Residency

The Purpose

The Well’s Residency program is a ten-month, seminary level learning experience aimed at growing emerging leaders toward a better understanding of Bible, theology, leadership, character development, and servanthood. Like a medical residency program, we seek to give our residents a solid foundation in the Scriptures, preparing them for a lifetime of service to our Lord.

Since inception in 2004, we’ve graduated about 120 students, comprised of a good mix of men and women, including numerous married couples who experienced the program together. The majority of our residents are local to Fresno, but some have relocated from out of state in order to be a part of this incredible experience. Some of our students have full-time ministry aspirations, while others simply desire to bolster their knowledge and skill in whatever church ministry area God calls them.

We are changing Residency this year to be an even more intense hands-on introduction into ministry. The target resident would be someone who has ministry aspirations and is ready to take those aspirations to the next level by making Residency their primary focus for 10 months.

I invite you to apply for what will be the best ten months of your life.

Thanks,

Rick Taylor
Equipping Director

Topics of Study

  • Bible: From the Old Testament historical books we’ll cover Genesis – Nehemiah and Song of Solomon. From the New Testament we’ll cover Matthew, Acts, Romans, and Revelation.
  • Books: We’ll read three books each semester. One book each semester will be assigned and the rest will be selected by the student.
  • Theology will be incorporated in the OT and NT book studies.
  • Leadership principles will be learned in a mentoring context.

General Format of Residency

  • Morning Meetings: Four mornings a week (Tuesday – Friday) from 6:00am to 7:30am beginning Tuesday, September 7, 2010 and finishing Friday, May 6, 2011.
  • Residency Retreats and Focus Weekends: One weekend retreat or one focused weekend each semester.
  • Breaks: One week for Thanksgiving, from November 23 – 26, resuming November 30, 2010. Three weeks for Christmas, from December 14 – 31, resuming January 4, 2011, and one week for Easter, from April 19 – 22, resuming April 26, 2011.
  • Residency Overseas Experience: One overseas experience during the year.

Requirements for The Residency Program

Involvement in the “full current” of your home church. This may look slightly different depending on your home church. At The Well this would look like:

  • A high school graduate
  • Attend Residency classes regularly and faithfully
  • Being in a Life Group during your time in Residency
  • Commitment to 10-hours per week of ministry under the direction of your assigned Campus Pastor
  • Raise funding for and attend one overseas experience during the year (Israel with the Residency faculty or an approved overseas missions trip)
  • Various assignments (reading selected books, individual & group projects, etc.)
  • No new dating relationships during the 10-month Residency

Application Instructions

At the link below, you will find an application as well as a reference form for the 2010 - 2011 Residency program. The application will need to be filled out in its entirety and returned to Rick Taylor along with two references. Please give the reference forms to individuals who have known you for two years or more and can adequately speak to your character. One personal and one pastoral reference would be preferred. Once your reference forms have been completed and returned to you in a signed and sealed envelope, return them to Rick Taylor along with your application. Once your application and references have been turned in and approved, we will set up a personal interview with one of the instructors prior to final acceptance.

We would like the application and reference forms back no later than August 30, 2010. There is limited availability for the Residency program, and it will fill up quickly. We will inform those selected to take part as soon as possible.

Due to space limitations and a desire to balance men and women as much as possible, we will need to keep the Residency class to a reasonable size. Please know and understand that we will not be able to accept everyone that wishes to take part. We plan on doing this program each year, so if this year does not work out for you, Lord willing, there will be future opportunities.

We are so excited about next year. Good luck and God bless.

Application Downloads