Foundations
Learning to see before you speak
Marcus had preached from Ezekiel three times in seminary. He'd never sat with a dying man who couldn't remember his own name. In month two, his mentor drove him to a memory care unit and said nothing on the way home. The debrief took four hours and a pot of coffee. That silence taught him more than any exegesis lecture.
— Anonymized cohort account
Skills & Formation
Every Shepherd cohort is small enough that your mentor knows your name by week two.
Practicum
Doing the work with someone watching
She had prepared the eulogy for three days. Standing at the lectern, the widow in the front row started weeping before she'd said a word. The eulogy she'd written became something else entirely — quieter, slower, full of pauses she hadn't rehearsed. Afterward her mentor said: "That was better than what you wrote." She understood what he meant.
— Anonymized cohort account
Skills & Formation
Every Shepherd cohort is small enough that your mentor knows your name by week two.
Mentorship Pairing
One voice that knows your name
The board meeting had gone sideways over the HVAC system — which was never really about the HVAC system. He called his mentor at 9 p.m. She didn't offer solutions. She asked him to name every person in that room and what they were actually afraid of. By the time he reached the last name, he knew what to do on Sunday.
— Anonymized cohort account
Skills & Formation
Every Shepherd cohort is small enough that your mentor knows your name by week two.
Capstone Residency
Stepping into your own pulpit
The rural church had fifteen members the Sunday he preached his first solo sermon as their called pastor. It was raining. The heat was unreliable. Two people fell asleep. He stood at the door afterward and shook every hand, and one woman in a green coat said, "I've been waiting for a pastor like you for eleven years." He drove home and wept in the driveway.
— Anonymized cohort account
Skills & Formation
Every Shepherd cohort is small enough that your mentor knows your name by week two.
They were where you are.
Now they're further along.
I had preached forty-seven practice sermons in seminary. None of them prepared me for the Sunday morning when a deacon stood up mid-sermon and walked out. My mentor had told me exactly what to do in that moment. I did it. I kept going. That was Shepherd.
James Whitfield
Senior Pastor, Cornerstone Fellowship — Decatur, GA
I drove three hours each way to my mentorship sessions. I would have driven ten. Nobody in my county had planted a church in thirty years. My Shepherd mentor had planted four.
Caleb Hensley
Founding Pastor, Ridgeline Church — Harlan County, KY
I spent nineteen years in corporate law. I knew how to win arguments. I did not know how to sit with grief. My Shepherd mentor taught me that the most important thing I could do in a hospital room was nothing.
Robert Sánchez
Pastor, Grace & Peace Community Church — Albuquerque, NM
From the field
What you'll carry
into your first year of ministry.
Not a certificate. Not a credential. A set of capacities that were forged in real situations, with real people, under the watch of a mentor who has already made the mistakes.
Pastoral Presence
The ability to walk into a hospital room, a fractured board meeting, or a silent Sunday and know what your body is doing before your mouth opens.
Developed: Months 1–6Conflict Navigation
A framework for the board meeting that's never really about the HVAC. You'll learn to hear what isn't being said and name it without flinching.
Developed: Months 7–12Sustainable Rhythms
Sabbath isn't optional. You'll build a rule of life that keeps you in ministry past year five — when most bivocational pastors quietly step away.
Developed: Months 13–18Preaching Under Pressure
Eight consecutive weeks of solo preaching with video review. You'll know exactly what you do when the room goes cold and you have six minutes left.
Developed: Months 19–24Church Governance
Budget literacy, bylaws, and how to read a financial statement before the treasurer has to explain it to you. Small churches need financially literate pastors.
Developed: Months 7–12A Cohort for Life
Your cohort of 24 becomes your first call network. When your co-pastor resigns or your church splits, you have 23 people who've walked a similar road.
Ongoing after graduationReserve Your Seat
at the Table.
Spend 90 minutes with two Shepherd mentors and three current cohort members. No slides. No pitch deck. Just coffee, honest questions, and a real look at what the two years actually feel like from the inside.
March 12, 2026
Thursday evening
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM Eastern
90 minutes, no recording
Virtual via Zoom
Link sent 24 hours before
Limited to 40 attendees
18 seats remaining
"I almost didn't come to the open house. I thought I wasn't ready. I left knowing I'd found the people who would get me ready."
— Danielle O., Cohort 2022 · Columbus, OH
Join us at the table
Three fields. That's all. The conversation matters more than the form.
Not ready for the open house?
Download the Cohort Guide — 12 pages on what the two years look like, who we're looking for, and how to know if you're ready.