Jeff Smith, the Executive Director of the Cowboy Church Network,  saw the need for training within the Cowboy Churches (both in pastoral and lay leadership), but the people who could benefit the most were limited by time and finances and unable to attend a “traditional” Bible college or seminary.  Working with academic leaders from the NC Southern Baptist Convention  a curriculum was developed that would meet the needs of those leaders and up and coming leaders in the Cowboy churches.    Additionally, there are bi-vocational pastors in more traditional churches that we could serve, as well as Sunday School teachers and other committed Christians who want to learn more about how to study and present the Bible. We began offering classes on January 6, 2016.

Each course at NABI meets once on a Saturday from 8am – 4pm, and is followed up with approximately 12 hours of homework.  The purpose of these courses is to teach and demonstrate the basics while igniting the students with the desire to dig deeper.  Our curriculum offers one course a quarter.    The tuition for each course is $225. For a husband and wife team, we offer a $100 discount if you both take the class!  You may also audit individual classes for no-credit for $75.  We are purposely keeping tuition as low as possible to make this opportunity accessible to as many students as possible. Students must be 18 years old or older to attend class. 

Once you have completed requirements for your one year certificate, we offer a 2 year and 3 year certificate,  and after 4 years, a diploma in Biblical Studies !!

Each course is taught by an instructor who has earned a Master’s degree (or higher) from an accredited institution in the field they are teaching.