Frequently Asked Questions

Maybe you want to lead your home spiritually and nobody ever showed you how. Maybe you froze the last time someone challenged your faith. Maybe you sense God calling you to lead and do not know where to start. Shepherd School was built for you.

Shepherd School trains leaders. Leaders at home, leaders at work, and leaders in ministry, with a heavy emphasis on ministry. We call them shepherds.

It is a two year program for men. We are excited to tell you what you will come out with:

• knowing what you believe and why, and able to answer hard questions about your faith with confidence;
• able to study the Bible on your own and handle it accurately;
• able to teach and preach in a way that changes lives;
• ready to counsel people through real problems with the wisdom of the Bible;
• leading your family, your work and your team with vision and godly character;
• able to share your faith and walk someone to Christ;
• grounded in what the Bible teaches about salvation and the future, so you can stand firm and help others stand.

And you finish with the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree. The accreditation question below explains what that means.

It is run by CCF College, the Bible college of Cross Christian Fellowship in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Pastor Scott Thom is the church’s Senior Pastor and the President of the college.

For the man who knows he is supposed to be leading and wants to do it well: at home, at work, and in ministry.

You do not have to be a pastor or a church planter. You do not come ready. You come willing, and the training does the rest.

Many of our men lead their families, lead at work, lead a small group or serve on a church team. Some sense a call to pastor or plant a church, and this is where that gets built. Some go on to church staff or plant churches.

Shepherd School is discipleship style training for men who will lead in their homes, their work and their churches. Women are welcome at CCF College through General Ministry Training.

You learn from people who know the subject deeply and have lived it in ministry.

Pastor Scott Thom teaches the study lessons. He has trained leaders for ministry for thirty years and has been part of over thirty church plants.

The audio lessons come from leading professors, pastors and Christian thought leaders. There are fourteen PhDs in the first module alone.

No. We chose not to be, so we could keep the cost low and teach in a practical way that changes how a man lives and leads.

If you need an accredited degree for a job or for transfer credit, this is not the right school for that goal.

Although we are not accredited, the full two years is the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree. Each of the ten modules is the equivalent of 12 college credit hours, based on the hours of study and the subjects covered, 120 in all. That is the equivalent of a Bachelor of Arts in Theology, a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies and Christian Ministry, or Religious Studies with a philosophy component.

Ordination generally comes from your own church. Many of our students are already ordained by their churches.

If you want to plant a church under Cross Christian Fellowship, after six modules you can contact us for an interview with Pastor Scott to talk about the next steps.

$199 a month for 24 months, or $4,000 paid in full, a savings of $776.

A traditional seminary can cost $18,000 or more a year, before books and moving. Here, any required books are included.

Here you get serious training for leading at home, at work and in ministry, without moving your family or taking on seminary debt.

Your tuition does two jobs. It trains you. And it helps fund the overseas work, so pastors in places like Kenya, Pakistan and India can sit in the same school without paying anything.

It helps pay for the internet, audio players and equipment that let men overseas learn, men who could never afford this training.

Not sure yet? You do not have to guess.

Yes. Start with a full week of class, free. You see the real lessons and the real format before you decide. See how to start.

Yes. You can have a full refund within 30 days, as long as you have completed less than one module.

No. Your price is set on your order when you enroll, and it stays.

No. Cross Christian Fellowship is a nonprofit, but tuition buys a course, so it is not a donation.

Two years. Ten modules of about nine weeks each.

Online, plan on 3 to 4 hours a week.

In the Albuquerque class, plan on 5 to 7 hours a week, which includes Thursday night class.

It is built to fit a full life, with work, family and church.

You want to grow, but life is full. A Shepherd School week is built to fit around it.

• Four audio lessons from leading teachers, each roughly 30 to 50 minutes.
• One or two study lessons from Pastor Scott, with video, audio, his study notes and a handout.
• Your homework: three things from each audio lesson, sent in at the end of the week.

Most men listen in the car, at the gym or on a walk. Week by week, what you hear becomes how you live and lead.

Online, any time. There is no application and no waiting list.

The Albuquerque class starts on a set date. See the Albuquerque class.

No. Online men study on their own schedule.

The Thursday class, 7pm Mountain, meets in Albuquerque and on Zoom for the local class. It follows the local class’s own schedule, so it is not open to online students, but the teaching from it is in your study lessons.

Once you have registered, there may be other Zoom meetings you can join. We will let you know when there are.

Personal mentoring is part of the Albuquerque class, with Pastor Scott and the CCF staff.

Online, you get the same teaching, the same studies and the same homework. Questions go to our office by phone or email.

Life happens. Shepherd School is built for men with jobs and families.

Pick up where you left off. Online, you go at your own pace, and nothing is lost by taking longer.

If you have not logged in for a while, the site will send you a reminder.

Yes, and you can do it yourself. Sign in, open your dashboard, go to your order history, view your order and choose Cancel Subscription.

You keep access until your next payment would have been due. After that your account is locked, and to come back you would need to enroll again.

