Dear Student,

If you’re reading this, you probably already feel God is calling you to help shepherd His flock.  That’s great news!  But do you have what it takes to provide sound spiritual guidance to a wide variety and number of people in all kinds of situations?

Sure, it takes rock-solid faith in God and your convictions.  It takes patience, compassion, and courage.  It also requires a certain amount of sacrifice and lots and lots of hard work.  Trust us on the part about hard work.

Where’s the humility, you ask?  While the meek shall inherit the earth, it takes strong, aggressive, confident leadership to change the world for Christ.  He wouldn’t have it any other way.

We’re not trying to talk you out of anything.  We’re just telling it like it is and presenting our side of the story as you make the all-important choice on which college you trust to prepare you for your career in ministry and life in general.

Here in Huntington University’s Department of Ministry and Missions, we’re dedicated to taking raw recruits (that’s you now) and training them to be seasoned soldiers (that’s the future you) for our Savior.  Our primary task is to develop students who possess the knowledge, skills, and commitment necessary to lead others toward increasing maturity and faithfulness in their relationship with God.

We highly value critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and creativity.  Our curriculum integrates biblical truth, evangelical theology, church history, and educational psychology and methodology.  We also value independent thinking.  God, after all, wouldn’t have given you the ability to reason if you weren’t supposed to use it, right?

The Real Deal

OK, we’ve given you the spiel about out Ministry and Missions programs, and yada, yada, yada – we know the rhetoric colleges spout to attract you becomes one loud litany after awhile.  But we’re not done here yet.  Here’s the piece de resistance, our ace in the hole, the icing on the cake.

We’re talking about PRIME, or Practical Research and Immersion in Ministry Effectiveness.  We call PRIME “a distinctive” because no other institution has a program with its depth and breadth.  PRIME is a cornerstone of our program.  It’s a little like student teaching and a whole lot like real life.

Beginning in the summer after your junior year, you’ll be required to embark upon a seven-month PRIME experience tailored to your interests, passions, and calling.  You’ll work alongside experienced ministers, who will be your mentors.  Your PRIME experience may be in a church setting or a parachurch environment.

Whether your experience takes you to Bismarck or Beijing, to a towering tabernacle or a tar-paper shack, you’ll gain tangible experience essential to starting your career in ministry.  Regardless of where you go or what you do, that will be your job during those seven months.

Your PRIME experience can’t take place in your hometown or with people you already know, like your cousin Larry, who’s a pastor in Dubuque.  It’s just like real life – you have to go into unfamiliar surroundings, connect with people, and develop new relationships.

Don’t worry about all the friends you’ll leave back on campus; you’ll see them when you return for the spring semester of your senior year.  And chances are, those friends are in it for the long haul anyway; friendships forged at Huntington University seem to have a shelf life of a lifetime.

There may not be any guarantees on this mortal plane, but we assure of this:  you will come back a changed person.  You’ll be standing taller, having grown in ways you didn’t think possible.  In many fields, students never know quite what to expect until they graduate and start their first jobs, but your PRIME experience will sharpen your focus and clarify your direction in ministry.

Please remember to show this web page to your parents.  Parents are a funny lot; they expect you to make a good living in return for their substantial investment in your education.  While we all agree that ministry – serving God as a leader, educator, and role model – is a reward in and of itself, everyone still has to pay the rent.  The compensation for entry-level ministry is about what a beginning school teacher can expect.

We also encourage you to share this material with your pastor or any other advisor whose counsel you seek when making big decisions.  Because this is one of the biggest decisions you’ll ever make.

Thank you for your time and attention – and good luck to you no matter where your walk with God takes you.

For His Kingdom,

The Ministry and Mission Department faculty

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