Our most frequently asked questions.
Yes, it is. You pay the entire $500 before you have access to the Learning Management System (LMS) coursework. The fee is a one-time, non-refundable payment for the whole program. The only way to have access to the program is to be actively doing it. If you stop the program, you won’t have access to the program until you become an active student again.
You may start at any time after you submit your $500 non-refundable payment for the purchase of the program. It is self-paced, so you pick your start time. Each student comes individually and is treated as an individual. Though there are several other students in the program, we supervise each student as though he or she is the only student. There are no seasons or semesters.
If you ever need to stop, you stop. Our program is an integrity program, in that we’re Christians, so we trust each other. If a person becomes sick or needs to take a break for any reason or just does not want to do the program any longer, they can stop, and there are no penalties for pausing. We are a Christian organization; it is our joy and desire to serve you, not to create unnecessary hurdles. The only way to have access to this online resource is to be actively “doing the program” or as a graduate.
Because of the ongoing supervision and the need to pay your supervisors, there is a $100 per month payment that begins 30 days after you purchase the program and lasts for the duration of the program, unless you quit or pause, as outlined previously. If you do stop the program or take a break, you must notify us to let us know you want to stop the recurring billing. Anything you have paid is not refundable.
No.
You may listen to the podcast in the next section about that. Being certified can be overstated in the Christian community. It will not give you a special inroad or larger platform necessarily. The main thing that will bring people to you for counseling is your ability to counsel, as appropriated by God’s grace. Your reputation as a competently skilled counselor—more than anything else—is what will set you apart as someone that people will seek.
Your reputation will be because of the grace of God in your life, as the good Lord works in you, through you, and for you—according to the gifting that He has given you, and according to your desire and discipline to work out what He has given you. If you have the desire to counsel and the skill (God-gifting) to counsel, and you passionately seek to appropriate those means of God’s grace into your life, the Lord will more than likely build you a platform to care for many people.
I’m not sure. I try to talk people out of doing this program because it is not easy. Most of the individuals who begin the program, do not finish. The Mastermind course is a transformational program that requires (1) personal discipline, (2) time management skill, (3) an unwavering passion to help individuals, (4) courageous grace for self-examination, (5) faith for the process, (6) detestation for procrastination, and (7) an ability to balance life on the go.
This is a leadership program, not a course for “counselees,” or those who try to use it as an alternative to counseling. People do not quit because it’s beyond their intellectual ability. They quit because of one (or all) of the following elements:
Typically, the time commitment is about five to six hours a week. But it is hard to fully capture how much time you spend “doing the program” because a lot of time is expended in the program while doing other things. Here are a few examples:
Those moments are hard to quantify, but as far as “dedicated desk-time,” you’re probably talking about five to six hours a week. We recommend you set up a dedicated time to do your coursework while finding those spots, as outlined above, to capture as much time as you need to do the program well.
You will need (1) passion for the work, (2) personal discipline, (3) time management skill, (4) biblical habituations, and (5) an organized mind. These five things are essential if you want to counsel well. Every skilled and seasoned disciple/counselor has mastered those disciplines.
You need to read it a second time because of the assignments that we require. Perhaps we can find a comparable alternative that you have not read.
No, we are not a training center for any counseling organization. Our program is an independent study course that equips a student to be able to counsel within their God-given abilities. If you do not have the gift for counseling, no training will be able to accomplish that goal. Gifting is God-given, not training given. Training only enhances what God has given to you.
One of our goals is to train Christians, while not establishing in the person’s mind an unintended consequence of a two-tier system: (1) those who can counsel, based on being certified and (2) those who can’t counsel because they were not certified.
Each student is an individual, even if they are married. The reason is that each student is trained according to their (1) gifting, (2) gift mix, (3) character, (4) competency, (5) capacity, and (6) other inherent and shaping influences.
There is no group or couple training due to the (1) uniqueness of each person, (2) their walk with God, and (3) where they are in their sanctification. How we train your spouse through the program will be different from you, and distinct from any other student in the program. We correspond with you throughout the program as though your spouse was not in the program; it is between you, God, and your supervisors. And we will treat your spouse just as uniquely.