Yes. After two years you keep access for as long as the college is here, so you can go back over any lesson.

Yes, and here is a bonus. At most schools, books are a cost on top of tuition, and they add up fast. At CCF College, any required book is included in the cost of the school.

Every new student also receives Pastor Scott’s ebook The Habit Revolution, free.

It is easy to hear a great lesson and forget it by Friday. The homework makes it stick.

Listen to each audio lesson, then write down three things that made you think, react or learn. Do that for the three or four audio lessons that week, then send them in.

You send it with the homework form in the Getting Started section at the front of Module 1. The ways to send it are all listed there.

Over two years those notes become your own record of what God taught you, ready when you teach, counsel or answer a hard question.

No. The handout is the fill in the blank pages that go with Pastor Scott’s study notes. Use it while you listen. Your homework is the three things from each audio lesson.

On your homework for the audio lessons. There are no exams for a grade.

The progress percentage on the site is only a bookmark. If you forget to click a lesson complete, it costs you nothing.

Yes. Shepherd School is online, so a man can study from anywhere with an internet connection.

Many pastors overseas lead churches with little or no training, and seminary is out of reach. Shepherd School brings serious training to where you already serve.

Yes. The school is heavily invested in translating the lesson audio into other languages, including Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Swahili and Spanish. Translations sit right beside the English lesson.

The class videos and the written materials are in English.

Yes. We are already working heavily in India, Pakistan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Sri Lanka, and with men who speak Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Swahili or Spanish. We are open to sponsoring men in other countries overseas as well.

We look for three things: internet access, a sponsored country, and a man who can gather a group to learn together.

Most of our overseas men learn in groups. One leader hosts a weekly meeting, plays the audio lessons and follows up his men.

To ask for a place, download the application and email it back to biblecollegeshepherdschool@gmail.com. If you cannot download it, email us and we will send you a short application you can answer by email.

Yes, if you live near Albuquerque. Men in the local class are mentored personally by Pastor Scott and the CCF staff.

If you want men around you going the same way, and someone who knows your name and asks how you are really doing, the local class gives you that.

Class meets Thursday nights at 7pm Mountain at Cross Christian Fellowship, 6721 Edith Blvd NE Suite B, and usually ends by 9:30pm. The rest of the work is online.

It takes an application and an interview. Call the office or email us for the application.

Applications are open from January 2028 through Sunday, July 30, 2028. The next local class begins Thursday, August 3, 2028.

The local class runs as one group for the two years, so men join at the start rather than part way through. Only 50 students will be accepted. The cost is the same $199 a month.

In the summer there are audio assignments but no Thursday night classes.

Does life pull you in ten directions, with your home being managed but not really led? Leader at Home helps you lead your home on purpose.

In this course you will:

• move out of survival mode and find what God built you for;
• decide the legacy you want to leave your family;
• set your priorities, so the important things stop getting crowded out;
• make big decisions with God’s wisdom instead of guesswork;
• build a written life plan for you and your home, with examples from eight real families;
• put it into your week, and get back on track when you fall behind or God changes your plans;
• break the habit that keeps you from winning, and finish what you start.

You come out with a life plan for you and your home, and the tools to live it as God intended.

It is open to everyone, men and women. It is $75 a month for three months, or $199 paid in full.

Maybe you serve in your church and feel unqualified, or worry you will be asked something you cannot answer. General Ministry Training prepares you.

It is a two year program for everyone, women and men, who wants to serve in ministry. It covers many of the same lessons as Shepherd School, but it lacks quite a bit of what Shepherd School includes, such as the online meetings and extra study resources.

You will come out knowing what you believe and why, able to study the Bible for yourself, ready to answer hard questions, and able to help people through hard seasons with biblical counsel. You serve with confidence instead of guesswork.

$129 a month for 24 months, or $2,700 paid in full, a savings of $396.

Yes. If one subject is where you feel stuck, a single class lets you go deep on that one need. You can learn what the Bible teaches about God, understand the book of Revelation, or learn from the women of the Bible. See Individual Classes.

Yes, two, and both are free. Leadership From The Cross helps you lead well in ministry. No Other Doctrine helps you answer hard questions about the Bible and the faith. See Podcasts.

A phone, tablet or computer with internet. You can also download the audio lessons and listen offline.

There is not one, on purpose. Your account is made when you start your free week or enroll. It keeps the site safe for our students. Start here.

Use Login at the top of any page, with the email and password you made when you joined. Please do not make a second account; it will not carry your enrollment.

Once you are logged in, click My Courses in the menu on the right side of the page. It takes you straight to your courses.

Yes, your immediate family may listen or watch with you. Please do not share your login. Much of the teaching is licensed for our students only.

We believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God; that there is one God in three persons; and that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, who died, rose bodily and is coming again.

Read the whole Statement of Faith.

Please read our Statement of Faith so you understand where CCF College stands.

Agreeing to our Moral Code is a requirement for attending the local class in Albuquerque.