Wheaton College and the PreachFor Foundation Create New Pathway for the Next Generation of Church Leaders
Advancing Christ’s Kingdom by uniting theological education, church-based formation, mentoring, and scholarships for emerging ministry leaders.
Preparing the next generation of exceptional pastors for flourishing churches requires more than a degree—and more than ministry experience alone. A new collaboration between Wheaton College’s Litfin Divinity School and the PreachFor Foundation is bringing the two together, creating an integrated pathway that allows promising young leaders to study theology and the Bible while being formed for ministry in the life of a local church.
Through the PreachFor America Fellowship, emerging leaders combine graduate study at Wheaton with two years of substantive ministry experience at a carefully selected host church, intentional mentoring from experienced Christian leaders, and a cohort of peers discerning and preparing for lives of service to the Church.
The collaboration reflects a shared vision by Wheaton and PreachFor to address the severe leadership shortage facing local churches. Developing excellent Christian leaders is best accomplished when Christian academic institutions and local churches jointly develop future pastoral leaders.
For Fellows, that means graduate study and the congregation are not isolated parts of their formation. What they study at Wheaton can be tested, practiced, and deepened through the day-to-day realities of ministry—preaching and teaching, serving people, participating in church leadership, navigating difficult decisions, and learning from senior pastors.
Concurrently, their experiences in the local church can give greater context to their graduate studies.
"Wheaton College exists to prepare men and women to serve Christ and advance His Kingdom, and few callings matter more than the formation of pastors and other church leaders,” said Wheaton College President Philip Ryken. “This partnership with the PreachFor Foundation embodies what we believe about theological education: that it flourishes best when joined to the life of a local church. We're grateful to walk alongside PreachFor in raising up leaders who are equipped not only to teach sound doctrine, but to shepherd God’s people well."
The PreachFor Foundation was established to help address the challenge of who will lead the Church in the decades ahead—and how best to attract, form and equip those leaders. Its first initiative, the PreachFor America Fellowship, surrounds Fellows with resources often beyond the reach of emerging leaders: meaningful ministry responsibility, excellent graduate study, pastoral and lay leader mentors within the local church, a community of peers, and financial support that enables sustained formation.
Wheaton’s complementary strength is integral to the model. The Litfin Divinity School forms Christian leaders who are academically grounded, spiritually maturing, and practically skilled.
The partnership is already taking tangible form through Sam Fleischer ’26, a Wheaton alumnus and member of the inaugural PreachFor America Fellowship cohort. Fleischer has returned to Wheaton to pursue his Master of Arts in Ministry Leadership at the Litfin Divinity School while serving as a PreachFor America Fellow at The Parish of Calvary-St. George’s in New York City.
With a full scholarship from Wheaton provided by generous donors and the broader financial support provided by the Fellowship, Fleischer is positioned to devote these formative years to advanced study and intensive ministry experience without having to choose between the two.
His experience illustrates the larger vision behind the collaboration. Wheaton and PreachFor are moving beyond the traditional model of asking seminaries and universities to provide theological education, and churches to provide practical experience independently. Together, Wheaton and PreachFor are intentionally connecting those experiences around the formation of an individual leader.
“While the Church needs more people entering ministry now, it particularly needs deeply formed leaders who are equipped to serve faithfully over the long haul,” said Dr. Trygve D. Johnson, executive director of the PreachFor Foundation. “Wheaton understands that theological depth, spiritual formation, character development, and the practice of ministry belong together. This collaboration allows us to surround exceptional emerging leaders with the education, people, and experiences that can help them discern their calling and grow into it.”
"Pastoral formation can't happen in the classroom alone,” said Marc Cortez, dean of the Wheaton College Litfin Divinity School. “At the Litfin Divinity School, we want our students wrestling with Scripture and theology and putting it into practice in the life of a congregation that same week. This collaboration with PreachFor gives our students exactly that kind of integrated formation, and we couldn't ask for a better partner in preparing the next generation of church leaders."
Wheaton’s Litfin Divinity School is one of two inaugural academic collaborators participating with the PreachFor Foundation to build the Church leadership pipeline for advancing Christ’s Kingdom.
For more information about the Litfin Divinity School at Wheaton College, visit wheaton.edu. To learn more about the PreachFor America Fellowship, visit preachfor.org.