Good Soil Seminar & Trainer Certification
The Good Soil Basic Seminar equips you to share God’s story of redemption chronologically, so that people will clearly understand, sincerely embrace, and firmly hold on to the gospel. The seminar extends over three days and now includes BibleStorying instruction and practice and Good Soil Trainer Certification.
Upcoming Course Dates
Good Soil Seminar & Trainer Certification is offered in July and October and May as part of a Good Soil training package. See Annual Training Schedule
| Course | Dates | Location | |
| Good Soil Evangelism & Discipleship Training | July 10–July 11, 2025 | BJU Seminary | More info & Register |
| Good Soil Evangelism & Discipleship Seminar and Trainer Certification | October 07–October 09, 2025 | ABWE International Headquarters | More info & Register |
| Moving Beyond Lecture | October 10, 2025 | ABWE International Headquarters | More info & Register |
| Good Soil Evangelism & Discipleship Seminar and Trainer Certification | May 12–May 14, 2026 | ABWE International Headquarters | More info & Register |
| Gaining Ground as a TRULY Evangelistic Church | May 15, 2026 | ABWE International Headquarters | More info & Register |
Good Soil Seminars are Engaging - Interactive - FUN!
Day One: The Why
Understanding the Good Soil Theology of Evangelism and Discipleship (E&D)
- “Good soil" as defined by Jesus
- The Good Soil E&D scale
- Initial contact and relational evangelism
- The problem of worldview noise
- Worldview noise case studies from the early church
- Worldview noise in your host culture
- Peeling the worldview onion
- Identifying gospel knowledge deficiencies
- Evaluating popular gospel presentations
- Penetrating worldview noise with the Bible's redemptive story
Day Two: The How
Preparing to Use The Story of Hope andThe Way to Joy
- Becoming acquainted with The Story of Hope Bible study book
- Practice telling God's story of hope in 15 minutes or less
- Practice teaching some key events from God's story of hope
- Choosing the best Good Soil resource for different situations
- Practice using the ChronoBridge to help unbelievers embrace the gospel
- Leading unbelievers to a personal faith response
- Becoming acquainted with The Way to Joy discipleship book
- Helping new believers to structure and share their faith stories
- Practice leading a lesson in The Way to Joy
- Using Gaining Ground with Good Soil to teach Good Soil in your ministry
Thanks so much. It was a wonderful seminar and I can’t wait to take my elders/pastors/staff through the material and hopefully our entire church next fall. God bless you.
— Tim
Resources
You’ll receive all of the following resources, and learn how to use each of them:
Annual Training Schedule
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Tuesday - Thursday
Good Soil Basic: Learn to use the Good Soil evangelism and discipleship scale, the worldview onion peeling model, how to use The Story of Hope and The Way to Joy (and other similar resources), and much more.
Hooks for Hanging OT/NT Storylines: These “Hooks” segments are designed to help you teach participants to grasp an overview of the Old Testament and the New Testament in two one-hour sessions. Learn More
BibleStorying: Learn not only how to tell Bible stories effectively, but also how to learn them without memorizing!
Good Soil Trainer Certification: Learn and become certified to lead basic Good Soil E&D seminars in your church and gain access to all of the necessary documents and files needed to present the seminar.
Includes lunch, snacks, and instructional resources.
-
Friday
REGISTER FOR FRIDAY'S: Gaining Ground as a TRULY Evangelistic Church
While you are in Harrisburg for the Good Soil training event, consider adding one more day to your experience and take the Gaining Ground as a Truly Evangelistic Church training.
This one-day seminar will help you discover and implement the essentials to leading a church to become TRULY evangelistic, not merely evangelical. This one-day training event is the result of the collaboration of four members of the Good Soil Team with a total of approximately 150 years of missionary, pastoral, and leadership training experience in the Europe, North, and South America.
Includes lunch, snacks, and instructional resources.
-
Tuesday - Thursday
Good Soil Basic: Learn to use the Good Soil evangelism and discipleship scale, the worldview onion peeling model, how to use The Story of Hope and The Way to Joy (and other similar resources), and much more.
Hooks for Hanging OT/NT Storylines: These “Hooks” segments are designed to help you teach participants to grasp an overview of the Old Testament and the New Testament in two one-hour sessions. Learn More
BibleStorying: Learn how to tell Bible stories effectively so that you can… Use Bible stories to reach children and adults too. Use Bible stories to reach postmodern AND tribal people. Enhance your preaching and Bible teaching.
Good Soil Trainer Certification: Learn and become certified to lead basic Good Soil E&D seminars in your church and gain access to all of the necessary documents and files needed to present the seminar.
Includes lunch, snacks, and instructional resources.
-
Friday
REGISTER FOR FRIDAY'S: Moving Beyond Lecture
While you are in Harrisburg for the Good Soil training event, consider adding one more day to your experience and take Moving Beyond Lecture to develop your interactive learning and training skills. Discover a six-step process for designing presentations and training sessions that consistently engage participants.
Includes lunch, snacks, and instructional resources.
John, a friend and I went to the Good Soil training. You were right of course, it was fantastic. We are sharing the materials with the church on Sunday nights. I was familiar with the similar materials from some other organizations but The Story of Hope is considerably better, much more user friendly.
— Paul
Engaging, interactive, and FUN learning!
Location
This training is held in the ABWE Administration and Training Center at:
522 Lewisberry Road
New Cumberland, PA 17070
Get Directions »
Registration
$180 per participant ($144 for ABWE Personnel) — includes lunch and snacks for three days, instructional materials and other resources.
Special discounts available for students who previously attended the seminar at ABWE, as well as group discounts.
Upcoming Course Dates
Good Soil Seminar & Trainer Certification is offered in July and October and May as part of a Good Soil training package. See Annual Training Schedule
| Course | Dates | Location | |
| Good Soil Evangelism & Discipleship Training | July 10–July 11, 2025 | BJU Seminary | More info & Register |
| Good Soil Evangelism & Discipleship Seminar and Trainer Certification | October 07–October 09, 2025 | ABWE International Headquarters | More info & Register |
| Moving Beyond Lecture | October 10, 2025 | ABWE International Headquarters | More info & Register |
| Good Soil Evangelism & Discipleship Seminar and Trainer Certification | May 12–May 14, 2026 | ABWE International Headquarters | More info & Register |
| Gaining Ground as a TRULY Evangelistic Church | May 15, 2026 | ABWE International Headquarters | More info & Register |
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