Pastors University:
The top 50 lessons for pastors from 50 years of ministry.
Only 1 out of every 10 pastors will actually retire from the ministry. A new generation of pastoral leadership is coming on the scene needing fathering, coaching, and curated content in the 50 areas they deal with the most. I believe my experience can save young pastors by the hundreds from the dangers, pitfalls, soft spots, and chaos that destroys the other 9 out of 10.
A Message From Pastor Larry:
Pastors University teaches The practical things that most seminaries and Bible colleges never deal with.
In my 50 years of ministry, I’ve seen so many pastors hurting in these ways:
Health and marriage breakdowns coming from stress.
Collapse from temptation and immorality.
Children falling away from God.
Church splits and a lack of healthy church government.
I’M READY TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. 50 years of experience have prepared me to COACH A NEW GENERATION OF PASTORS to be strong, stable, and spiritual. If you are presently a Senior Pastor or will soon be planting or taking over a church, you are in the “sweet spot.”
Have you ever sensed that:
Your prayer life and inability to hear God’s voice has left your preaching flat and empty?
Your personal life, family, finances, and personal growth feel un-coached and unaccountable?
Your church lacks simple systems to help you make day to day decisions in the 10-12 areas you oversee?
Your vision for expansion feels more like survival?
“Join a cohort of pastors who are faced with the same challenges. Give me four months of your life to teach you how to “go the distance!” I want the best, purest, “hungriest” leaders I can find to pour into them all 50 years in 4 months…committed like Elisha to Elijah…pursuing…ready to grow…on fire…ALL IN.” —Larry Stockstill
All 50 lessons are offered digitally and can be completed at your own pace. You will be joining a “Cohort” of 35-40 pastors who are each completing the 50 lessons. At the end of each Module (every four weeks), Pastor Larry will host a 90-minute live digital MasterClass for review, questions, discussion, and prophetic prayer over the students.
During the month for each Module, pastors will engage with each other in virtual small group “Learning Communities” of 5-6 pastors. They will discuss meaningful questions and often be joined by Pastor Larry to answer questions more intimately and speak directly to group members.
The result? Continual GROWTH for four months. The primary comment we have received over the last four years of Pastors University is “life-changing!”
I challenge you to take a break from your average routine pastoral work and position yourself to break through ceilings in your spiritual life, personal life, day-to-day decisions, and vision for expansion.
You will receive “impartation,” not just information. This is “curated” Content spoken to the 50 direct areas a pastor deals with over his lifetime. God will speak to you day by day and prepare you for a lifetime of service!
Satisfaction Guaranteed
We offer a satisfaction guarantee that each Pastor who completes all four Modules of Pastors University will be personally transformed and feel equipped to pastor successfully or their entire tuition will be returned.
“This was the best and most practical, meaningful training I’ve ever been a part of in ministry.”
New church planter, 1000 plus in attendance
A curriculum tailored to the exact demands a local church pastor faces…
Ezekiel saw four faces on the living creatures around the throne of God: “the eagle, the man, the ox, and the lion.” Each of these can represent a broad area of pastoral development in your life:
The “eagle”: “Spirituality”
Do you want to pray more consistently and see results? Is your church a praying and worshipping church? Do you struggle with hearing the voice of God, message prep, speaking connection, and long-term planning of your annual messages?
The “Man”: “Self-management”
Is you marriage solid on the outside but failing on the inside? Are your kids preparing for leadership? Does your life feel slightly out of control and unbalanced between work, family, and purpose? Are you personally growing?
The “Ox”: “Systems
Do you feel prepared to lead in all the day-to-day decisions from 10-12 different areas you are supposed to oversee (small groups, weddings/funerals, managing crises, kids/youth ministry, counseling, church government, discipleship, and many others)? Do you have highly developed systems for each area of your ministry?
The “Lion”: “Strategies”
With systems in place, do you have a strategic plan to grow your church by vision, fundraising, expansion (campuses), extension (church plants), mission (local and foreign), team building (staff), finances, and even succession? Are you a Great Commission pastor?
Along with the four modules of Pastors University, you get four different notebooks, one for each Module (Eagle, Man, Ox, and Lion). Each notebook will contain 12 lessons (plus 2 bonus lessons in Module 4) for a total of 50 sessions. Blanks are filled in during the sessions and all answers are in the back.
In addition to the notebooks, you will receive a set of discussion questions for the “Learning Community” groups that meet at the end of each session. These pastor groups will “flesh out” the teaching by applying it in their lives and sharing their insights, experiences, and even challenges for personal prayer.
Modules & Explanation (Click on each to expand and read more)
+ MODULE ONE: “The EAGLE MODULE” (spirituality) will emphasize your internal life with God and sharpen your preaching skills as a pastor.
PRAYER: Daily prayer, corporate prayer, personal and corporate fasting.
PROPHETIC: Worship ministry, spiritual warefare, hearing Gods voice, becoming a prophetic force in your city.
PREACHING: Planning a year of preaching, researching and preparing, writing a message, delivering a message.
THIS MODULE WILL CHANGE YOUR MINISTRY. We will design your entire year of preaching after this ONE MODULE!
+ MODULE TWO: “The MAN Module” (Self-management”) will cover everything about protecting your outward witness, developing margins, and releasing your productivity.
INTEGRITY, PURITY, AND EXAMPLE: The three areas of living "above reproach."
MARRIAGE: 6 Laws of marriage and my 7 principles of marriage from 44 years of experience.
PARENTING: Forming godly leaders through the "ages and stages" of life formation in your child.
MARGIN: Developing sustainable pace, schedule, and rest
FINANCES: Personal finances, insurance, retirement
PRODUCTIVITY: The seven major laws of personal growth.
