Dr. Bonnie Davis, pastor of House of Hope on Alexander Avenue in Henderson, invites interested individuals to participate in an online orientation at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 17 to learn more about the bible college where she learned what she said is her true calling: being a pastor.
But Davis also serves as president of House of Hope International School of Ministry, and she and Dr. Joe Fears, the school’s founder and dean, want the community to know about the different programs the school offers. The classes are web-based and affordable, and students can earn an associate’s bachelor’s and master’s degrees, they told WIZS’s Steve Lewis on Wednesday’s TownTalk.
Fears started the school in 2011, and Davis herself was a student when she and her husband lived in Italy while he was in the military.
Davis has been a pastor since 2016 and established House of Hope, which is located on 355 Alexander Ave.
Fears said it’s been a lifelong desire of his to have a bible college. He’s a military veteran as well, and has completed studies at Lancaster Bible College and earned his doctorate from Liberty University.
Davis thought she’d be in Italy only three years until her husband’s tour was over and then she’d come on back home. “God had other plans,” she said. She ended up working with Fears in Italy as an associate pastor. Together they worked with missionaries there, “loving on the people and teaching people about God.”
In addition to typical classes one would expect at a bible college – Spiritual Formation, Greek, Hebrew and homiletics (how to preach and deliver sermons), Fears said there also are classes on leadership. Pastors need to be effective leaders, too, he said, and lead with integrity.
The affordability is an attractive selling point, Fears said, but students have told him they love the way the classes are presented.
“We’re not focused on a denomination,” Fears said. “We’re focused on the bible. We look at the bible and go from that angle.”
With more than 20 years in the post-secondary education world, Fears said he’s borrowed from in-person and online teaching to create an “exciting” format for students.
The groups meet twice a week for a few hours each time, Davis said. “We’ve become a family. We get to know each other… we learn and grow together.”
The online format is a good alternative for those who can’t afford to get their degrees at brick-and-mortar schools.
Fears said the school partners with schools in California as well as Liberty, Regent and Lancaster Bible College. They use a platform called Learning World in conjunction with Zoom to for instruction.
Davis was a student in 2011, before the school had a true home. With Henderson as its new homebase, she and Fears are excited about the future.
“What I’ve learned from this school has been wonderful,” Davis said. “It stretched me, it grew me…The school had me take a leap into what God created me to be.”
Visit https://www.hohisom.com/ to learn more about registering or call 252.432.8509.
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