Our mission is to reach the world for Christ by preparing Christian leaders for ministry. MINTS is a missions organization that uses higher education as its primary tool toward fulfilling the vision of the Great Commission: to train and equip national believers to develop one another in a duplicable format with little or no cost, to provide high educational quality, and to give a recognizable degree.
The heart of our ministry is to establish financially self-sufficient, indigenously owned and operated training centers/seminaries in the language and culture of the local people. We work with national believers to develop a regionally sensitive curriculum in their language, develop future professors from among them, and then work to share the educational results internationally throughout our interconnected global system. Key to the MINTS missionary aspect is the requirement of the centers to multiply in their region, language, and sphere of influence.
From Dr. Cornelius Hegeman, Academic Dean of Miami International Seminary
Thank the Lord for eleven students in the Dominican Republic, who for their Master’s thesis each wrote a study on a book of the Bible. About 30 other Dominican students are trying to finish by graduation time in December. Our goal is for the Dominicans (and students in each of 54 countries MINTS is working in) to write Bible studies for the 66 books of the Bible. Thankfully, the Protestant Bible only has 66 books! Similar projects are going on in Mexico (over 40 writing), Cuba (about 8), Colombia (8), Spain (3), USA (2), Belize (1), Canada (1), Costa Rica (1), Chile (1) and Ecuador (1). Pray for our doctoral graduates, who help in reading the manuscripts.
From Rev. Eric Pennings, Central America regional coordinator.
Huehuetenango – Borrowing a pickup truck and with a student accompanying me as a guide, I drove along the windy mountain roads to this Mexican border town where there are 23 students who are under the supervision of the seminary in Quetzaltenango. What a joy to see the multiplication effect of the ministry of MINTS in action! 10 of the students in this Centre travel about 6 hours from various mountain villages, walking much of the way, in order to take courses once each month. What dedication! In this Centre I taught a conference for the course on “Christian Education” in which I spoke for nine hours on the topic of the role of the home, the church and the Christian School in raising and nurturing the covenant community. These students told me that they travel 8 to 12 hours to receive these courses, so they expect that many hours of conference also, in order to make it worth the while of their travel to the “big city” bordering Mexico.
From Rev. Larry Buckman, Brazil coordinator
Leaving the Terena Indians was not easy. When they found out we were going for one year, they doubled our assignments. Two youth camps asked me to speak on sexual purity. One camp asked me to speak on 1 Corinthians 7:1, “It’s not good for a man to touch a woman.”
After the first night I thought my explanation was clear. The host pastor retold the message in Terena and then asked me, “Exactly where is it not right for a man to touch a woman?” And finally, “Exactly what marries a man and woman?” Now I knew where the second question came from. Terena culture says that a man can speak to the parents and if they consent, he can take their daughter to bed. Some months later, when she is pregnant, they can decide to marry or not. A pastor about 70 years old came on the platform and began to speak in Terena. I’ve waited 3 years for the first Terena pastor to speak about sexual purity.
For the last two years we have been translating MINTS, Miami International Seminary, courses from Spanish into Portuguese. We have about 35 courses ready on the website. Back in the Fall God began to move in the hearts of several pastors and leaders. They were ready for the Masters program in theology. In February, our Miami office sent Dr. Ismael Quintero from Bogota, Colombia to help me develop the training centers. Ismael’s experience was the reassuring touch as we talked to leaders at 5 sites in Brazil. Our joint commitment is to start our graduate program theology with about 90 students. Professor will be traveling to each site, teaching for 8 hours and moving to the next location. Students will continue with a 2 hour class for 4 weeks, taking the final exam before the next teacher arrives. The Master of Arts in Theology is 20 courses in 2 years.
From Dr. Greg Hauenstein, President of Miami International Seminary)
Some of our students around the world don’t have the commodities that we enjoy in America. Some of them have to study under extremely difficult circumstances. They are an inspiration to us because they understand that the best thing they can do while being in this world is to learn about God and to live for Him.Dr. Hauenstein visited Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The pictures on top are from Vietnam and Bangladesh. He writes: “MINTS is assisting national believers to establish Study Centers for the training of national pastors in some of the most difficult countries. Vietnam is officially closed to Western missionaries yet through assisting nationals we are able to help them expand the small foothold Christianity has in the country. In Bangladesh we are assisting a growing indigenous movement of more than 30 national churches.”