The TEI
International
Leadership School and Fund
John C.
Rankin
[November 14,
2011]
Welcome to the TEI
Leadership International School and Fund, which is being
organized to serve as a 501(c)3 non-profit
and tax-deductible organization. A board of
directors is presently coming into place.
The initial organizing reason is that I have
been invited to start the TEI International
Leadership School in Africa, and to that
end an organizing conference is being put
into place, January 14, 2012, in Kampala,
Uganda. The purpose is to bring sound theological education to Christian leaders, in the church and all arenas in the culture, in sub-Saharan Africa
(and can easily expand elsewhere). I will
also be meeting with some Christian
parliamentarians on this trip. The School will be working in partnership with Theological Education by Extension (TEE)
for Sub-Saharan Africa, directed by the Rev. Dr. Canon John Kateeba Tumwine,
whose offices are at the Uganda Christian
University in Kampala.
With this initiative, the TEI home
page will begin its shift to
www.teii.org,
representing TEI International.
The Gospel has been growing greatly in Africa over recent decades, but there are vulnerabilities that new Christians face with the opposition of animism and Islam. The need is for sound theological training at the grass roots of the church, alongside Christian
universities and and seminaries.
This conference will serve as an introduction to the
TEI Leadership School's eight 12-hour classes, which are universal in nature and applicable to any culture and issue.
I will teach each class, over a long weekend
(Thursday evening, Friday evening, Saturday
morning and afternoon), and in time, train
others to teach the same.
For those who complete the eight classes, it is designed to give them dynamic competence and confidence in the content and nature of the Bible; the impact of the Bible on history; the ability to satisfy the questions of the most motivated skeptics; the power to transform the church and the family, government, education, media, business, science and the arts; and all in the power of a sound mind and the Holy Spirit.
- Only Genesis:
- The all-defining biblical story line of creation, sin and redemption.
- The four all-defining subjects of the biblical order of creation: God → life → choice → sex.
- The ten positive assumptions of "Only Genesis" (which is the same as the biblical order of creation, Genesis 1-2): God's nature, communication, human nature, human freedom, hard questions, human sexuality, science and the scientific method, verifiable history, covenantal law and unalienable rights.
- The six pillars of biblical power (the first four come from the order of creation, the second two from the order of redemption): the power to give, the power to live in the light, the power of informed choice, the power to love hard questions, to power to love enemies and the power to forgive.
- The six pillars of honest politics and the power of the pre-partisan that flows out of it.
- This foundation interprets all of the Bible and life, and is traced repeatedly through the rest of the curriculum.
- Old Testament I: The Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy).
- Old Testament II: Joshua through Esther.
- Old Testament III: Job through Malachi.
- New Testament.
- Church History.
- Pagan Origin Texts, World Religions and Secular Constructs.
- The Messiah, Present Culture, and How to Advance the Gospel in the Power of the Holy Spirit.
The January 14 conference will give an overview of this material, with time for worship, questions and fellowship. Practical steps will then be considered for TEI International, and the vision also includes concrete political and business strategies for transforming the nations in the name of Jesus.
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