The King's Seminary

tku.edu/seminary

Spirit-Empowered. Theologically-Balanced. Ministry-Minded.

Est. 1997

The King’s Seminary (TKS) equips men and women called by God to Spirit­-empowered ministry through practical theological education and spiritual formation, for participation in the community and mission of God.

About TKS Situated within the Jack W. Hayford School of Graduate Studies at The King’s University (TKU), TKS equips students for effective pastoral leadership.

Founded by Pastor Jack Hayford in Van Nuys, California, in 1997, TKU is now under the leadership of Pastor Robert Morris in partnership with Gateway Church.

TKS offers a unique training experience focused on the distinctive ministry priorities found in the apostolic church leadership of TKU Founder Jack Hayford and Chancellor Robert Morris: clear communication of Scripture as the authoritative Word of God, a Spirit-formed approach to the Christian life that includes a charismatic worldview, the priority of the local church, a deep commitment to the Jewish roots of the Christian faith, a lifestyle devoted to the practice and power of prayer, the open invitation for every person to encounter the Lord’s presence through worship, and a heart to build bridges of unity and reconciliation in the body of Christ.

“The Holy Spirit is integrated into everything we do. It’s part of who we are. Good theology ought always to lead us to deeper relationship with God.” Dr. David Moore

M. G. Robertson Professor of Pneumatology

THE KING’S SEMINARY ACCREDITATION

EXPERIENCE-BASED LEARNING

ONLINE LEARNING FLEXIBILITY

The King’s Seminary is accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of The Association of Theological Schools (ATS).

Additionally,TKS has received approval for its comprehensive distance (online) education.

Each of our graduate programs focuses on professional ministry preparation, inviting you to explore specific areas of advanced preparation for church leadership through experience-based learning.

We believe location should not prevent you from continuing your education and being part of The King’s community. In addition to on-campus learning, all of our seminary programs are offered online or combined in an online and cohort format.

Degree Programs MASTER OF DIVINITY (MDiv)

MASTER OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES (MTS)

Through integrated biblical, theological, and practical ministry studies, our MDiv develops Spirit-empowered, servant leaders and enhances your credibility for ordained ministry as a chaplain, pastor or church planter. Firmly rooted in our founding values of Spirit-formation, renewal, and Church unity, this program will equip you for all types of transformative ministry.

As the gold standard in preparation for doctorallevel theological study, the MDiv also prepares students who feel called to academia or desire advanced ministry training in the future.

78 Credit Hours | On-Campus or Online

Whether you have years of ministry experience as a pastor or church leader or you find yourself on a journey towards doctoral work, MTS is designed for students that hunger for a deeper biblical and theological understanding. While MDiv and MPT programs prepare students for a variety of vocational ministry roles, the MTS program is entirely devoted to biblical studies with a unique focus on spiritual formation.

49 Credit Hours | On-Campus or Online

MASTER OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP (MOL) With an emphasis on integrating personal development, theological foundations, and organizational studies, this degree will equip you to face challenges both today and in the future in your business, church, ministry, or nonprofit organization. Our Spirit-infused theological framework blends timeless principles with contemporary application, making the MOL a valuable experience for any leader.

36 Credit Hours | Hybrid Cohort Model

MASTER OF PRACTICAL THEOLOGY (MPT) Taught by experienced ministry practitioners and scholars, MPT equips you with a vibrant knowledge of the Word and balanced theological understanding that can be applied in your everyday life and ministry. Through a variety of elective options, MPT is tailored to equip you for your specific ministry calling in the local church, the marketplace, or wherever the Lord leads you.

48 Credit Hours | On-Campus or Online

DOCTOR OF MINISTRY (DMin) Designed for those who are already actively leading in the church or parachurch organizations, this in-service professional ministry development program allows you to remain on mission while engaged in the learning process. Our DMin aims to enhance practical ministry competence, provide opportunities for personal and spiritual renewal, and stimulate growth in one’s leadership capacity. The DMin culminates in a professional project that will address a need in your current ministry context.

36 Credit Hours | Hybrid Cohort Model The DMin program offers concentrations in Spiritual Formation and Direction, Executive Leadership, Pastoral Theology in Practice, Women in Ministry Leadership, and Messianic Jewish Studies.

