Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce celebrated the start of Dominion Empowerment – International School of Ministry (ISOM) with a ribbon cutting on Tuesday afternoon.

Rev. Cowenda Jefferson started the video bible school with her husband at her husband Apostle Kevin Jefferson at Word of Grace Christian Center on Lukken Industrial Drive in LaGrange.

Jefferson said the school is a ministry to the community and a school to provide spiritual education about the Kingdom of God. The church and school are multidenominational, she said.

“[Participants] can learn the principles and laws that will train, build up and equip believers to do works of ministry, do works of service, in a community or wherever God calls them to,” Jefferson said.

The Jeffersons established their ministry at Word of Grace Christian Center in 2010. Cowenda said Kevin initially came to the ministry as a guest preacher but the pastor who had been leading the church passed away the following week due to kidney failure.

“The powers that be asked if we would come and keep the sheep flock together,” Jefferson said, saying they answered God’s call.

She said she and Kevin had been dating at the time and planning to get married. They had talked about going to Florida to start a ministry there.

“The Lord saw so fit to bring us here to LaGrange, and we’re excited about being here,” she said.

Jefferson said ISOM is for everyone, not just those looking to become a minister.

“We’d love for pastors and ministers and ministry leaders to come in to train them up, but all faithful believers that are committed to Christ and committed to serving God serving your community can get a more in-depth teaching on the principles in God’s word,” she said.

The school is open to anyone 18 or older with a high school diploma or a GED equivalent. The school provides a 9-month for those looking to get a solid foundation for those looking to get a solid foundation on the Word of God. Students can also get an associate ministry degree in a 32-week program.

It’s an accredited program and several Christian universities accept credits from the school,  Jefferson said.

Cowenda said she is no stranger to Christian education, saying she had two adult bible schools in Michigan before moving to Georgia.

Provost Dr. Karen Kelley is in charge of the academics and making sure that this program is academically sound and rigorous. Kelley’s doctorate is in psychology and she is currently in seminary.

“This school does not represent anything that is structurally completely academic. It has an academic component, but we’re leaning more to the spiritual side of Christianity,” Kelley said.

“I believe that Christianity is a human experience. So even if you’re not a believer, there are some principles that are in Christianity that just make your life better. So people that are looking for something different for a change, something that uplifts them, rather than brings them down, which is what our current world is attempting to do something that is inclusive and not divisive, which again is what our current world is trying to do to us all. They can find that here,” Kelley said.

For more information on Dominion Empowerment – International School of Ministry, contact Rev. Jefferson at 706-443-5629.