If I was a young leader in the vineyard I would seriously think about Heroic Leadership Institute as a way to be trained for the next season of my life. What is this HLI, you ask… Heroic Leadership Institute is a nine-month long program aimed to help develop young leaders and see them transformed into the character of Christ in pretty much every area of their lives. It is all about engaging and partnering with young adults to train and release them into joining what God’s doing in the world. And God is doing a whole lot in our world today!
I attended a local church-based discipleship school, similar to HLI, right after I graduated high school. The training I received has helped me to stay on the ministry leadership path all these years. I want to invite you to consider doing the same.
Here’s a video from our Duluth site…
Heroic Leadership Institute provides the necessary tools for a lifelong journey of reflective spiritual formation, thorough biblical education, hands-on ministry participation, and transformational engagement in local church communities. Let me unpack each of these things just a bit…
Reflective Spiritual Formation
With exposure to and participation in the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, students have the opportunity to create a launching pad of self-awareness, ingenuity, heroism, and love that will serve them the rest of their lives. It borrows from multiple sources, both ancient and current, to create nine months’ worth of daily guided examines (guided prayers) that touch on every area of life. The hope is that these young leaders would complete the training with both a deep and wide view on how they interact with their creator and with one another.
Thorough Biblical Education
Focusing on the five core Vineyard values and a solid biblical foundation, students will learn from some of the best teachers and practitioners in the Vineyard through both virtual and live interaction. The students interact with every part of the scriptures. The desire is not only to expose these students to solid teaching but also to guide them as they process what they’re learning and help them apply the material very practically to life and to ministry.
Hands-On Ministry Participation
HLI students apply and practice everything they are learning in local churches and communities. The goal is to help the students to have their own “God Stories” and this only comes through taking what they are being exposed to in the classroom and taking it to the streets. They have weekly rotations through different local outreaches including working with the poor, immigrant populations, pregnant moms, the homeless, and children. They regularly engage in “power evangelism”, compassion ministries, worship, teaching ministries and, of course, lots of small group activities.
Transformational Engagement in Local Church Communities
All of this takes place in the context of a local church. HLI leaders are all involved in local Vineyard churches, in fact, all the ministry they engage in is local church based instilling the same love for the local church we see in the scriptures. The HLI students are exposed to all sizes of local churches in every kind of location—urban, rural, suburban, large, and small. This empowers these younger leaders to go into any community across the globe, link arms with the local believers, and engage in what the Father is doing in that particular community.
HLI is entering its tenth year of training young adults to love God with everything they’ve got—heart, soul, mind, strength—and to love their neighbors around the globe as ourselves. Through the program, these young adults form a willingness to continually say yes to whatever God is asking them to do.
So what about you…what would it look like for you (or the younger leaders you’re involved with) to engage in authentic biblical community for nine months and to experience the kind of transformation that would help you to live a life of fruitful, healthy participation in what God is doing in the world today? Join us in Duluth, MN!
Find more information at www.godogreatthings.com.
