Hi I’m Dr. Berin Gilfillan, founder of the International School of Ministry also known as the ISOM. I want to personally welcome and congratulate you on taking the first step in your journey to earning a ministry degree. Your enrollment fulfills a vision that God put in my heart more than 25 years ago - to see His people equipped for ministry service.
The International School of Ministry concept began in the late 1980s when I worked as the television producer for Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. While filming documentaries alongside Reinhard, as he ministered to millions of people mostly in Africa, I began to realize that there was a severe lack of training material to help nurture and grow these new converts. Yes Reinhard would bring salvation to hundreds and thousands of people in each crusade. But a burning question remained in my heart. Who was going to help the pastors in the huge work they were needing to do to disciple the great harvest of souls being won to Christ?
I returned to the USA in 1994 and began working on developing the International Curriculum which was the foundation of what is now known today as the International School of Ministry or ISOM. This program had two major distinctives not found in many other programs.
First, I decided if we were going to create a powerful training program, why not use the greatest teachers on earth. I realized that nobody had ALL the answers but that different ministers carried unique anointings, graces and understandings. I brought these teachers to a recording venue and asked each one to share their life message with the Global Body of Christ. I had them teach you, direct to camera, and impart not only their knowledge, but also to pray for their anointing to transfer into the lives of those being taught.
As you experience these teachings, you need to put a demand on the anointings that these ministry vessels carry. We hear stories from around the world about how people are healed and filled with the Holy Spirit through these powerful messages. Each anointing is different and you can partake in them all. When prayer is taught, an anointing to pray will manifest. When Reinhard Bonnke teaches you evangelism, you will gain a passion to witness to others and when the gifts of the Holy Spirit are taught, you will see them activated in your life.
Because the ISOM has been recorded over a period of 25 years. Some of the speakers also may look a lot younger than they do now. Some even, like Dr. T.L. Osborn have gone home to be with Jesus. We captured most of our teachers in the prime of their ministry years. We are thrilled to offer their legacy messages and we are so blessed that future generations will get to partake in the anointings of great giants like Jack Hayford, AR Bernard, TL Osborn, Joyce Meyer and Reinhard Bonnke.
As you watch the earlier recordings of people like Reinhard Bonnke, you will sense that they carry the core passion for evangelism, anointed by the Holy Spirit, that will never date. You will be starting in semester one. These were the very first recordings that we produced. You will move chronologically through the ISOM program and end up with our more recent and current material in your later semesters. Each year we continue to add more NEW content to the ISOM but we have never been able to improve upon the solid and complete foundational teaching contained in our original early recordings. They still today carry tremendous power and anointing and currently are being used in over 150 nations to disciple the Body of Christ.
This brings us to the Second distinctive of the ISOM, and that is that it’s designed to be a global program, now translated into over 70 languages. The method used was similar to a live consecutive translation that ministers use when preaching in foreign countries. This method gives us the ability to translate this incredible curriculum into ANY language on earth in real time.
However, when it came to our English speakers, we saw a dynamic opportunity: the ability to cut the teaching time virtually in half by doing a creative edit on the content. In this way we are able to cut a 55 minute teaching down to 28 minutes, without losing a word of content, thus allowing students to more efficiently complete the program. So if you see a gentle wipe come across your screen, that is what you are seeing. It may be a little jarring at first but students around the world testify that they soon get used to it and most are grateful they are saving so much time.
Hey, I am so excited about you starting this program. You are joining a student body of hundreds of thousands from around the world, truly an end time movement of preparing the Bride of Christ for the coming of Jesus and of preparing laborers for His harvest. This has been a journey of more than 25 years for me, and I’m so grateful that you have decided to join me on this journey of getting a ministry degree and of educating yourself for ministry service.
Let’s get started
Dr. Berin Gilfillan - ISOMonline Founder
PO Box 11909
San Bernardino, CA 92423, USA
(909)-255-1768