do a lot of that. Lot's to do between now and January.

Jac3510 wrote:

Furstentum Liechtenstein wrote:Very interesting. I'm interested. What do I gotta do?

Right now, pray a lot and wait until January.

I'm actually sitting here working on a class now--a section on soteriology for the survey of basic theology course. I'm finishing the first lecture now and hoping to do a second one later.

If you're on Facebook, you can go check out and like/share the page. I know this thread is a giant ad, but if this thing takes off it could be really, really huge. After basic salaries (and we won't be paying out six figure things to anybody . . . everybody on board understands that this isn't about getting rich), all the proceeds are going to go to church planting, benevolence, and supporting indigenous churches and church plants abroad. So know that the money isn't going to be funding buildings, retirement accounts, football teams, salaries for administrators, and so on. It's all going to ministry, and that's one of the reasons I'm so excited about this. We're hoping/planning on having 1000 students next Christmas. That's the goal. If the typical student takes one class per month, that's $50,000/mo. Imagine how many people we can reach with that kind of money if the VAST VAST VAST majority is going to missions. And with all due respect to seminary trained white missionaries, that's not what I mean. I'm talking about locals--people in countries where $30/mo funds a full time local missionary who knows the language and culture. We could fund HUNDREDS of them . . .

I mean, suppose one missionary plants two or three churches a year (which is not uncommon, btw), of 10-20 new converts. Small churches, yes, but that allows for deeper discipleship. So that's 20-60 new converts per year. What if we were able to fund just 100 missionaries next year. That could be 2000-6000 new converts. Each year!

I could talk about this stuff forever. Really, we're just super excited. So just be watching and praying. We have a blog on the website that we'll be updating twice a week starting next week. Read those articles and share them. Did I mention prayer? Please do a lot of that. Lot's to do between now and January.

Is that you Jac? How have you been? We have missed you being around, I know I have even if others have'nt. Merry Christmas!

No ACB,

We've all missed him.

abelcainsbrother wrote:

Jac3510 wrote:

Furstentum Liechtenstein wrote:Very interesting. I'm interested. What do I gotta do?

Right now, pray a lot and wait until January.

I'm actually sitting here working on a class now--a section on soteriology for the survey of basic theology course. I'm finishing the first lecture now and hoping to do a second one later.

If you're on Facebook, you can go check out and like/share the page. I know this thread is a giant ad, but if this thing takes off it could be really, really huge. After basic salaries (and we won't be paying out six figure things to anybody . . . everybody on board understands that this isn't about getting rich), all the proceeds are going to go to church planting, benevolence, and supporting indigenous churches and church plants abroad. So know that the money isn't going to be funding buildings, retirement accounts, football teams, salaries for administrators, and so on. It's all going to ministry, and that's one of the reasons I'm so excited about this. We're hoping/planning on having 1000 students next Christmas. That's the goal. If the typical student takes one class per month, that's $50,000/mo. Imagine how many people we can reach with that kind of money if the VAST VAST VAST majority is going to missions. And with all due respect to seminary trained white missionaries, that's not what I mean. I'm talking about locals--people in countries where $30/mo funds a full time local missionary who knows the language and culture. We could fund HUNDREDS of them . . .

I mean, suppose one missionary plants two or three churches a year (which is not uncommon, btw), of 10-20 new converts. Small churches, yes, but that allows for deeper discipleship. So that's 20-60 new converts per year. What if we were able to fund just 100 missionaries next year. That could be 2000-6000 new converts. Each year!

I could talk about this stuff forever. Really, we're just super excited. So just be watching and praying. We have a blog on the website that we'll be updating twice a week starting next week. Read those articles and share them. Did I mention prayer? Please do a lot of that. Lot's to do between now and January.

Is that you Jac? How have you been? We have missed you being around, I know I have even if others have'nt. Merry Christmas!

Now that is a backhanded compliment if ever I heard one!!
Just teasing you acb

Nessa wrote:

abelcainsbrother wrote:

Jac3510 wrote:

Furstentum Liechtenstein wrote:Very interesting. I'm interested. What do I gotta do?

Right now, pray a lot and wait until January.

I'm actually sitting here working on a class now--a section on soteriology for the survey of basic theology course. I'm finishing the first lecture now and hoping to do a second one later.

If you're on Facebook, you can go check out and like/share the page. I know this thread is a giant ad, but if this thing takes off it could be really, really huge. After basic salaries (and we won't be paying out six figure things to anybody . . . everybody on board understands that this isn't about getting rich), all the proceeds are going to go to church planting, benevolence, and supporting indigenous churches and church plants abroad. So know that the money isn't going to be funding buildings, retirement accounts, football teams, salaries for administrators, and so on. It's all going to ministry, and that's one of the reasons I'm so excited about this. We're hoping/planning on having 1000 students next Christmas. That's the goal. If the typical student takes one class per month, that's $50,000/mo. Imagine how many people we can reach with that kind of money if the VAST VAST VAST majority is going to missions. And with all due respect to seminary trained white missionaries, that's not what I mean. I'm talking about locals--people in countries where $30/mo funds a full time local missionary who knows the language and culture. We could fund HUNDREDS of them . . .

I mean, suppose one missionary plants two or three churches a year (which is not uncommon, btw), of 10-20 new converts. Small churches, yes, but that allows for deeper discipleship. So that's 20-60 new converts per year. What if we were able to fund just 100 missionaries next year. That could be 2000-6000 new converts. Each year!

I could talk about this stuff forever. Really, we're just super excited. So just be watching and praying. We have a blog on the website that we'll be updating twice a week starting next week. Read those articles and share them. Did I mention prayer? Please do a lot of that. Lot's to do between now and January.

Is that you Jac? How have you been? We have missed you being around, I know I have even if others have'nt. Merry Christmas!

Now that is a backhanded compliment if ever I heard one!!
Just teasing you acb

I was just teasing ya'll,I know ya'll missed Jac being around too. It sounds like he's been busy.

Update on EBTC. We've changed the launch date to sometime this summer, as we'd like to launch with at least three, maybe even five, full certificates. I also am in talks with a couple of Bible colleges and seminaries to get them to accept our credits towards a degree for those who want to continue pursue a formal theological degree--so that's pretty cool. We're several faculty members over the next few weeks, so all seems to be going well.

So while I wish I could post a big announcement about courses being up and running, we're not quite there yet. In the meantime, I wanted to give you all a taste of three lectures and get some of your initial thoughts. Two are mine. One is audio only. One is a PowerPoint presentation with audio. The third is from Dr Tony Guthrie.

Overview of the Gospel of Matthew (no password)
Introductory Lecture on Theology Proper: "Who and what is God?" (password is "SBT Theology)
Lecture on "the Model Prayer" (password is "model prayer")

Would be interested in your thoughts, as this gives something of a taste of the type of material students will get. Courses will, again, have textbooks and lecture materials (we also have video lectures in each class), and, of course, the dreaded tests. In any case, I'm just curious as to some of your thoughts of the quality of the initial stuff we're working on.

Thanks much!

Another update: we've started a GoFundMe campaign to try to raise a little money to cover some of the start up costs (building and upgrading the website, paying some profs for course development, and sponsorships for some students who are simply too poor to pay anything whatsoever beyond their own textbooks). I know it's tacky to ask you all for money, so I'm not doing that. What I AM doing, for those of you on social media, is asking--if you would be so kind--to share the campaign on your feeds and maybe say something nice about it.

Thanks, and will definitely be keeping you all updated on our progress.