Grow with the
Sowing Seeds of Joy
Training Institute
Expect great things from God! Attempt great things for God!
~ WILLIAM CAREY
The Sowing Seeds of Joy Training Institute is a ministry component that offer services and programs that hold that God is moving worldwide preparing men, women, young adults, and youth to be powerful leaders in local and international communities. We equip leaders (Black, African American, and People of Color), through cross-cultural missions training, discipleship and leadership training, and spiritual formation for the work of advancing God's Kingdom.
THE GOAL OF THE SOWING SEEDS OF JOY TRAINING INSTITUTE IS TO EMPOWER TRAINEES TO EMBRACE THEIR OWN POTENTIAL OF SOWING SEEDS WHEREVER THEIR FOOTSTEPS MAY TAKE THEM. Training is designed for individuals, teams, churches, and/or organizations desiring to experience God at a more purposefully level. We focus our investment on those called to evangelize, disciple, plant, motivate, and pastor churches in unreached urban communities. Our passion is to identify, empower, and release kingdom laborers who can both display and declare God’s reign among their neighbors. The institute is active in biblical education and missions, offering workshops and training modules.
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Find the program that is right for you…. Cultivate “Christ, Community, and Compassion”
If you give it to God, He transforms your test into a testimony, your mess into a message, and your misery into a ministry.
~ Rick Warren.
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Ted Esler | President of Missio Nexus
Find the right program for you...
Cultivate “Christ, Community,
and Compassion”
Other Trainings offered by Sowing Seeds of Joy
Missionary Certification Program (MCP)
The MCP provides instruction, coaching, and resources that highlight the importance of missionary service, mobilization, collaboration, and networking within the total, all-inclusive mission community. Participants enrolled in the course are introduced to a curriculum emboldened to ignite their passion for cross-cultural missions, their hunger to grow more spiritually, and flame their zeal for travel abroad.
In 2015, Pastor Ron Nelson, Co-Founder of Sowing Seeds of Joy Inc. (SSOJ) and at that time member of the National African American Missions Conference (NAAMC) Steering Committee, proposed the idea for a Missionary Certification Program (MCP) to equip applicants with the advanced skills to become engaged in long-term global missions.
Under the auspices of Sowing Seeds of Joy, Inc. Ron and Star Nelson pioneered the effort for over three years, creating and developing the Missionary Certification Program which now offers six tracks of specialized focus: (1) Mission Mobilizer (2) Short-Term Mission Trips (3) Creative Arts in Missions (4) Short-Term Team Leader (5) Human Trafficking and (6) Trauma Healing. In 2019, Sowing Seeds of Joy, Inc. (SSOJ) in partnership with the National African American Missions Conference (NAAMC) under the umbrella of Boundless Ministries Inc., (BMI) formally established a relationship intending to work cooperatively on the MCP . This year we are pleased to announce the graduation of the inaugural class.
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We wish to thank the students and coaches of the first graduating class for their dedication, time, and energy in making this program a huge success. Sowing Seeds of Joy, Inc. (SSOJ) and National African American Missions Council will continue to dream and trailblaze paths forward in African American missions mobilization.
Graduation!
Our Graduates
Our Missions Coaches
Rev. Sandra Dorsainvil
Former Missions Coach
Rev. Sandra Dorsainvil is a humble servant of God, a mother, sister, aunt, great aunt, friend, mentor, author, teacher, retreat leader, preacher, bridge builder of human relations, but most of all an encourager. Her passion for missions was formed as a result of her missionary life, as Third Culture Kid living in several African countries and Italy, from 1963 to 1980.
Kathy
Mort
Former Missions Coach
Kathy became involved in short-term missions after graduating from Columbia International University in 1983. Before joining the staff of Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission as Director of Curriculum and Training she spent over thirty years in public education as a teacher, professional development coordinator and administrator. After earning her doctorate in educational leadership, she continued working in various district and school-based administrative roles.
Kathy has been coaching since 2014
Tory
Ruark
Former Missions Coach
In 2004, Tory began leading and training STM teams with DELTA Ministries and became COO of Standards of Excellence (SOE) in 2016. He’s served in Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador, Haiti, Zimbabwe, and Italy and mobilized teams to many other countries. Tory’s Master of Divinity from Western Seminary mixed with practical experience in the STM world as a team leader, mobilizer, trainer, and pastor allows him to bring insight that’s both biblical and practical. He is married and has five children.
