The story of BSSM alumni - Eido Research · heart for excellence, we provide objective evidence that enables our clients to celebrate their achievements, grow their vision, and improve

The story of BSSM alumni - 1www.eidoresearch.com

The story of BSSM alumniSamuel Verbi and Ben Winkley - Eido ResearchWith help from - Joanna Barney, David Blane, Tamara Morozov, and Craig Sparrow

ContentsExecutive summary 3

About us 5

1. IntroductionThe corporate testimony

Structure of this report

678

2. Methodology Outline of questionnaire

Summary of survey in numbers

Representation and reliability

10131415

3. Attending and transitioning from BSSMDuring BSSM

Transitioning from BSSM

161920

4. Graduates’ lives nowDemographics

God

Personal

Community

Church

Ministry

Work

2122232730333639

5. Graduate opinions What could BSSM have done better to prepare graduates?

What can the alumni department do to help graduates now?

What has been the greatest challenge for graduates?

What advice would graduates share with current students?

4344464748

7. Possible reasons behind successAccountability

Church attendance

505354

8. Conclusions 55


Executive summary

During BSSM & transitioning

Where are graduates at now?

97% are confident in

their faith

88% are excited about

their future

19% live in Redding

Graduates who attend church

frequently are 3 times more likely to find transition

easy

Since 1999 Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) has graduated over 8000 graduates around the world with the vision to “equip and deploy revivalists who passionately pursue worldwide transformation in their God-given spheres of influence”. This is not just for the duration of school, but rather over the life time of the students and into the lives of their communities. As Pastor Bill often says “Come back to me in 20 years’ time and tell me you are still burning”. The vision behind this report is simple - to discover and celebrate the corporate testimony of the 8000 graduates currently around the world, and to provide the information Bethel needs to grow in excellence as they pursue global revival. The report is split into three main sections. The headlines are as follows:

Whilst the vast majority of graduates do not come from Redding, 1 in 5 BSSM graduates are still currently living in the city. 67% of graduates live in the USA, 4% in Canada, 18% in Europe, and 11% in the remaining continents around the world.

The vast majority of graduates are still burning strong in their faith, with 97% saying that they are confident in their faith in God. However, around 10% of graduates disagree with some of the BSSM core beliefs. In particular beliefs about God always answering our prayers and the importance of serving the vision of church leaders.

When it came to hearing God’s voice, 82% of graduates feel like they hear God’s voice in some way at least weekly. 81% of graduates feel a passion for God at least weekly. Likewise, graduates are full of hope with 88% indicating they are excited about their future.

Graduates were very positive about their time at BSSM, 85% saying that they had received what they had wanted to from the school. In particular, 99% of those who had come to BSSM wanting to grow in their personal identity felt that they had significantly.

When transitioning, graduates who prepared by focusing on their personal relationships with God outside of the ‘corporate wave’ were almost twice as likely to find transition easy. Likewise, those who attended their churches more frequently were three times more likely to find the transition experience easy.


BSSM graduates have a divorce rate that is 4 times lower than the American Christian average

Graduate success is most correlated

with Church attendance

“Give better expectations about graduation”

“Prepare students more for non-church spheres”

“Be in contact with us now”

Graduates have seen 35,000 people saved

The key habits correlated with a graduates success are ‘intentional’ forms of community. The more a graduate attends church and has mentoring or accountable relationships, the more likely they are to be doing well. General community however such as friends and house-mates is not as strongly correlated with success.

Graduates wanted BSSM to have given them better expectations about:- how life outside of the bubble is different, - how the relationship with BSSM will change after graduation

Graduates advise BSSM that they could improve in how they prepare students for different spheres of society:- Get actual experts from each sphere to come and speak- Give us tools to thrive in these worlds

Many graduates wanted some form of contact direct with BSSM. Suggestions ranged from personal emails, to podcasts, to mentors in home countries. Messages came back loud and clear that graduates want some form of follow up.

Graduates are ministering to people over twice as often they were before attending BSSM, with almost 45% ministering every week. This has led to a conservative estimate of 35,000 people saved since graduation, and 50,000 people healed in the last year (including several dead raisings!)

Married95%

Divorced5%

BSSM graduates

Married80%

Divorced20%

US national average

(1 in 6 singles end up getting married to another BSSM graduate)

Marriage success after 5 years

Top three pieces of advice from graduates


About us

Samuel is a professional researcher with 2 years’ experience as the Director for Qualitative Research for Eido Research. During this time he has conducted several research projects and evaluations for major UK and US organisations. As a keen sociologist his areas of strength include qualitative research methodology, research design, and academic theory.

Having been awarded scholarship from Trinity College Dublin, and completed his MSc in Sociology with distinction at the University of Amsterdam, he has a passion to tell with authenticity the stories that matter – changing the way people see and understand themselves and others. This project represents something that has been on his heart for over five years.

Ben is a professional statistician with four years experience working for the British Government. Having obtained his masters in statistics, his areas of expertise lie in quantitative research methodology, statistical analysis, and communication of academic research data to non academic audiences.

During his employment with the Department for Business and the Office for National Statistics he managed several surveys, oversaw reports for senior government ministers, and presented high level findings to large committees of officials. In addition, he recently became certified in SPSS statistical software Syntax 1&2. His vision is to invest his research skills and experience into the kingdom of God.

Eido research (www.eidoresearch.com) is a monitoring and evaluation partnership who conduct bespoke analysis and research for faith groups and charities. Through our qualifications, professional experience, and heart for excellence, we provide objective evidence that enables our clients to celebrate their achievements, grow their vision, and improve their strategy. Having both attended BSSM, we are passionate to discover the untold testimonies from the 8000 alumni around the world, as well as empower BSSM towards their astonishing vision and mission.

Samuel Verbi

Ben Winkley



1Introduction

The vision behind this report is simple: to start to celebrate the corporate testimony of the 8000 graduates around the world, and to provide the information Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) needs to grow in excellence towards pursuing global revival.

The corporate testimony

Approximately seven years before BSSM opened their doors and started equipping revivalists to transform the world, another move of the Spirit was spreading through North America. What became known as the Toronto blessing, characterised by both astonishing healings and manifestations of God’s presence, transformed the way thousands of people around the world saw God. When Bill Johnson attended in the mid 90s, he too was impacted to such a degree that it could be said that Toronto became a major contributor to the founding of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM).