THIS MODULE COULD SAVE A MINISTRY FROM IMPLODING! The key result will be to design a personal productivity system to make them MORE EFFICIENT IN MUCH LESS TIME.
+ MODULE THREE: The “OX MODULE” (“systems”) will highlight every area you will be dealing with in your day to day work as a pastor:
EVANGELISM/DISCIPLESHIP: Winning your city and turning them into disciples.
RESTORATION/COUNSELING: Counseling with Scripture and small groups and restoring fallen leaders.
MEN'S/CHILDREN/YOUTH MINISTRY: Developing a leadership pipeline
CRISIS: “Leadership steps in managing crisis”
WEDDINGS/FUNERALS: Step by step walk through of key moments
SMALL GROUPS: Keys of dynamic small groups, leadership development, and multiplication
THIS MODULE WILL HELP REAP, RETAIN AND TRAIN THE HARVEST! Attracting visitors to services means nothing if you don’t have the “systems” in place to “hold the harvest” and turn them into fellowship, discipleship and leadership.
+ MODULE FOUR: The “LION MODULE” (“strategy”) will cover “growth and multiplication” in the church:
VISION: “Casting vision for faith, funding, and expansion” (with Pastor Randy Bezet)
GOVERNMENT: “Church government for wisdom in expansion”
MULTI-SITE: Multi-campus model (with Pastor Rick Bezet)
CHURCH PLANTING: “When your church intentionally reproduces”
FOREIGN/LOCAL MISSIONS: Apostolic church planting and community ministry
TEAMS: "Developing a healthy staff."
BUILDINGS, CHURCH FINANCE, MARKETING: Three lessons on construction, branding, and budgets.
SUCCESSION: Preparing to pass the baton
COMMISSION: “Keeping a Great Commission Focus (with Pastor Chris Hodges)
THIS FINAL MODULE WILL BUILD UPON THE FIRST THREE TO EXPLODE YOUR FUTURE!
“So much of today’s leadership training for pastors is focused on just “how to’s”. We need those tools. Far beyond that, Pastors University offers a wholistic approach, grounded in decades of fruitful ministry, and includes the soul care needed to lead from a healthy place. It’s what pastors need most today.”
Randy Bezet, Senior Pastor at Bayside Church
Besides the amazing curriculum,
“Here is the icing on the cake”:
When Pastors Get together, some amazing, life-altering things happen…
There is “community and brotherhood.” Everyone in your cohort is leading a church (or soon to take over one). They have the same discouragements, trials, triumphs, and fears as others (especially after Covid-19!). Most pastors face intense loneliness and have no relationships to be totally transparent with. After Pastors University, that feeling will be “no more.”
In a “Learning Community,” pastors share their hearts, struggles, and ideas together. They become a “team,” fashioning lifetime relationships over the four months together. Cohort groups formed at Pastors U years ago are still in the community and relationships!
You are in an environment of faith and worship. During the monthly Masterclasses, the entire cohort has seasons of prayer, devotion, and encouragement. There is much laughter, encouragement, and positivity as Pastor Larry gives his perspective on the 12 lessons just completed that Module and previews the next Module.
These are discouraging times for spiritual leaders. Some have even resorted to suicide. We NEED EACH OTHER’S FAITH, and that is what you will feel after being together.
There is CHANGE. Little by little, as your mind renews and your faith grows, your people back home will tell a remarkable difference in your confidence, preaching, leadership, and personal growth!
“In order to GO into opportunity, you must GROW into opportunity” (John Maxwell)
You must INVEST IN YOURSELF in order to grow
Total Cost Only $3,500.00
The total cost of the entire Pastors University experience (including all 50 sessions, notebooks, and Learning Community groups) is ONLY $3500 for the entire four months of training.
$3500 is not a lot to invest in yourself for something that could steer you TOWARD a powerful future and AWAY from a potential pitfall. Four months is not a long time for you to focus yourself on your personal development for the rest of your ministry!
Pastors University is focusing on YOUR health so your family and your congregation can be healthy. It is shaping your leadership in 50 areas so that you can become a LEGACY and not a BYWORD.
YOUR CHURCH would be interested in paying for their pastor or future successor of the pastor to go through this powerful year. Bethany paid a similar cost for both Pastors Jonathan and Larry to go together through a year of training right after Jonathan became the Lead Pastor in 2011. That year transformed their ministries from that point forward!
One pastor told a businessman about the opportunity he would have if he was selected to attend Pastors University. The man replied, “If you are selected, I will pay for the whole thing.” He WAS, and He DID!
Below is a link to a letter for your Church Board about Pastors University. You may be surprised that your Church Board would LOVE to pay $3500 for your continuing education to “go to the next level” as their pastor. If you are transitioning your church to a younger leader soon, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you consider them coming with you (or in your place!).
INVEST IN YOURSELF. As you grow, your organization will grow. It’s a small investment and you, your family, and your congregation are worth it!
Not everyone who applies will be accepted. We are limiting these two cohort opportunities to the best leaders in each round of applications.
“That’s the thing about leadership. It’s an investment that continually pays dividends. As a leader, you can never stop investing in your own growth. Growth as a leader is essential for a life of significance.”
John Maxwell
“Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the
believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
(1 Tim. 4: 12, 15-16, ESV)
Pastors University, Fall 2024
The next Cohort of Pastors University begins on August 24th and ends on November 17, 2024.
In each Module there are 12 lessons of virtual teaching (14 in the final Module). Students may complete the Module at their own pace during the four weeks prior to the Masterclass. Interspersed throughout the Module are scheduled “learning community” groups which each group schedules on their own.