By Paul Boatman
Mark Moore is teaching pastor of Christ”s Church of the Valley (CCV) in Peoria, Arizona, a congregation with weekly attendance of about 19,000. He left a 22-year professorship at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri, to lead a creative ministry-equipping program through this congregation.
You left a respected professorship after two decades. Why?
Influence. I loved teaching in Bible college. I also love preaching. When pastor Don Wilson opened the door at Christ”s Church of the Valley, I realized I could pursue both loves. It gives poetic balance to my career: The first half in academia and the second half in the church.
Help us understand the program you are working on.
The Leadership Institute is a residency program putting the church and the Christian university in partnership. It is a three/one approach: Three years in academic classes in the various schools, and one year of practical application. That model is used in many professional fields: medicine, counseling, public school teachers, etc.
How was this partnership forged?
We brought leaders from seven university campuses to CCV to meet our people and see how our ministry works. Then we offered our plea, “Send us your five finest seniors. Let us complete their training.” They were enthusiastic.
How will the senior year be different?
To start with, a traditional student spends 16 hours a week in lecture. We will have just four. Instead of the usual 20-to-1 student-teacher ratio, we will have a 1-to-2 ratio! Each student will have two mentors””12 hours each week will be devoted to “watch what I am doing; let me explain it.” In the traditional model, we always said the student should study 2 hours outside of class for every hour in class. The Leadership Institute will demand 2 hours of exercise of ministry for every hour of lecture and guidance. So the weekly schedule will include 4 hours of lecture, 12 hours of guidance mentoring, and 32 hours of actual practice.
Since this is for credit, how do you guarantee appropriate academic standards for your mentors?
Every academic dean asks that. Our church staff includes two PhDs and 20 other master”s degrees. Every student in residency will have mentoring from someone with at least a master”s. The only exception will be competencies where you cannot get an MA. For example, we have training in security””every church should have a security program, but few do. Our main security instructor is a former police detective. His experience and excellence meet the standard, and our deans were satisfied.
Can you list the competencies for us?
Christian leadership, church administration, intercultural studies, church planting, pastoral ministry, youth ministry, children and family ministry, sports ministry, worship ministry, and special needs ministry. We view these competencies as essential to get students through the first five years when 50 percent of ministers drop out.
Push that issue for us.
Young pastors are not getting fired because they lack Bible knowledge. Our schools teach Bible well. But schools have not taught human resources, event planning, organization, management of people and calendars. These are trainable competencies. We hold ourselves to two litmus tests: one, will this training eliminate the errors typically made in the first five years of ministry? If not, we are not being practical enough. Two, can any traditional college do this better? If “yes,” we leave it to the school. The only purely academic class under the competencies is Life of Christ. That”s my specialty, and what makes it distinctive is that we will be teaching it in Israel. So we posit that the spiritual development fostered by taking the class in Israel will help the student through the first five years of ministry.
Who will be granting the degrees to these students?
The college or university will grant the credit hours, collect tuition and fees, and grant the degrees. CCV will be reimbursed for the actual cost of having the student on campus. We are partnering with schools, not competing.
You are asking for the five finest students. That sounds complicated.
Presidents and deans will recommend students. Those students will apply, and we will select the residents from that pool. It is an incredibly elite program. Only a few can be recommended to us, and not all of those will be chosen. The first year we will take 30, and in future years we hope to move to 50, then 75, and finally 100. Students will be thoroughly tested at both ends with intricate rubric evaluations. All of that will go into shareware for other churches to use in similar programs.
You expect this model to be developed elsewhere?
We want to have a model that can be easily exported to any church that can provide training in those 10 competencies. Personally, I have three goals. My first goal is to help build the church by sending out ministers who are adequately trained to thrive in their first five years of ministry. Second, I want to build CCV. God has blessed this church so much that we have an obligation to use our facilities and people to export a DNA of excellence and clear training to the next generation. Third, I want to undergird the Bible colleges in their effort to equip effective ministers. The church has grown beyond the abilities of the colleges to adequately train without the cooperation of the local church. We are not better than the Bible college, but we can help the Bible college to do its most important task.