However, for many this move of God in Toronto was strange and unknown. How were people really being impacted? What was the fruit of this ministry? And was this really from God?

In an attempt to navigate these questions objectively, a small external study1 was commissioned in 1995 to “inspect the fruit” of the revival. Amongst other fascinating insights, the report showed that 91% of attendees had come to know the Father’s love in a new way as a result of attending, 27% reported a physical healing, and 89% were more in love with their spouse. Even just these three simple statistics brought so much weight and insight into what the Spirit was doing in Canada. Indeed, with a smirk of irony, the report concluded that ‘if Toronto was the devil’s doing (as some critics claimed), it would appear that he had changed sides’.

Sadly, however, revival statistics like these are few and far between, and so often we have to rely on anecdote rather than evidence when celebrating how God is moving around the world. We tell the stories of individuals, but often miss out on what God is doing to an entire community or city, to groups or populations. It’s not that these success stories don’t exist, reports like Toronto’s prove that they do, but it’s just that they have yet to be discovered.

In this landmark study we make a first step to document and understand how another major move of God is transforming a generation. With a mission to “equip and deploy revivalists” around the world, the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry was founded in 1999. Since then, and over the subsequent 18 years, this renowned ministry school has commissioned and graduated over 8000 graduates from nations around the world. Equipped with unique teaching, experiences and culture, these graduates have been the source of countless stories of success. Whilst these individual stories are celebrated daily within Bethel, this report enables us to celebrate the corporate testimony from BSSM graduates. What is the success rate of marriages? How do BSSM graduates impact businesses and industries? How many people are being healed through student prayers? Ultimately, what are some of the corporate fruits of this move of God? This report first provides answers to these questions.

Growth in excellence

Whilst celebrating these big picture successes is exciting, this research also provides vital information that enables the school to look strategically on their impact and identify ways to improve. BSSM carries such an extraordinary vision that there is inevitably

Introduction

1 Poloma, M. 2002. Fruits of the Father’s Blessing - A Sociological Report


a gap between what is seen today, and the vision for the future. As we press on to make disciples of nations, baptising individuals from every people group into the body of Jesus Christ and seeing the Kingdom of God transform the earth, there is a tension between the “now” and the “not yet”. In this report, researchers aim to celebrate the “now” and make suggestions from the data as to how to progress into the “not yet”.

Research focuses on looking into the reasons behind a graduate’s success, and sometimes also into the reasons behind the struggles. Why do some graduates find transition hard? Why do some find it easy? Why are some graduates struggling with their faith? And how can we equip future graduates to navigate these hurdles? Learning the answers to these questions can be challenging and difficult but the value they can bring is substantial. This report therefore aims to explore and summarise what we can learn from the current generation of revivalists. What are their keys to success? What do those who thrive do that sets them apart from those who don’t? And, knowing this, how should we move forward?

Structure of this report

In chapter 2 the methods behind this research are explained in some detail, enabling BSSM to understand some of the science behind the numbers. This section includes details of the consultations which were conducted with BSSM leaders. Here, staff were asked what they would love to know about and from graduates around the world. Researchers used these questions as a constant reference point while designing this project. A combination of questionnaires (one for graduates and another for church pastors) was used, with follow up interviews with graduates.

In chapter 3 the initial results are discussed. The focus is on graduate experiences both during BSSM and transitioning from BSSM in their first year out of the school. The report provides information on how graduates can increase the likelihood of transitioning successfully, and recommends key actions to future graduates.

In chapter 4 the focus shifts from BSSM and transition onto where graduates are now. Basic demographic statistics reveal graduate’s geographic locations, employment status’ and ages. The report is then divided into six main sections - a section for each of the areas of a graduate’s life. Graduate’s beliefs, practices, and experiences are shown in each of the following six spheres: their interactions with God, with themselves, with community, with church, with ministry, and with their vocation.

Chapter 5 presents graduates thoughts and recommendations to current students and to BSSM leaders. A variety of topics are discussed - from what they wish they had known before graduation, to what they recommend current students do now. This section also adds significant detail to some of the more objective statistics in the previous chapter.

Chapter 6 begins to deal with the question: “why do some graduates thrive and why do others not”? The chapter sheds light on specific behaviours, as well as the potential value in conducting a longitudinal study at a later date.

Finally, chapter 7 concludes with a summary and discussion of some of the key findings from this report. The chapter takes some of the highlights and looks to expand and link them together into a coherent story.



2Methodology

1) What do BSSM want to know?

The first step to our research process was to figure out exactly what BSSM leadership wanted and needed to know about their alumni. To do this Eido researchers conducted over 30 hours of face to face consultations with BSSM staff members to shape this research project. During these discussions, staff members were asked two key questions: What do you want to know from BSSM graduates? What do you think are the hallmarks of a successful BSSM graduate? Their answers are published in this report on page13.

2) Sample Preparation

Researchers received downloads from BSSM databases (past and present) containing information on most graduates. These lists were sometimes incomplete, and also contained current students still at school who needed to be removed. The lists were cleaned and combined to create one master record containing the names and contact details for all 8005 BSSM graduates from 1999 to 2016.

3) Sampling and Weighting

To produce academically reliable statistics, it was necessary to select an unbiased group of students to survey. Students were split by graduation class and year of study and 10% were randomly selected from each group (e.g. 10% of the third years graduating in 2015). The total number of students selected

was 837. This sample design method is known as Stratified Sampling Without Replacement and is commonly used for calculating official statistics throughout the world. Responses were weighted accordingly to produce unbiased estimates, two weights were calculated which adjusted for non-respondents in different ways and statistics have been calculated using the most appropriate weight for each question. Please contact Eido Research for more information on the exact weighting methods if more information is required.

4) Survey Design

The questionnaire was designed in collaboration with BSSM volunteers and piloted amongst a close group of alumni and Revival Group Pastors. Initially over 150 questions were proposed and tested and, of these, the most successful 60 questions were short-listed for the final questionnaire. The questions were uploaded onto an online platform and tested to ensure that errors were minimal. Graduates were only directed to answer questions that were relevant to them (for example only married graduates were asked a question on the happiness of their marriage). The final survey was detailed and produced insightful results. Researchers are grateful to the many hundreds of graduates who took time and care to give BSSM the information contained in this report.

