A Learning Hub in 2026: Shoulder-Tap Conversations & Alternative Seminary Training

In his work as Learning Hub Coordinator for the Tennessee Valley Presbytery Church Planting Network, Dr. Chris Horne is building out two key elements of the hub in 2026: a Thirdmill Learning Hub and connecting high school and college-aged students to ministry experience. The hope is that over time, we’ll see more church planters and pastors identified, equipped, trained, and supported and ready to reach the lost and renew communities.

Chris wrapped up 2025 with a three-month listening tour during which he talked with leaders in TVP-MNA (Mission to North America) who have an interest in a learning hub, alternative seminary options, and the planter/pastor pipeline problem.

Starting off this year, he’s been working on the ministry exposure piece of the hub. By providing opportunities for high school and college-aged students in our region to be exposed to ministry, we hope to help them discern if this is their calling. Chris and TVP-MNA are working in partnership with Chattanooga Christian School and Covenant College to identify students, but students at other schools/college-aged people are invited to connect as well.

Chris explains the benefit of connecting with these two schools in particular, saying, “You can see Providence every step of the way in this. Both schools are wanting to address the pastor pipeline problem while also preparing their students for vocational ministry, and they’re doing some of this work already. Both schools have a curricular need for internships and service learning projects and such, so we want to provide those opportunities in PCA church contexts.”

While we do hope that future church planters come out of this work, it’s not exclusively for men interested in planting. Having more students prepared for future pastoral or ministry vocations is also a hoped-for outcome. Looking toward ordination in the PCA, we are mostly looking for men, but the challenge of future leaders in the PCA is broader than that. We also need women and non-ordained men to serve in a variety of roles, including volunteers and church planting teams and many types of ministry leadership opportunities.

Discipleship is a key part of this work, explains Chris. “A really important aspect is just getting students into relationships with local teaching elders and leaders who can mentor them and help them discern a calling.” He encourages mature Christians to engage in what some call “shoulder-tap conversations,” directly telling a younger believer you see his gifts for pastoral ministry and talking and praying with him about his potential calling.

Chris has contacted many PCA teaching elders in the region, asking them to consider what young people in their circles might benefit from the learning hub. He’s already been put in touch with both young and middle-aged men considering bivocational ministry.

Chris and TVP-MNA are also thinking about how to keep seminary from being an obstacle to a ministry calling. In partnership with Thirdmill Seminary, Chris plans to launch a local Thirdmill Learning Hub in August (a natural starting time in the seminary’s calendar). This learning hub falls underneath the umbrella of the church planting network’s learning hub.

Thirdmill Seminary is a low cost, accredited school offering online degree programs, including a Master of Divinity program. While not part of the Presbyterian Church in America, the programs do align with PCA standards, and much of Thirdmill’s leadership is or has been part of the PCA at some point.

The Thirdmill Seminary model already includes high quality, asynchronous online classes, synchronous meetings with professors, and in-person meetings with mentors to discuss applications in their local contexts. Our local learning hub will build upon that by providing PCA mentors to students connected to TVP-MNA. This will save students the effort of finding a mentor while also allowing Chris to emphasize PCA distinctives and preparation specifically for PCA contexts. 

The learning hub will also offer a Thirdmill-approved elective course about PCA distinctives which will count toward the school’s MDiv program.

The Thirdmill Learning Hub will function as a cohort, pairing a mentor with a group of students instead of only one-on-one. Chris says this will provide “mutual accountability, encouragement, and fellowship so it’s not such a solo endeavour.”

The learning hub will also support students enrolled in other alternative seminaries by connecting them with practical training opportunities in local PCA churches.

Do you know of a young person (or even a not-so-young person) who might be called to ministry? If so, contact Chris: chris@tnvalleypres.org, 423-883-2433. Especially if someone thinks seminary is out of reach, Chris wants to start the conversation.