Letter from the Dean Dr. Jon Huntzinger Dean of The King’s Seminary Distinguished Professor of Bible and Ministry

There is nothing more exciting—and challenging—than sensing the Lord’s call to pursue ministry study with the goal of serving His people in the name of Jesus/ Yeshua His Son and in the power of His Spirit. I would like to invite you to consider The King’s Seminary as the place to respond to the call you are discerning.

The King’s Seminary knows the Lord’s calling can take many expressions—serving as a lead pastor in a church, teaching in a Bible program, communicating good news in a podcast, managing a business based on biblical principles, or simply deepening one’s faith— but at the heart of His calling to each of us is relationship with Him. We see ourselves as a community of people committed to helping one another strengthen our relationship with the Lord even as we learn how to love and serve others.

It’s why we emphasize prayer and worship in

each of our degree programs as much as we do critical thinking and practical ministry skills.

Our founder Pastor Jack Hayford often talked about“making big people,”by which he meant helping people grow into the image of God they were created to be. This commitment complements the teaching of Pastor Robert Morris and his vision of blessed people who are in relationship with God and who are generous in their life toward others. The King’s Seminary is all about forming big people who know God’s Word, who live in the authority of God’s Spirit, who manifest blessing in all they do, and who are witnesses of His goodness and love to others. If this is something that is stirring in you, then take a look at one of our degree programs (Master of Divinity, Master of Practical Theology, Messianic JewishStudies, Master of Theological Studies, Master of Organizational Leadership, or Doctor ofMinistry). In each of them you will be challenged to become “big” in your faith and relationship with God and “blessed” in your commitment to love others in the power of His Son and His Spirit.

We would love to hear from you.

Concentrations: WOMEN IN MINISTRY LEADERSHIP (WIML) One of the first of its kind among Spiritempowered seminaries across the country, The Center for Women in Ministry Leadership (WIML) is designed as a gathering place for personal development and spiritual growth as women learn to navigate the unique issues within their ministry context.

A WIML concentration is available to women enrolled in most master’s degree programs at TKS and includes courses on the history and theology of women in ministry leadership, as well as current issues.

Women in the concentration also attend a retreat focused on soul care and intentional spiritual formation. As they eliminate distractions and focus on the voice of God, they experience moments dedicated to the inner life of the leader rather than the activities of leadership.

MESSIANIC JEWISH STUDIES (MJS) Whether you desire to lead in the Messianic community or feel called to be a bridge between the Church and the Jewish people, our MJS program is designed for you.

With accredited degrees taught by distinguished, Spirit-filled faculty, and as one of few schools approved by the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UJMC) for training rabbis and teachers, the MJS program at TKS is truly one of a kind.

In the master’s level MJS concentration (available to MDiv and MPT), students learn to articulate a biblically-based theology of Messianic Jewish ministry and leadership that is Spirit-empowered and informed by the calling of Israel and the Body of Messiah.

Additionally, an Antisemitism and Jewish Advocacy (AJA) concentration is available for the MPT program, and a Land of the Bible concentration is available for MDiv and MPT.

Mind the Gap Building a bridge between the Church and higher education.

Dr. Dan Call Director of Doctor of Ministry Professor of Practical Theology

Charles Haddon Spurgeon pastored the great New Park Street Chapel (later the Metropolitan Tabernacle) in London, England, from 1854 to 1892. He was only 19 years old when he was called to pastor New Park Chapel, a wellknown church which had dwindled numerically to 313 members, with actual attendance being much smaller. It took only a few months of Spurgeon’s dynamic preaching to see attendance rise. By the age of 22, Spurgeon was consistently preaching to crowds of 10,000 and had become London’s most popular preacher. Swelling crowds required numerous church relocations ending with the opening of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in March 1861. With a main sanctuary seating capacity of 5000 and an overflow area that seated 1000, the Tabernacle was weekly filled to capacity. During Spurgeon’s 38 years of ministry, the church grew from 313 members to more than 5000 members.

By 1970, 78 years after Spurgeon’s last year of ministry, only a few of the pews were necessary for Sunday morning service attendees.

The once enormous crowds of thousands had diminished to less than a hundred. The obvious question is “what happened?” The answer is complex with numerous reasons for the decline.

If our task is to coalesce all of the reasons for decline to just one word, that one word would be “change.” Many ministers tried to follow the legendary Spurgeon, and none met with success.