Methodology • Consultation with BSSM leaders to identity key questions• Questionnaire constructed around 6 areas of life• Online questionnaire emailed to 837 graduates with open and

closed questions• Online questionnaire emailed to 90 pastors of alumni • Follow up interviews conducted with 45 graduates


5) Data Collection

Each of the 837 selected graduates were sent an email with a unique link to the survey online. The unique link enabled them to be tracked so that once they responded they did not receive any further reminder emails. Every graduate with a valid phone number was called and encouraged to participate in the study. This was received very positively by graduates who mainly felt like they would have liked to receive more personal connection from BSSM since graduation.

6) Following up with respondents

Whilst the vast majority of graduates were grateful for the chance to be involved, inevitably, some graduates responded negatively to being asked to participate in the research. Researchers responded personally to every negative email or comment that was received, thanking graduates for their honesty and explaining the heart behind the project. Several of those who had initially responded negatively ended up submitting responses to the final survey after receiving personal contact.

7) Conducting In-Depth Interviews

60 of the respondents (over 10%) were selected to participate in a further interview over Skype™. Many more volunteered, but three types of graduate were specifically selected. Firstly, those who had communicated very negative experiences in the survey in order to understand what had gone wrong and give them the chance to talk through some of their harder experiences. Secondly, those who had communicated very positive experiences (such as high numbers of conversions) in order to learn from them and to validate their stories to be sure that our statistics were accurate. Finally, we selected an even spread of graduates from the remaining respondents, to ensure that we had well represented everyone.

8) Questionnaire Analysis

The completed questionnaires were downloaded and cleaned, longer answers were read through and grouped into categories. Finally, the dataset was loaded into statistical software (SPSS™) where researchers explored every question. Statistics were produced for each individual question and relationships between questions were examined (for example the relationship between a graduates age and how hard they found transitioning out of BSSM). Numbers were tested for significance using statistical tests. Hundreds of charts and tables were produced and the most impacting were selected to be included.

9) Interview Analysis

Skype™ interview recordings were taken through each interview. Researchers listened to recordings and summarised the conversations that had taken place. Key points were noted down and important quotes were selected. These case studies not only add colour and a personal touch to the final research but can often help to explain the patterns shown by the statistics.

10) Report Production

Finally, researchers brought together all of their methods, statistics, charts, tables, quotes and personal stories to produce this one report, aiming to tell the story of BSSM graduates across the world from 1999 to 2016.


Church and community

Almost all consultations mentioned elements of church and community. “How connected are they to people of a like mind and sharing your inner world with alumni/community?” said one staff member. “What did they do to search for community in their new location?”, added another.

The focus on community however, wasn’t just concerned with shallow connection – but rather there was an emphasis on heart issues. “Do they connect with people about heart issues?” and “To what extent are they living hidden or seen?”.

With regards specifically to church, there was a strong sense that alumni needed to serve. “How connected are they to leaders in their current location? How often do they meet with their pastor?”

Character and relationship to God

The next most mentioned aspects were the internal world of personal character and faith. Questions surrounding “how are they handling challenges, and what does their heart look like when they are struggling?”. With regards to faith there was a down to earth realism - “are they still burning? Do they still have a passion for Jesus? Do they wake up every morning and feel loved?”

Mountains and ministry

The next aspect that staff members were interested in was a graduates ministry life, “Where did you feel called to compared to where did you end up? How many alumni are pastors or missionaries?”

“Do you feel you have connection with your local church body? Are you contributing to your church family? Do you appreciate what you have? Are you part of the solution?”

It is interesting how, for many staff members, graduate success should not be measured in salvations or outward ministry but in the graduates’ characters. “I don’t think its all about salvations, but rather more about the heart issues. That’s what we are producing in this house”

Before during, and transitioning from BSSM

Not only were staff members interested with graduates lives currently, they also strongly emphasised asking questions about graduates lives while they were at BSSM. Here questions surrounding this were typically in a context of distinguishing graduates who genuinely caught the BSSM vision from those who typically coasted along.

Questions from BSSMStaff members were asked two key questions: What do you want to know from BSSM graduates? And what do you think are the hallmarks of a successful BSSM graduate? This page summarises the answers to the former question, grouping them into four main categories.nto four main categories.


1. G

od

BL.

God responds to our prayers

2. P

erso

nal BL.

I should prosper in all ways

The bible is infallible I am a new creation

I can back these up in scripture I can back these up in scripture

PR.

Worship / prayer / soaking on my own

PR.

Declarations / prophetic words

Worship / prayer / soaking with others Exercise

Reading bible / theological books Purity

EXP.

God’s presence

EXP.

Depression / anxiety debt

Revelation about God Purpose / satisfaction / hope

Connection to God Perception of self

3. C

omm

unity

BL.Should be living in community

4. C

hurc

h

BL.Should be a member of church

Marriage is between man & woman Should be serving my pastor’s vision


PR.

Mentoring

PR.

Church attending

Being mentored Church serving

Accountability Church tithing

EXP.

Marriage happiness

EXP.

Connection to church

Connection to community Pastor’s response at church

Other experiences from community Other experiences from church

5. M

inis

try

BL.

God wants to save and heal everyone

6. W

ork

BL.

We are called to minister in our sphere

The gifts are for all / I should take risks The gifts of the spirit should be used


PR.

Ministry with non-Christians

PR.

Ministry at world

Ministry with Christians Non ministry success

Other practices with ministry Sharing faith at work

EXP.

Salvations

EXP.

Success at work

Healings / transformed lives Impact of influence

Impact of ministry Other experiences at work

Outline of questionnaire To provide a comprehensive picture of graduates life, the questionnaire was built around 6 main areas. These were graduate interactions with God, with themselves, with community, with their church, with their ministry, and with their work. In each case questions were asked about the graduates beliefs, practices, and experiences. For example - a graduate will believe that God always will respond to their prayers, will put this into practice by praying and worshipping, and will subsequently experience Gods presence.


