In June 2014, the legacy of iTEE Global began. Sensing new opportunities to serve the needs of the body of Christ globally to equip leaders, the international board of iTEE Global founded the ministry. iTEE Global was born for such a time as this for global pastoral leaders to be trained in Biblical studies. Faced with the mass genocide of his people, Mordecai said to Esther, “And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” We know the rest of the story. Esther became God’s tool for the protection of the Jews during a crisis. What is “such a time”? Millions of pastoral leaders across the globe have little or no access to Biblical education to equip them for ministry. Some have never had access to ministry training of any kind. Many reasons thwart that opportunity such as: educational costs, need to support family, lack of previous education, distance to seminary, persecution, or political climate. For many leaders, access to traditional classroom education is very limited. Those with disabilities may have no access at all.
The Problem of Our Generation
Globally, over 50,000 believers come to Christ each day. This is good news! However, it takes 2-5 years to equip one pastor. Over the past two hundred years, Bible schools and seminaries have been the main training mechanism for pastoral leadership. They can no longer keep up with the growing church and the need for leadership. Without adequate training, church leaders do not know how to build a Biblical foundation for their church or how to make disciples. This leads to a lack of impact on the community, false teaching, difficulty presenting the Gospel, and discouraged and hurt church members; all of which result in ministry failure.
Bible Education Platform
In 1979, key leaders from twenty mission organizations and several national leaders working in Eastern Europe met to launch a united inter-mission effort behind the Iron Curtain. The goal was to advance biblical training using the pattern of 2 Timothy 2:2, “teach these truths to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” The newly born organization was called Biblical Education by Extension (BEE). Several years later, with the fall of the Iron Curtain, this training model became available to countries of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. While combining the previous efforts of online seminary training and considering the challenges of distance education, iTEE Global was founded to merge two goals: in-person training and online training. In October 2014, iTEE Global was approved as a 501(c)(3) organization.
The Solution by iTEE Global
iTEE Global started with the vision of making it possible for every pastoral leader in every country to gain access to Bible training. iTEE Global wanted to utilize 21st-century technology and apply 1st-century principles modeled by Jesus. This innovative system could become a catalyst for training. Hence, the foundations for the creation of iTEE Global were laid with two different goals: in-person and online training and a hybrid model to equip godly leaders.
What is iTEE Global Doing Now
To this day, iTEE Global has trained students in 40 countries, in Asia, Africa, South and Central America. In the first 2023 term, 149 new students from 19 different countries, speaking Spanish, Burmese, Urdu, and English, were trained. In the third term of 2022, a first cohort of North American students affected by disabilities enrolled to study Galatians. This cohort joins two in Zambia, now making three cohorts of students affected by disabilities. It is a blessing to train this specific group of leaders. Several new courses have been developed: New Testament Epistles in English, Old Testament 2 in Burmese, and Galatians in Portuguese. As iTEE Global expands, more ministry opportunities are identified, and new partnerships in additional countries are planned. One such partnership was recently formed between iTEE Global and iTEE Canada, which was incorporated in 2022.
