EMI Anniversary Party

It has been almost thirty years exactly since we officially established Equipping Ministries International as a 501c3 separate from College Hill Presbyterian Church. We had developed the Teleios Center in 1976 and started training people at CHPC in relationships skills. It was not long before some people asked us to teach them how to reproduce our Teleios Ministry so we set up what was to become LIFE Seminars.

All of it came from my Doctoral work and Dissertation at the University of Cincinnati on the topic of the integration of Theology and Psychology and the development of a systematic program to equip the saints in healthy relationship skills.The photo above was taken of Gary Penfield, Dick Towner and me at graduation.

Materials had to be written, invitations sent, fees collected and teachers, organizers and supporters developed. I approached the Trustees of the church to get guidance about copyrights, materials ownership, finances, etc. Tim Johnson reported to me that the Trustees wanted us to set up our own 501c3. We did and it was the beginning of EMI.

In those thirty years EMI has taken the elements of the Teleios Ministry and spread it across the nation and around the world. many para-church groups have sprung up from that effort and EMI has developed ministries in some Seventy nations.

This weekend EMI will celebrate that anniversary and honor many of the founders and early leaders, including me. I left EMI in 1994.