A total of 500 graduates responded by filling out the questionnaire. Based on the number we managed to contact in total, the response rate for this survey was therefore 82%. This is very high compared to the typical level of response rates found in similar studies.

94 graduates wrote to us

A total of 89 individuals were in contact with us outside of the official survey. The majority of these messages were enthusiasm and thanks for being in contact: “I can’t wait to answer the survey and I am beyond honored. Many blessings!!” wrote one graduate. “Thank you so much for your message. This is an honor for me to answer the survey”, said another. “My husband and I talk most days of our amazing time at BSSM, we loved learning bible from you Dann, one of our highlights of the week!” said a third. Whilst one woman was due to go into labour the next day, “Will be a pleasure answering the survey! I’m having our 3rd baby tomorrow, so will be offline for a while :)”. Finally, one graduate emailed after having completed the survey, saying “Thank you so much for allowing us to give a feedback about BSSM and our experience with the time after graduation. You did an amazing job putting together clear and meaningful questions”

59,621 questions answered

When graduates actually came to answering the questions, responses were impressive in how lengthy and heart-felt they were. Indeed, whilst many surveys like this have issue due to lack of

effort put in, for BSSM this was not the case. Almost 60,000 questions were answered with thought and detail and whilst each question is discussed over later pages, responses from the question: ‘is there anything you would like to add’ have been particularly encouraging and amusing: ranging from the grateful “THANK YOU for putting resources towards hearing alumni opinions and allowing a formal feedback/evaluation space”, to the more comical “besides the fact that I really hoped for Dann Farrelly to appear on a horse for the promo video for this survey, no” .

65 hours of interviews recorded

At the end of the survey, we asked whether graduates would be willing to talk more during an interview. In total alumni were keen to be interviewed with more than 60% writing their email down at the end of the survey. Subsequently 90 hours of Skype interviews at a variety of hours during the day and night were conducted from London.

4 volunteers from 2nd Year

The four volunteers – Joanna Barney, Craig Sparrow, David Blane, and Tamara Morozov have been a huge help in this project. The work they have done, and the skill with which they have done it, has significantly helped raised the response rate and smoothed the process. Likewise, they articulate that, for them, this experience has been “really exciting and a privilege to be a part of”.

Summary of survey in numbers

Graduates sampled 837Graduates contacted 610Number of responses 500Contacted response rate 82%Number interviewed 45


Responses were received from graduates from every BSSM class from 1999 to 2016 and although there were smaller numbers from the earlier years (between 2 and 7 respondents for every year before 2008), the numbers responding in every year from 2008 to 2016 are large enough to track how the year groups differ from each other. The class of 2016 submitted the highest number of responses (73) partly because their contact details were more likely to be up to date. Is the data representative for all BSSM graduates?

Yes, the response rates are high enough to be confident that the data accurately represents the population of BSSM graduates. In addition, tests have been conducted on the data from the survey and it has been concluded that the responses we have received accurately represent the population in many ways – for example 40% of the respondents are male and 60% are female, which is the same as the underlying population in the BSSM register. The data comes from around the world with a reasonably similar spread to the BSSM students themselves. The data also contains people who are angry and disappointed in addition to those who are happy and contented. Non responders were also anecdotally tested to see if they were likely to be doing badly or doing well. Amongst them were found several bethel staff members, and others who it would seem safe to assume are currently “successful”, in addition to some who potentially are not. As with every report of this nature, some form of bias is inevitable in some ways. For example the number of divorces may be under reported, and the number of salvations over reported because people tend to not report things that they regret and over report things that they are happy about. Therefore, for sensitive questions like these the data has been adjusted as sensibly as possible.

Specifically on many of the ‘good news stories’ a deliberately pessimistic stance was taken to maximise the reliability of the statistics.

In conclusion, the data presented in this report are thought to accurately represent BSSM graduates as a whole. Statistics in this report have been calculated reliably (according to industry standards) and can be published and quoted as the user desires (although discretion must be used to ensure that citations are not misleading – for example assumptions should be quoted alongside the figures themselves). The figures in this report are all estimates, but are accurate.

Confidence Intervals

Statistics are calculated by weighting each of the individual respondents by the number of graduates from their class (so the total adds up to 8000). This method means that figures are estimates and not exact counts and so confidence intervals around these estimates are calculated (i.e. we are 95% sure that the true value for BSSM graduates falls within a certain interval around the number. Confidence intervals vary on each question in the survey, but for opinion questions like “How connected do you feel to your community” confidence intervals are all ±1%. Published figures are rounded to the nearest 100 people, or 1% which is usually a larger error than the confidence interval in any case. For specific questions concerning confidence intervals please contact Eido Research for further explanation.

Representation and reliability



3Attending and

transitioning from BSSM

During BSSM• 85% of graduates received what they wanted from BSSM• 39% of the most impacting testimonies are experienced on

missions trips• From classes 2012 onwards, graduates were significantly

closer to their revival group pastors and interns

Whether a graduate has a vision to change the world as an entrepreneur, or to transform their community by being a stay at home parent, they all share at least one year at BSSM, with common teaching, worship times and the pursuit of the presence of God. The survey began by asking some questions about graduates life at BSSM. Questions focused on four main areas: why people came to BSSM (and whether these expectations were met), the most supernatural and transformational things students experienced whilst they were at BSSM, how they integrated into the BSSM community, and how they were transformed by the process. These questions are not only interesting in their own right, but are also possible indicators as to how successful a graduate might be once they leave.

Students were asked to give their top three reasons for attending BSSM, and there were three central themes to their responses. 92% mentioned in one of their three reasons wanting to discover more of God, 72% mentioned wanting to become more effective in ministry, while 68% mentioned wanting to grow in their identity. “I wanted a way to deepen my relationship with Jesus. I knew there had to be more, I just wasn’t sure what more looked like; I just knew it would be found here” said one graduate. “To discover more of my identity and who God has called me to be” added another. The vast majority of these expectations were met during the time at BSSM, with only 4% of expectations going unmet. Of particular interest here is that almost everyone who wanted a stronger and more stable identity, received it whilst at BSSM. In other words, if a student comes to BSSM wanting to receive a stronger sense of identity they are almost guaranteed to have that expectation met by attending the school.

