“I don’t want to be a pirate!”

Seinfeld is one of my favorite TV shows. In one episode Jerry inadvertently volunteered to wear a Puffy-Shirt on the Today show. Several people commented that he looked like a Pirate (thus the quote above). In a different episode Kramer had ousted all of Jerry’s shoes and all that remained were some Cowbooy boots causing Jerry to say…

“I don’t want to be a Cowboy”

Like Jerry, many of us have discovered what we don’t want to be/do. Too often, it seems, the discovery comes after years and years of doing it. What if we could find out sooner than later?

One of the appeal points for me about Adelphia Bible School is that it affords the students, at an early point and an affordable price, the opportunity to discover who/what they want to become. The Cohort Program Adelphia is starting will give students the opportunity to discover at a young age (many at age 18 or 19) some things that they may not discover until they’ve paid upwards of $100k in school.

Besides a fantastic line-up of teachers (each week they bring in a top notch speaker), the school is really geared to give students not just a foundation for later, but tools to live out his/her faith now and to discover calling, gifts, skills and possible career field NOW, not just later.

The Cohort Program will specifically give students that exploration. Upon acceptance to Adelphia the students will be asked to consider being a part of a Cohort. In the Cohorts the students will meet with best-practice partners in a specific field he or she is thinking about pursuing.

Let me give you a couple specific examples: “Joe” (protecting the guilty) is thinking about being a Youth Pastor. He is just one-class short of his Associates degree. This next year, Joe is going to enter the “Youth Ministry Cohort” and serve his local church through a formal (apprenticeship) or informal internship. In addition, he hopes to work 12-18 hours a week at a local business in order to make some money and be a missionary in the workforce and still have time to pour into his students! Through the Cohort he will get training outside his specific church from best-practice Youth Pastors and also get training in the internship from his own Youth Pastor.

“Sarah” is thinking that she’ll go into teaching after she completes a bachelors degree. However, she really wants to be a strong Christian in any field God may call her to. Sarah is going to sign up for the “Career Workforce” Cohort where she’ll be exposed to many different community leaders who hold secular career positions and see their places of employment as a mission field. Sarah plans on working 20-30 hours a week just 10 minutes away from the school.

Both of these scenarios are COMPLETELY possible because of Adelphia’s unique approach. Students will have interactive community classes each morning (9-12) and then have every afternoon and several evenings “off” so they can do any/all of the following:

1. Intern/Apprentice  in a local church/parachurch (paid and unpaid positions)
2. Work at local business and earn valuable income
3. Classes at a local community college, university or online to get ahead on even more education