MidAmerica Nazarene University announced a new Ministry Leadership Institute program. The Call is a one-week camp offered next summer, June 5 to 9 or 12 to 16 at MNU. Pastors, professors, and other ministers will lead high school juniors and seniors during a week meant to help them discover what their call means and equip them for the beginning of ministry.

Ron Jackson, assistant professor of youth ministry at MNU, directs this effort and brings more than 30 years of experience in ministry to the project. Speakers and trainers will offer seminars, service learning, and fun activities around Kansas City. Participants will live on campus and be joined in the residence hall by a pastor couple who will serve as dorm “mom and dad” for the week.

“There will be a worship component," Jackson said. "MNU SERVEteams will be involved and full-time Christian ministers will be the leaders. Building a relationship with those one can model or even be mentored by is one of the most important things that can happen next to the theological training.”

Organizers want to bring the cost for campers to about $99 through the use of scholarships provided by a grant. The actual cost of the camp will be between $290 and $350, which includes food and lodging as well as seminars and activities. Registration opens in January 2017 at which time participants may apply for the scholarships.

There are plans for the camp to be offered each year and Jackson is forming a board of directors made up of MNU alumni pastors to advise the growth and direction of The Call. Jackson says he expects a deadline to apply for scholarships to be set for March 2017. To learn more and apply for a scholarship, bookmark mnuthecall.org and visit the site in January 2017.

The project is made possible by a $600,000 Lilly Endowment’s High School Youth Theology Institutes initiative, which seeks to encourage young people to explore theological traditions, ask questions about the moral dimensions of contemporary issues, and examine how their faith calls them to lives of service. MNU received the grant in December 2015.

The endowment is giving $44.5 million in grants to help a select group of private four-year colleges and universities around the nation to create the institutes. The grants are part of the endowment’s commitment to identify and cultivate a cadre of theologically minded youth who will become leaders in church and society.

An additional grant to the Forum for Theological Exploration will establish a program that will bring together leaders of the high school youth theology institutes to foster mutual learning and support.

--MidAmerica Nazarene University