Why did students come to BSSM? And was this expectation met?

Yes85%

Partially11%

No4%

Were student hopes and expectations met at BSSM?


Whilst at BSSM, students saw a huge variety of supernatural and transformational events. From healings at the healing rooms, salvations on mission trips, to gold dust in the sanctuary, many graduates communicated that they had observed a large number of supernatural incidents throughout their time at BSSM. The level and type of these didn’t change across different classes or year groups but it was interesting to note the locations of these events. As the chart shows opposite, 39% of the most significant testimonies were observed on mission trips. Considering the relatively short duration of these trips, it is interesting to see how strongly these trips impact the lives of those who go on them.

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Year of graduation

How close were you to your Revival Group Pastor?(First Year or Second Year)

Mission Trip39%

At BSSM or Bethel Services

28%

Healing Rooms

6%

Other (homes, in the city etc)

27%

Where do students see theirmost supernatural testimony?

What was the most supernatural thing you saw, and where did you see it?

A final aspect of BSSM culture chosen for analysis is the level of intimacy experienced between students and their revival group pastor and interns when they were at BSSM. Statistics are not available for individual pastors, however, in general, there was a high level of connection for both first year and second year revival groups. 82% of graduates communicated a strong or very strong level of connection. However, interestingly, it appears that this level of connection has been increasing over the years at BSSM. As the chart shows, there is a significant increase to of connection in the class of 2012. A similar pattern can be observed in student’s closeness to their interns. It is possible that the move to the civic was beneficial for the pastoral aspects of BSSM.

How close were you to your revival group pastor and your intern?

Very close

Fairly close

Not close


Transitioning from BSSM• Graduates found transition harder than they predicted• Graduates found transition significantly easier when they...

» Prepared for it by focusing on their private relationship with God whilst at BSSM

» Attended church more frequently in their first year out » Remained in contact with their mentors during transition

Transitioning out of BSSM is already known to be challenging for many graduates. While 34% remain in Redding for some time after finishing school, the vast majority of graduates eventually leave the Bethel environment, aiming to spread the kingdom of God around the world. The next set of questions focus on the 12 months immediately after graduation.

We asked graduates two questions about the difficulty of transition. Firstly, “how hard did you think transitioning would be”, and secondly “how hard was the actual experience of transitioning”? As the two charts below show, graduates thought that transition would be easier than it was. Whilst only 17% of graduates thought transitioning would be hard, 45% experienced it this way.

Backing up the data above, graduates communicated two things in their open answers. Firstly, the challenge of transition was a surprise to many. “BSSM is not the real world. I think people come into the school thinking this will be the new normal. It’s a bubble,” said one graduate. “Reality was a painful wakeup call,” added another. “Nothing can compare you for the culture shock of leaving Redding and BSSM. It was the most un-stabilising thing I have ever experienced,” commented a third. A lot of the negative experiences were also coupled with shame, with many graduates not meeting their own expectations for living a revival lifestyle: “I felt like a failure because I felt like I should be doing everything I learned in my three years at BSSM”.

Secondly, over 50% of graduates mentioned how this shock and difficulty stemmed from aspects of changed community - “I wish I could have took a group of people with me” said one graduate who had experienced a tough time.

On the other hand, the graduates who experienced an easy transition mostly attributed it to their personal relationship with God - “I had my inner world structured, disciplined and healed up throughout my years at BSSM. Because of all that I was excited to see what my journey and life with God outside of the school structure would be like. It has been wonderful!”

“BSSM is not the real world. I think people come into the school thinking this will be the new normal. It’s a bubble” - 2nd year graduate

Hard17%

Ok41%

Easy42%

...think transitioning would be

Hard45%

Ok25%

Easy30%

...experience transitioning

How easy was transition?


What made it easier?

Hard57%

Ok27%

Easy16%

Monthly or less

Hard30%

Ok24%

Easy46%

Multiple times per week

Whilst many graduates found the experience harder than expected, it is important to know what behaviours made this process easier. Here results showed that graduates who prepared for transition by focusing on their personal relationship to God, attended church regularly in their first year out, and kept in contact with their mentors were all significantly more likely to find the experience easier.

Preparing by building personal relationship to God

Going to church regularly

Keeping in contact with their 3rd year mentor

Hard45%

Ok24%

Easy31%

I did nothing

Hard31%

Ok18%

Easy51%

I focused on my relationship with God Graduates who prepared for transition by focusing on their personal relationship with God outside of the ‘corporate wave’ were almost twice as likely to find the transition experience easy. Other forms of preparation, including building a strong community, did not have a significant positive impact.

During their first year out, graduates who attended any form of church meeting (from services to small groups) multiple times per week were almost 3 times more likely to find the transition experience easy. Likewise, those who attended church at least once per week were almost twice as likely to find the experience easy.

Finally, third year graduates who kept in contact with their mentor during transition were 1.5 times likely to find the experience easy. Whilst this increase isn’t as quite as numerically significant as the previous behaviours, this is the first behaviour that BSSM can directly impact by training third year mentors to stay in contact with interns for key moments of their transition.

Hard52%OK

24%

Easy24%

Didn't keep in contact

Hard34%

OK27%

Easy39%

Kept in contact



4Graduates’ lives now

The initial snapshot of demographics of BSSM graduates both builds as well as validates the representation of the survey. In each category of location, age, marital status, and gender there is a fair representation.

Whilst the vast majority of graduates do not come from Redding, there appears to be a high level of representation in the city. Here 1/5 of BSSM graduates are currently located in Redding. With regards to wider locations, 67% live in the US, 4% in Canada, 18% live in Europe, and the remaining 11% live in the remaining continents around the world.

Ages of BSSM graduates are spread relatively widely. 18% are aged between 19-24, 26% between the ages of 25-29, 31% between the ages of 30-39, and the remaining 24% over the age of 40. Out of our respondents the oldest person was 75 and the youngest was 19.

With regards to employment BSSM graduates appear to be doing better than national norms. Here only 2.7% are unemployed, compared with 4.7% for the rest of the US in December 2016.

