Johnell Loop was cited for outstanding educational leadership in the Foursquare denomination and Life School of Ministry in Brentwood, Tenn., was recognized as an outstanding leadership training institute at last month’s Institute Symposium held at CrossPointe Foursquare Conference Center in Christiansburg, Va.
More than 100 representatives from U.S. institutes attended the Feb 6-8 symposium.
The Educational Leadership Award is given annually to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to Foursquare education, according to Ministry Training Institutes Director Dr. Dan Hedges. This year’s recipient, Johnell Loop, is founder of North Coast Bible Institute in Eureka, Calif.
Having founded NCBI five years ago, Johnell resigned as institute director in January, in order to give full attention to her new position as coordinator of education and training for Foursquare Missions International. Her new duties will be threefold: overseeing training of new missionaries, helping facilitate in-service training for missionaries currently on the field, and overseeing facilitation of global resourcing for national leaders of Bible institutes worldwide. Dianne Eannarino is the new NCBI director.
Accepting the award for Life School of Ministry was Sue Detweiler, associate pastor of education at New Song Fellowship in Brentwood, Tenn. “Our youth pastor, our missions pastor, and our college-age pastor all are graduates of Life School of Ministry,” she said. “We are providing training for the next generation.”
Currently, there are 52 certified Foursquare Bible institutes in the U.S., plus numerous others working toward certification. “Over the past six years, we’ve grown from 13 certified ministry training institutes to 52,” Julianne Wotasik, Dr. Hedges’ assistant, said.
The first symposium was held in Seattle in 2001. Subsequent symposiums have been held annually, in cities including Los Angeles, Portland, Nashville and Christiansburg.