“The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
2 Timothy 2:2

Excellence in Leadership Conference 2025
February 20-21
MISSIONS

XL’s founders believe that the church is absolutely the best place to train men for ministry.  Because of this, in 1992 XL Ministries was formed with the intent of developing internships that could be accomplished within the context of the local church.

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XL Ministries Internships

shutterstock 1426999403 XL MinistriesOur internships doesn’t send people off to seminary.  Rather, they focus on developing each intern right in their local church.  Hands-on training for ministry is most effective when supervised by an experienced pastor. In this way interns can be exposed to the rigors, failures, and triumphs of ministry in an environment that is protective of both the interns and those with whom they work. To that end, we work to equip and empower the local church to train its own leaders and elders.  One mandate upon pastors is to train up other pastors.  In line with this, the internships faciliated by XL Ministries set up a tested, thoughtful, faithful, and proven way for such biblical discipleship and training to take place.  XL internships are accomlished in like-minded churches, large or small, and incorporate both theological training as well as practical training, because both are essential for a man to succeed in ministry.

“Churches can easily fall into the habit of praying that God will raise up elders for the benefit of the church, as though the responsibility falls completely on God. The truth is that it is the church’s responsibility to train godly men to become elders.”

Rocky Wyatt, President, XL Ministries

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Brian Murphy, Executive Director, XL Ministries
Jonathan Anderson, Senior Associate Pastor, Countryside Bible Church

About Our Internships

XL offers two internship programs: Pastoral and Missions. Our pastoral internship can be focused towards either the lead/associate pastoral role or the youth pastoral role. All the programs are the same with regard to Bible knowledge, systematic theology, and practical theology. The youth pastoral internship also incorporates training topics that are specific to youth ministry and found within our Youth Ministry Training Manual. Though some might expect missions and pastoral internships to be vastly different, they are actually similar in many aspects. The missions internship includes the same Bible knowledge and theological training as the pastoral internship, because missionaries need to be as qualified as any church elder

PASTORAL / YOUTH
PASTORAL INTERNSHIP

PASTORAL XL Ministries

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MISSIONS
INTERNSHIP

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shutterstock 354175895 XL MinistriesEach internship is a combination of practical and theological training incorporating a series of assignments over the course of two to three years.  Internships are 24 months long, unless the intern is in seminary during the internship. Interns who are also in seminary can choose either a 30- or 36-month schedule. Each intern will study under the supervision of their local pastor and complete monthly assignments.

The success of a training ministry can often be attributed to advanced planning and proper administration.  Pastoral and missions training is essentially as diverse as the church.  After all, the intent is to equip someone theologically and practically to be able to do the work of the ministry in the life of the church.  There are many internships that are offered in churches.  Some are very helpful in training a person for ministry.  Others are more designed to meet specific needs within a church while offering a person the opportunity to gain experience, rather than to providing intentional training.  True pastoral and missions training is much more developed.  It is based on a discipleship relationship between the church leaders and the intern, and includes education as well as practical experience.  It is not simply a program designed for someone to improve their leadership skills.

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What We Believe

We believe in glorifying God.  We accomplish this by guiding churches towards the training and equipping of their own members to be leaders in their local church.  We believe that, by the Lord’s grace, He will raise up qualified leaders to perform the work of the gospel in the church.

Our Goals

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ELEVATE

Raise the standard of ministry

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ENCOURAGE

Work within the local church, recongizing it as God’s instrument for reaching the world for Jesus Christ

shutterstock 1172200861 XL Ministries

EMPOWER

Call all Christians to a life of holiness, purity, and utter devotion to Christ

shutterstock 2177616717 XL Ministries

EQUIP

Provide opportunities and resources for individuals to receive practical ministry training within their local church

Our Goals

shutterstock 437727445 XL Ministries

ELEVATE

Raise the standard of ministry

shutterstock 735662215 XL Ministries

ENCOURAGE

Work within the local church, recognizing it as God’s instrument for reaching the world for Jesus Christ

shutterstock 1172200861 XL Ministries

EMPOWER

Call all Christians to a life of holiness, purity, and utter devotion to Christ

shutterstock 2177616717 XL Ministries

EQUIP

Provide opportunities and resources for individuals to receive practical ministry training within their local church

Our Goals

shutterstock 437727445 XL Ministries

ELEVATE

Raise the standard of ministry

shutterstock 735662215 XL Ministries

ENCOURAGE

Work within the local church, recognizing it as God’s instrument for reaching the world for Jesus Christ

shutterstock 1172200861 XL Ministries

EMPOWER

Call all Christians to a life of holiness, purity, and utter devotion to Christ

shutterstock 2177616717 XL Ministries

EQUIP

Provide opportunities and resources for individuals to receive practical ministry training within their local church