Demographics• The average current age of all BSSM graduates is 31• Graduates from BSSM are located in every continent • 19% of graduates currently live in Redding• 67% of graduates currently live in the USA• 84% are employed or self-employed

19% of BSSM graduates live in Redding

84% are in paid employment

31 is the average current age of BSSM graduates

51% of BSSM graduates are married


1. Interactions with God

The first in-depth area of a graduate’s life to be explored is their interactions directly with God. These include basic beliefs about who God is, practices such as bible reading and prayer, as well as experiences of God’s presence and goodness. In each of these, the vast majority of graduates were doing well. As the first graph below shows, only 3% of Bethel graduates are experiencing any form of doubt about their faith, with 97% of graduates being confident about their faith.

Does not consider themselves to have a faith

1%

Unsure about their faith2%

Confident in their faith 97%

How confident are graduates about their faith?

• 97% of graduates are confident in their faith• 27% only read their Bible monthly or less • ‘Lack of community’ was the main reason explaining why

some graduates have had declining experiences with God • Graduates who lost their faith attributed it to a change in

their experiences with God • The top reason for being unsure of faith was hurt

and disappointment since graduation


Beliefs about God Graduates were asked whether they fully believed that God responds to prayer, and about the infallibility of scripture. Almost all graduates strongly agreed with these beliefs. Any who disagreed cited academic reasons for not being convinced by the bible or painful experiences dealing with unanswered prayer.

“Just seen so many unanswered prayers, so I don’t think He responds immediately.

I think the Bible can be very much interpreted how we want it.”

90% of graduates agree that “The Bible is the source of infallible authority by which we judge all insight and prophetic revelation”

90% of graduates agree that “God personally hears and always responds to our prayers”

Practices alone with GodWith regards to the practices with God on their own, prayer was by far the most frequent practice followed closely by worship. However, far fewer graduates read the Bible as regularly. 73% read the Bible more often than monthly and only 40% of graduates read a Christian book more often than monthly.

More than Weekly93%

Weekly5%

Monthly or less 2%

Pray

More than Weekly70%

Weekly18%

Monthly or less 12%

Worship

More than Weekly55%Weekly

18%

Monthlyor less27%

ReadtheBible


Experiences with GodThe two most frequent experiences with God were graduates hearing His voice (internally or externally) or feeling a passion for Him. Graduates are less likely to regularly feel His presence or receive revelation about Him. However, graduates who regularly spend time focusing on His presence are shown to feel Him more regularly too.

As opposed to the practices a graduate can physically do, such as pray or worship, their experiences with God often appear to be more dependent upon external factors such as their environment and community. In this regard many graduates communicated a decline in their experiences of God since leaving BSSM. “While attending BSSM I felt more connected

and in tune to God than I had my whole life. Then two years after graduation, I had a very rough year where I didn’t feel any connection to God at all. I had moved away from all of my friends, family, and community, and really struggled with the Lord about that,” said one graduate. Indeed, graduates almost always attribute this decline in experiencing God to the change in community, “at BSSM it was so easy to connect to the heavenly realms while being in a community that with like-minded. Here I am in an academic community that does not care much about the spiritual realm or about Holy Spirit. I have felt often discouraged and sometimes questioned God,” said another graduate. “I felt very connected to God during BSSM, it seemed so much easier when my room-mates and fellow students were always hungering after God.”

The main reason for a decline in experience with God was a lack of BSSM community

“At BSSM it was so easy to connect to the heavenly realms while being in a community that were like-minded. Here I am in an academic community that does not care much about the spiritual realm or about Holy Spirit. I have felt often discouraged and sometimes questioned God”

More than weekly 38%

Weekly25%

Monthly or less37%

Receive revelation about God


Weekly13%

Monthly or less18%

Hear God's voice


Weekly17%

Monthly or less30%

Experience God's presence


Weekly13%

Monthly or less19%

Feel a passion for God


tWhy are some losing their faith?

2/3 because of alternative experiences and perspectives The majority of graduates who have lost their faith describe how they were impacted by an exposure to alternative world views, combined with a change in the way they were experiencing God outside of BSSM.

Initially, their personal relationship with God started to worsen “My relationship to God started to fizzle out... it worked at Bethel, but just wasn’t working here...” said one second year graduate. “It no longer did the emotional things it used to do for me”. “The strategies I used to make me feel connected there, weren’t making me feel connected here,” added another 2nd year graduate.

It was this change in the way a graduate experienced God, combined with new perspectives or alternative world views that were particularly influential. Social science courses at university proved challenging in more than one case: “learning a load of new theories and perspectives that were really challenging my standpoint”.

Crucially in these moments however, when graduates reached out to Bethel community for support they were dissatisfied. “It was hard to talk to my community because they weren’t reading the same things that were opening up my mind, or teaching me to think in different ways” said one graduate. “Can you please not just say you will pray for me; can you just listen to what I am saying” added another. “I had a lot of non-Christian support from classmates who didn’t have an automatic answer.”

1/3 because of disappointment and hurt after graduation The other main group were those who had experienced hurt and disappointment from unmet expectations. This group mainly consisted of people who were very unsure about their faith.

“The expectation created in the culture of BSSM was that when leaving everything was going to be unicorns and rainbows... I remember the leadership making passing comments about life outside of the bubble of BSSM but there was not any committed time to sobering up my class to the fact that life is hard and you need to have your s**t together” said one 2nd year who is now very unsure of her faith.

“BSSM is a big fantasy bubble similar to Disney land, that bursts the moment a lot of people leave and the real world hits them harder than they could have expected as they come to terms with the reality of their real environment. a lot go into a deep depression”, added another graduate who was also very unsure about their faith.

Based upon the follow up interviews, it was apparent that most had strong faiths before attending BSSM, all had experienced an amazing time whilst at BSSM, but it had been the transition back into the real world that had destabilised them. “I felt like such a failure”, said one graduate in tears, “I wasn’t doing or seeing any of the stuff I saw whilst at school. It has really made me question what I believe and that sucks.”


