Not long after we started the ClearNote Pastors College in the Fall of 2005, I got a good laugh from a young man who called to inquire about our campus. It made me realize that anyone looking for the "campus" of CNPC would not likely be impressed.

At that time, the facility in which we met was a dingy former sheet metal shop that looked remarkably like an old gas station (what was then the office of Church of the Good Shepherd, our host church). Since then, God has blessed CGS with a new, but humble, building: a concrete box that is often confused for a warehouse. That is where we have class. That is not, however, where most of the learning happens.

Our “classrooms” look more like the living rooms of our students’ pastors and elders than they resemble the lecture halls of any seminary. And student life looks more like lunch with a mentor where a student is probed about his relationship with his wife than it resembles office hours with a favorite professor.

The real training that the CNPC offers occurs in elders' meetings where tough pastoral issues—issues of discipline, wisdom, and leadership—are wrestled through and implemented. It takes place in the hospital room where an elderly member of one of our churches just had quadruple bypass surgery; and it takes place around the kitchen table of the young couple that just had their second miscarriage. It happens on Sunday mornings when our students spread their wings and learn to preach with boldness and authority.

Our “campus” is the rescue mission and the local jail as our students preach. It is the street corner as our men witness to a group of college students who think Christians are nut jobs. And it is in the Sunday School classroom where our students teach little children the ABC’s of knowing God.

I could go on, but I’m sure you get the point. The CNPC really is like nothing that you have ever seen before. Yes, our men read books and write papers and take exams. But the point of their education is to make them into faithful shepherds—not scholars. The students will certainly gain knowledge through books and classes, but the knowledge will begin to have legs and hands in the trenches of pastoral ministry, faithful service, and mentoring.

I believe that this really is the best way to be trained for gospel ministry. I was trained in a similar manner and have been thankful ever since for the knowledge, character and skill God hammered into me through my training in a faithful local church by godly pastors and elders. My hope is that many more men will have the benefit of this training as well.

Please contact me if you have any questions about being a student at the CNPC. I would be delighted to speak with you.

Warmly,

Stephen Baker, Dean