Additionally, London was in the throes of massive urban growth. In 1850 (when Spurgeon began his ministry at Metropolitan Tabernacle) the population in London was 2.5 million. In 1900 (when Spurgeon ended his ministry), London had grown to 5 million and by 1950 growth reached 8.5 million. Another change came in 1898, when the Metropolitan Tabernacle was nearly totally destroyed by fire. Years later in 1941, the church faced physical destruction again from the German bombings of London in World War II. Church leadership changes, massive urban growth, and physical property destruction were all factors of immense change.

History reminds us that life is filled with change—some minor and some major. No exception, ministry is constantly changing. During the spring of 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic only accentuated this truth. Today, nearly a year later, the effects of the virus continue to present obstacles and opportunities for the local church, its ministers, and faith communities. In the past year Christians have watched more online church services than previously in their entire lives.

Zoom meetings with staff, church boards, and pastoral counseling sessions are considered commonplace. With multi-sites, revitalization attempts, online services, and planting, the

outlook for churches appears to be daunting.

Looking at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and considering the rapid rate of change in the world today, it gives those of us in pastoral education and training a reason to stop and ask the question, “Are we doing a good job preparing our future ministry leaders?” The answer is sobering.

As a school of ministry preparation, I believe The King’s University provides strong academic programs and curriculum. In fact, many ministry preparation schools have solid educational curriculum. Perhaps a place for improvement is getting to know students on a more personal level. What if we created a dual approach that included academic challenge/excellence, as well as learning assessment throughout a student’s academic experience? Can you imagine equipping students with knowledge while assessing their personality traits and leadership potential?

What if we did more than award a degree, but tried to invest in the entire person and help them find the path that would ultimately be the most rewarding and fulfilling?

Strengths need to be identified.

Spiritual giftings need to be developed. Weaknesses must beidentified and

Can we help those with other gifts and callings prepare for ministry in larger churches, where building a team of pastors, board members, and key volunteer leaders will be desirable and necessary for healthy growth and service? Can we help those individuals understand that unless they recruit, develop, and inspire others for positions of leadership, the church risks becoming stagnant? Can those ministers find great satisfaction in pouring into the development of a few key leaders and learn to delegate much of the pastoral ministry to others? Can we help them to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit when discernment is required in building great teams? Can we assist them in seeing joy in raising up others for the work of the ministry?

“As a school of ministry preparation, I believe The King’s University provides strong academic programs & curriculum.” strategies for overcoming ministry-hampering behaviors and thoughts addressed and healed.

We need to do a better job of listening to our students’ sense of ministry calling. What is the Holy Spirit saying to them? And after listening and assessing and praying, we move away from a cookie-cutter approach to ministry preparation.

People preparing for vocational ministry need a level of self-awareness about ministry and how and where they fit. Are they called to pastor in a smaller church setting where their heart’s greatest desire is to be close to people? Are they ready for a life of hands-on ministry to a group of people who they will love and growth with over the long haul? Are they aware and in the process of being healed from past hurts that greatly impact their sense of identity and wholeness? Have we taught them to love people and to be available for people’s greatest joys (marriage, the birth of children, baby dedications, and successes in life) and their most challenging hardships (divorce, addictions, death)? Can those students come to embrace a personal, hands on ministry in smaller churches that brings great fulfillment and contentment.

And for those who are called and gifted to pastor megachurches and multi-site churches, can we educate, train, and equip them with a different skill set while keeping their heart for God in a healthy place? Can we teach them about how effective systems work in a large church context? Can we help them to be builders and dreamers and visionaries who see and cast vision in compelling ways?

Can we help them to see ministry in big organizational ways? Can we help them to know how to build a healthy, strong, and sustainable organizations? Can we assist them as they prepare for the financial challenges of building multiple buildings and supporting sizeable staffs and other paid personnel? Can we help them to define success in ways that are attainable and will give them a sense of contentment?

These are the musings of a pastor/ teacher, who is one of many, charged with the responsibility of loving, training, and educating the next generation of ministry leaders. The challenges are real and they are immense, but our God is greater and even more determined that all of us to get the job done.

A Moment of Decades

Launching The King’s University was the calling of a lifetime. goes streaking across the sky like a meteorite, only to fade in a silent fizzle. He was a man who knew the voice of His Lord” (172).