1 Barna. 2016. The Porn Phenomenon.

2. Personal interactions

Beliefs about identity

95% of graduates agree that “God’s desire is to prosper us in every area of our lives: Physically, mentally, spiritually, vocationally”

97% of graduates agree that “We are new creations, not merely sinners saved by grace, but saints who have been given His righteousness so we can cooperate with God”

The second in-depth area of a graduate’s life to be explored is their personal life. Here the theme was where the graduate was at personally with themselves. When consulting BSSM staff members, almost all of them stressed the importance of a graduate having a healthy inner world. Therefore, in many ways, this section represents some of the best indicators for how graduates are flourishing outside of BSSM. Aspects such as graduates beliefs about identity, practices of purity, and experiences of levels of hope are all key. In each area it appears that graduates are doing well - although again some are struggling more with how they “feel” compared with what they “do” and what they “think”.

• More than 95% of graduates agree with BSSM core beliefs about their identity

• Levels of personal purity are all significantly better than figures for American born-again Christians

• 88% of graduates are excited about their future, but only 67% believe that they are ‘where they should be’ in life

• 12% of graduates experience frequent levels of depression and anxiety

Graduates scored extremely highly in questions about their beliefs in their identities in Christ, and His purpose for them. Of all the beliefs questioned in this survey, these two have the highest levels of agreement amongst graduates.

Establishing ‘identity’ therefore is not only one of the top three reasons for a graduate to come to BSSM, and the reason that graduates are most likely to be satisfied that they received. It is also the BSSM core value that is most likely to be agreed with, and most likely to live out after graduation. One student who is struggling with some aspects of their faith said “it is what BSSM taught me about my identity that I am most thankful for”.


Personal practices

...generally high levels of purity

Believing in a key concept is a good indicator, but it needs to be put into practice through a graduate’s choices if it is to impact their life. Therefore the survey asked about how often graduates read through their prophetic words, or spoke declarations over themselves. On the whole, BSSM graduates have positive habits. Each week over 50% of BSSM graduates make declarations over their lives and 30% read through prophetic words (rising to 60% each month). They also tend to live healthy lives (over three quarters exercise each week).

BSSM graduates are also unlikely to have negative habits. Compared with norms in the United States, graduates are over 2 times less likely to look at porn than the typical born-again Christian.

This is positive, but obviously not perfect, however what is amazing is that only 1% of men reported looking at porn ‘several times a week. This is very encouraging, especially when compared with the national average of 37% Christian men who look at porn ‘several times a week’.

Female BSSM graduates are doing even better with only 1% having looked at pornography in the last 6 months compared with estimates of between 10% and 34% across the nation.

Whilst we may believe these number to be slightly low (as BSSM graduates may feel ashamed of porn use and therefore not report it) it is clear that the level of honesty in this survey has been very high and so the figures are reasonably trustworthy.

...numerous experiences of depression

Overall, 12% of BSSM graduates said they were experiencing depression or anxiety, with a further 20% selecting that they “partially” experience depression or anxiety. This is quite high when compared to the national statistics in 2015 where 6.9% of adult Americans experienced a “major depressive episode” and while the two numbers cannot directly be compared, it is clear that BSSM graduates are struggling in this way. However, it should be noted that BSSM is likely to attract people who are more in tune with their emotions and that spiritual “feelers” are likely to be more affected by this than the general population. Also as BSSM teaches emotional awareness very openly, it is possible that graduates over-report their mental health because they are more aware of what a healthy emotional person should look like.

No68%

Partially20%

Yes12%

Do graduates experience depression or anxiety?


What is interesting here is that this number marks an increase since people graduated from BSSM. Here 40% of graduates feel better about themselves now than they did when they were in Redding. However for 35% of graduates, they feel worse about themselves than when they did at BSSM. One graduate said that “The greatest challenge (for me is) making sure I know my potential. I was told by a good amount of people during school that I was meant to do great things, but now that I don’t have those voices always reminding me it’s up to me to always be aware that God sees me as successful”. Another added: “Hearing all those prophetic words and encouragement really helps to push the self-esteem and believe it. Now being back there is more discouragement but reading the prophetic words over me and having friends that remind me who I am and what my purpose is very helpful and crucial!”

Experiences of purpose and hopeGraduates experience high levels of happiness both with where they are currently, and regarding what their future holds. 67% of graduates believe that they are where they should be in life, and 88% are excited about their future. This is significantly better than the typical American - with 67% of Americans saying that they are optimistic about the future. However, it is interesting that BSSM graduates are more positive about their future than they are about where they are at currently.

Completely88%

Partially9%

No3%

I am excited about my future “I just really hoped I would have been somewhere else by now. I know I have good things coming, but right now it is tough” - 1st year graduate

Yes67%

Partially20%

No13%

I am where I should be in life

When asked how good do you feel about yourself, the majority of graduates scored their happiness level at 80/100

“At BSSM it was so easy to connect to the heavenly realms while being in a community that were like minded. Here I am in an academic community that is not care much about the spiritual realm or about Holy Spirit. I have felt often discouraged and sometimes questioned God”


The third in-depth area of a graduate’s life to be explored is the type of community they are engaged in. The importance of community is certainly preached loudly from the BSSM pulpit and BSSM staff members were keen to suggest that this was probably the most important aspect in determining a graduate’s success after graduation. Therefore, the survey asked graduates about their beliefs around the need for community and the importance of the definition of marriage. Graduates were then asked about their closest friends, and especially for details on their mentoring and accountability relationships. Finally, graduates were asked to measure the resulting level of satisfaction, connection, and happiness in their lives and if applicable, within their marriages.

3. Community

95% of graduates agree that, “Jesus explicitly created us to live in community”

90% of graduates agree that, “God’s design and instruction that loving, life-long marriage between a man and a woman is the healthiest structure upon which to build a stable, thriving society”

Beliefs about community Graduates have a high level of agreement with their need for community and with the value of the biblical definition of marriage.

It should be noted that, compared with the other core values, there was a significant level of disagreement (10%) regarding the idea that marriage between a man and a woman should be the bedrock for a stable society. Of the 10% disagreeing, several did not give reasons as to why, but roughly a quarter (2.5% of the whole population) stated a belief that homosexual marriage should be valued equally. Intentionally graduates were not asked about their sexual orientations, however researchers are aware of at least one homosexual marriage amongst survey respondents.

