Our Approach

to building preachers

Rather than attempting to train preachers in only one area, at the Brown Trail School of Preaching we target three distinct areas of focus in order to produce well-rounded ministers of the Gospel: Knowledge, skills, and character. We firmly believe that by training and mentoring you in these area, we will prepare you for spiritual maturity and life-long success in ministry.

Building Knowledge

Preaching requires a strong knowledge base of the Bible as well as numerous other subjects.

We encourage active learning and give you assignments carefully designed to prepare you for both the requirements and pace of ministry in the real world. At the BTSoP, you'll study and learn:

Every book of the Bible
Faith-building apologetics
Historical and cultural backgrounds of the Bible
Biblical Greek and Hebrew
Biblical and philosophical theology

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Building Character

While learning to preach involves a large number of classes, it is about so much more than just the academics! A preacher must be a man of God. This is why we spend extra time focusing on personal development and growth.

Here, we'll lead you to grow:

As a Christian and preacher, personally devoted to God - especially through our unique chapel system
As a leader for your home, for the church, and for others who seek after God
As a hard working, diligent, organized worker in the kingdom
As a wise, holy, humble, and courageous man of God
As a preacher whose godly relationships with others are only surpassed by your relationship with God.

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Building Skills

Too much focus on cultivating students' knowledge neglects some important skills for a preacher's work.

In addition to dedicated skills classes, we have several hybrid courses. These courses use biblical texts as skill-teaching sandboxes. Using these methods, we spend substantial time developing your abilities such as:

Biblical interpretation
Sermon crafting in numerous styles (topical, textual, and expository)
Teaching Bible classes effectively
Evangelism and mission work
Biblical counseling and leadership

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Check out these 10 good reasons for attending BTSoP

We offer 68 courses that studies every book in the Bible in 900+ hours of class time while balancing the academics and practicality of preaching in the remiaing 1500 hours.

Our faculty brings a host of practical experiences to the classroom covering every facet of ministry including years involved in local work, overseas missions, television and radio work, youth ministry, and shepherding congregations.

We offer extensive training focused on in-depth Bible study, including courses covering General Hermeneutics, Narrative Exegesis, and Greek Exegesis.

We provide six distinct courses in public speaking to train men to preach multiple types of topical, textual, and expository sermons and to prepare them to do funerals, weddings, and other types of speaking.

We have courses dedicated to critical thinking, world views, apologetics, and ethics to teach students how to address the challenges of the postmodern age.

Our daily time in chapel emphasizes spiritual growth, reflection, personal devotion, and spiritual formation.

We teach men how to teach Bible class, offering courses both in pedagogy and practice.

We offer language courses in English, Greek, and Hebrew.

We emphasize biblical servant leadership in the classroom and in mentoring students.

We integrate the practice of every skill required in the local work into our curriculum: from preaching and teaching to visitation and evagelism.

During our two-year training program, we cover the entire Bible, teaching essential skills and emphasizing practical ministry applications. Discover all of our programs below!

Our Programs of Study