Dr. Jon Huntzinger Dean of The King’s Seminary Distinguished Professor of Bible and Ministry

When some of us hear how the Lord told Jack Hayford to start a seminary, while flying home from a Promise Keeper’s gathering in Atlanta in February 1996, we might imagine a dramatic moment like a voice from a burning bush or something equivalent to a bolt of lightning out of the blue. The reality is even more sublime. It was a moment when inner spiritual awareness and personal life experience intersected. What Jack Hayford heard aboard the plane at that time was a culmination of what he had heard and experienced over years. It was a moment of spiritual discernment distilled from a lifetime of listening to and following God’s direction.

“The King’s University is over 25 years old now and the thousands of graduates —college, masters, and doctoral, Jews and Gentiles, people from all continents, men and women, young and old—are all and give a credible testimony of that kingdom to living testimonies to the fact that the world. This deepening discernment continued when he spoke at Lausanne II Congress on World God found in Jack Hayford someone Evangelization in Manila in 1989 and exhorted who had learned His ways and was Christian leaders to embrace the healing and Christ-lifting ministry of the Spirit in all of its willing to do what He wanted where fullness as a testimony of God’s kingdom to the he was.” nations.

Such discernment had been cultivated by listening to the Lord through many people and being sensitive to the Lord’s promptings in many places. It was nurtured by his mother, Dolores, for instance, who taught him humility and encouraged him to be teachable to God’s truths.

It was strengthened when he looked over the San Fernando Valley one day and committed to the small Foursquare church in Van Nuys, California, where he was pastoring rather than reaching for more prominent ministry opportunities elsewhere.

It was honed by his work at Life Bible College where he guided young men and women in their walk with God. And it was deepened at The School on the Way in the 1970s and ‘80s when he taught Church on the Way members how to live out the kingdom of God with one another

In his book, Pursuing the Will of God: Reflections and Meditations on the Life of Abraham, which was published the year The King’s College opened its doors in 1997, Pastor Jack comments on discernment when he writes: “Learning the Lord’s ways is more important than seeing His acts. … The ultimate desire of the Lord is finding people—and He found one in Abraham—who simply do whatever God says to do, right where they are” (168). He goes on to say that God’s call to Abraham to do the unimaginable and give his son Isaac as a sacrifice occurred after “Abraham had been walking with the Lord and listening to His voice for decades. … He was not the kind of person who gets some hairbrained idea in his head because it seems spiritual and

“We believe in the preparation of the head, heart, & hands for ministry.

It takes theologians and practitioners alike to prepare God’s people for faithful service to the local church and the world.”

Dr. Dan Call

Director of Doctor of Ministry

TKS Experience Jelani Lewis Alumnus, Master of Organizational Leadership

When I was pursuing my MOL degree, I was overseeing multiple Gateway Church campuses.

Working in ministry, life was busy. And to top it off, my wife and I had just welcomed our third child into the world.

Thankfully, The King’s Seminary offered flexible hybrid courses that allowed me to fit learning into my busy schedule. There were many reasons not to go to school, but I knew that one of the ways God opens doors is through education.

The degrees and courses were part of the equipping process, and God used them to open doors for what He wanted me to do next. What I love about The King’s is that they talk about education and experience. When you leave here you know how to minister to people effectively.

To launch The King’s College and Seminary might seem like a hairbrained idea for someone in his 60s at the time, if it were not for the fact that Jack Hayford had been walking with the Lord and listening to His voice for decades. And because of those decades he was willing and able to do the extraordinary thing he heard God tell him to do. The King’s University is over 25 years old now and the thousands of graduates—college, masters, and doctoral, Jews and Gentiles, people from all continents, men and women, young and old—are all living testimonies to the fact that God found in Jack Hayford someone who had learned His ways and was willing to do what He wanted where he was.

20% Tuition Discount for Church Network Partners At The King’s University, our commitment is all about supporting the progress of church staff. That’s why we’re excited to introduce an exclusive and significant 20% tuition discount for every full-time staff member of our valued church network partners, including Gateway Church Network and Radiant Network. This generous discount is a clear reflection of our dedication to empowering church leaders, pastors, and staff with the essential knowledge and skills needed to serve their congregations and communities effectively.

It’s our way of making a lasting impact through transformation.

Questions? info@tku.edu | 817.722.1710 | tku.edu/seminary

Connect With Us! @TKUniversity