I notice you have not mentioned seminaries.
The program grants 30 hours of undergraduate credit. The same program can go for 18 hours of graduate or seminary credit, with some appropriate adjustments. The schools will decide how to integrate the residency with degree programs, and they are working on it. We can amp up what a seminary or graduate school does. Imagine having the student in contact with teaching ministers 40 hours a week. Students will be at the side of a veteran minister in every phase of ministry.
You mentioned early on that CCV invited leaders from seven schools. Is the program exclusive to those schools?
Oh no. In fact, we invited some schools that just could not arrange for that consultation. And any school that has quality candidates can recommend them. The schools we are already working with are Manhattan, Johnson, Ozark, Lincoln, Florida, Dallas, and Hope.
Is there a danger that the Leadership Institute will come to dominate the ministry of CCV, leading to “rumblings” within the church?
Not likely. First, residents function within our ministries, driving them forward. Second, our congregation thrives on innovation, sacrifice, and investment in future generations. Third, I don”t care. Pastor Wilson has a laser focus on doing the right thing for the kingdom, not just CCV. If some people can”t see the value of exporting excellent ministry, then they”ll probably be happier in another church. Our leadership feels a calling to do this ministry, and they cannot be talked out of pursuing God”s calling.
Would you care to comment on your personal cost in this career transition?
We don”t dwell on that. Our newborn first grandchild lives 15 minutes from where we lived in Joplin. You know the power of that bond. But God has promised that we will be blessed a hundredfold if we are willing to give up family, houses, lands. He is already making good on that promise in Arizona.
Paul Boatman is chaplain of Safe Haven Hospice in Lincoln, Illinois.
Great interview, and converging the work of college and church to better prepare workers is a great idea. I worry, however, that too much training is being done in a megachurch setting, when 90% of our churches have less than 300 members. Are we preparing too many “specialists” when “general practitioners” are still going to be serving most of our churches? Are we exploring ways to bring the mentoring/convergence model to smaller congregations so that we prepare leaders for this environment as well?
I have been involved with local church ministry for the past 32 years, 25 of which have been with the same church. God has richly blessed our ministry together and I count it a joy to have been embraced by the congregation I serve. My prayer is that God would raise up many men and women who will make it their life’s passion to serve the Lord in a local congregations. Perhaps this model will better equip men and women to lead and serve the church more effectively and efficiently. My only concern is with the phrase ‘incredibly elite’ used to describe those eligible to participate. It seems we already have an uneasy tension that exists between those who are ‘elite’ and ‘the rest of us’. I realize that the intent is not to foster distinction, but I cringe when I see these kinds of words used. Personally, I would never have been recommended to participate in such a program. I did not have the academic qualifications to be selected. Yet, here I am 32 years later still involved in the greatest work ever given to man. I would pray that perhaps this model can be reproduced by other churches so that the number of individuals who are selected will continue to increase to include ordinary guys like me.
I am grateful for men like Mark and CCV for creating a new learning paradigm. I pray that it is successful and translates into a great harvest for the Kingdom. And thanks again to Mark Moore for leading the “Journeys of Apostle Paul” trip to Turkey, Greece and Rome in 2012. It was an experience I will never forget.
Dear Mark,
My husband , Ed, and I attened CCV 2 weeks ago and heard you speak. We enjoyed you VERY much!
When I saw the name Moore I told my daughter that you look like my Patton-Moore family from Mt Vernon MO. My Grandmother , Mary Belle Moore married James Newton Patton. She died shortly after I was born in 1935. Her father was Judge Gollihugh Blackburn Moore.
My husband and I were both born and raised in Joplin MO. We moved to Phoenix AZ permanantly in 1963. Small world ..In Christian love , Mary Patton Rutter