Lori
Pearson
Director & Missions Coach
Lori retired from a State Farm Insurance career in 2013 when her life was altered after going on a Missions trip to Haiti with Sowing Seeds of Joy (SSOJ). She travelled with again with SSOJ to Sao Luis, Brazil which later led to her becoming a Missions Coach for The Evangelical Alliance Mission Agency (TEAM). Lori led a short-term team to Japan . She currently serves on the board of Sowing seeds of Joy.
Jackie
Barrett
Former Missions Coach
Jackie is a retired educator; CEO/Co-Founder of Diversified Ministry for Cultural Exchange, Inc. Mobilizing teams through the Creative Arts. She believes that being a game changer starts with you. She said to be the change you want to see in the world.
Anna
Ruby
Former Missions Coach
Anna has been a mobilization coach for folks called to go long term to the Muslim World with Frontiers since 2018. She and her family returned to the US after serving 8 years in N. Cyprus and Turkey. She is based in Maryland and works throughout the mid-Atlantic area. She is a wife, and mother of 4 teenagers. She loves heart conversations (preferably over good coffee!), beautiful walks, reading, and meeting new people.
Mark
Heazlit
Former Missions Coach
Mark Heazlit serves as a mobilizer in the Mid-Atlantic region for Frontier Ventures. He wears two hats: one serving on the Advisory Council of the North American Missions Council, working to help create awareness in the African American church community of the need to become engaged in sharing the gospel message with the unreached peoples of the world; and the other serving as the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director for The Perspectives on the World Christian Movement Class.
programs
Discipleship &
Leadership Training
(DLT)
Advancing God’s kingdom agenda requires making disciples and training leaders. Sowing Seeds of Joy accomplishes this goal through this three-hour biblical discipleship and leadership training course. Participants are strategically offered training elements using curriculum that develops leadership skills and bolster character. The Discipleship and Leadership Training gives you an opportunity to discover your passions and your part in God’s purposes for the world. It is for those who long to follow Jesus in new ways with a different perspective.
Evangelism
Training
Christ’s love inspires us to use many creative means to make His gospel understood to any audience. We use tools such as music, performing arts, and sports to connect with people of all ages and develop friendships which can lead to conversations of eternal value. Our training prepares one to share the gospel with confidence, clarity, and kindness. Whether you are a pastor, a missionary, or a Christian simply looking to remove anxiety from evangelism, Sowing Seeds of Joy evangelism training is for you.
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MasterLife
MasterLife is a developmental, small-group discipleship process that will help you develop a lifelong, obedient relationship with Christ. The goal is your discipleship. For you to become like Christ.
The complete MasterLife study consists of four books. Each book is a six-to-seven-week study. Therefore, the entire study consists of approximately 19 weeks of study.
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Boot Camp
Missions Training
(BCMT)
BCMT is an intensive four-hour missions training course designed to meet participants (specifically, churches and church members) where they are; while intense, the training is flexible, relational, intentional, strategic, and evangelistic. The training builds from foundational life preparation, to understanding one’s specific calling, to practical application in various fields of ministry and cross-cultural missions. Bootcamp results have been amazing.
A Taste of
Perpectives
Workshops
A Taste of Perspectives is an intense three-hour workshop designed to have participants (specifically, churches and church members) experience and be exposed to facets of The Perspectives Course. Perspectives is a discipleship course taught over 15 weeks by 15 different instructors that presents the biblical, historical, cultural, and strategic aspects of God's global purpose for the nations. Through this training, our objective is to give participants a “Taste” or Preview of the course with the hope of having them pursue registration in the full course either
on-line or in person.
#MissionStrong
Program
Innovation in missions require us to be creative and to do things differently than others to attract those unaware, unsure, and lacking confidence in their calling to cross-cultural missions. That said, we have introduced initiatives to make people where they are with regards to mission involvement and participation.
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Mentoring &
Life Skills Coach
Training
Coaching and Mentoring focus on how to better coach God’s servants to higher implementation and purpose. Sowing Seeds of Joy mentor training builds a foundation that emphasizes the one-to-one, shepherding nature of a relationship. A relationship which often affords the parties (mentor/mentee) the chance to be transparent and vulnerable. Sowing Seeds of Joy’s training prepares the mentor to speak into a mentee’s walk with God, foster greater impact on his or her life and leadership.
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Men's
Discipleship Training:
Men on Fire
Ezekiel 22:30 30 "I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one." It is rare at times, during this age, to find a man who wants to delve within and unleash his inner passion; one who would stand before God in the gap on behalf of his family, church, and community. It does not mean that he is going to be masterful at it. For men to be comfortable in their own skin and accept their feeling nature takes a growth curve. Sowing Seeds of Joy, through this intense three-hour training, ignites the hearts of men to be on fire for God.