• 70% of graduates only live with Christians • 90% of graduates believe society is strongest when built on

families centred upon the marriage of a man and a woman• 1/6 BSSM students who were single upon entry to the

school got married to another BSSM student• Marriages formed at BSSM are 4 times more likely to

be successful after 5 years than average American couples


Friends and housemates

Mentoring and accountability

Multiple37%

One26%

None37%

How many people mentor you?

Multiple47%

One14%

None39%

How many do you mentor?

Multiple78%

One14%

None8%

How many are you accountable with?

It is not only important who BSSM graduates choose to live with and spend their time with but whether they have intentional relationships such as mentoring and accountability with those around them. 92% of BSSM graduates are accountable with at least one person, 63% of graduates are mentored by at least one person, and 61% are mentoring somebody.

For many, BSSM represents a season of a graduates life where they were living in the closest community that they could ever desire. Many look back onto the BSSM days fondly and as a vision for the sort of community that they want to create in their lives now. “While at bethel I had the best community in my whole life; right now I’m working towards that. However, because a lot of my community now doesn’t have the same communication skills, intentionality etc, it’s really hard” said one graduate. “Out of all of the values we are taught at BSSM, Community was the one that I have been running with ever since. Doing life with people, doing confrontation well, learning how to support/champion people in my life and be supported/championed by people in my life etc. Community is what my heart desires to build and maintain. I wouldn’t be this well equipped or intentional without my years at BSSM”

The presence of these intentional relationships is a good sign that a graduate is integrated into a community where they now living and living open, transparent and vulnerable lives with significant people around them.

The vast majority of graduates’ closest friends and housemates are Christians. 70% of graduates said that all of their closest friends are Christians and 36% of BSSM graduates live entirely with Christians with a very similar culture to BSSM.

When asked about their lives now, 45% of graduates felt less connected to their community than they did at BSSM

70% of graduates said that all of their closest friends are Christians


The story of marriages formed at BSSMUnlike many other ministry schools, BSSM encourages students to pro-actively pursue romantic relationships during the program. BSSM’s highly memorable relationship weeks, Love After Marriage courses, and of course Dann Farrelly’s ‘Brave Communication class are examples of the value placed on equipping students for healthy relationships. BSSM’s decision to strongly promote healthy marriages has almost certainly had an impact on the

statistics. Since 1999, almost 2500 of the 8000 BSSM graduates have got married. Out of these, 1000 graduates married someone that they met whilst at BSSM.

This means that more than 1 in 6 single BSSM students will marry someone that they meet while at BSSM.

Whilst the majority of marriages formed at BSSM are still within their first 10 years, so far the rate of success looks very encouraging. Here out of the 1074 marriages formed at BSSM, only 55 of these have ended in divorce (in the first 5 years of marriage). Although this is sad for those who have gone through this, if BSSM graduates and their spouses were a country, their divorce to marriage ratio would be the third best in the world.

Compared to national norms in the USA, this divorce rate is exceedingly low. The American Census 2009 shows that around 200 of 1000 Americans get divorced in the first 5 years, almost 4 times the number in BSSM. As the vast majority of these marriages have yet to progress past the 7 year mark, it is difficult to predict how this trend will continue, but the data so far is very encouraging. With further research in subsequent years it would be fascinating to show the impact

of BSSM teachings on marriages throughout the lives of graduates. Not only are BSSM graduates less likely to experience divorce than the general population. They are also likely to experience high levels of intimacy and happiness in their marriages. 30% of BSSM married graduates scored their marriages 100 out of 100 for happiness, while a further 50% scored themselves at least 80 out of 100. “Out of all the things we learnt from BSSM, the skills and marriage we formed was the best part of it. We wouldn’t have been able to get through so many years together without the tools we learnt from Dann’s classes and from other lessons from the school”, said one happily married graduate.

State of marriages after 5 years...

BSSM graduates have a divorce rate that is 4 times lower than the American Christian average

Married95%

Divorced5%

BSSM graduates

Graduates reported an average level of 90% happiness in their marriages

Married80%

Divorced20%

US national average


The fourth in-depth area of a graduate’s life to be explored is their church involvement. During the consultations, most BSSM staff members highlighted the importance of graduates joining local church communities and humbly serving the leaders in those environments. Therefore, the survey asked graduates about their beliefs around the importance in church membership, their practices around church attendance, giving and serving and their experiences feeling involved and connected into the congregation. Graduates involvement in local churches is important both for the graduates’ spiritual health but also for BSSM to fulfil the vision to spread revival across the world.

BSSM graduates were also invited to provide contact details for their pastors around the world. Each of these pastors were emailed a short online questionnaire. Whilst the vast majority were very encouraging towards both the Bethel movement and the impact that graduates are having in their congregations, it is good to also receive and take on board some of the constructive feedback in order to continue to grow in excellence.

4. Interactions with church

78% of graduates agree that they “should be an active member in a local church community”

71% of graduates agree that they “should be committed to one specific church family”

73% of graduates agree that they “should serve the vision of the church pastor”

Beliefs about churchWhilst graduate’s beliefs about other spheres were very closely aligned with BSSM, it appears that beliefs about church attendance were a lot more varied. Indeed, much smaller proportions of BSSM graduates believe they should be a member of a local church, compared with their beliefs about their identity in Christ. Perhaps this is to be expected, as some BSSM graduates have been hurt by local churches, or have high expectations for a local congregation due to comparing them to BSSM.

• 4/5 graduates attend church at least weekly • 46% of graduates have some sort of leadership role• Graduates are estimated to have planted 200 churches• 87% of pastors surveyed felt that the graduate was having a

positive impact in their church


Church attendance

Church planting Whilst church planting isn’t a primary focus of BSSM, it appears that graduates have been quite fruitful in this area. BSSM students are estimated to have planted over 200 churches worldwide. Through this survey of 800 graduates, there were at least 26 new churches that had planted by BSSM graduates that are currently going strong (a few more plants had failed, and some more were too early to tell). This means that the 8000 graduates are likely to have planted well over 200 churches around the world, with just over half of these in the USA. If anything this estimate is quite pessimistic as those who are missionaries in more remote regions were less likely to respond to the survey, and more likely to plant churches!

Although many graduates are doing well at church, half felt more connected to Bethel when they were a student than they do to their churches now. Perhaps this is to be expected as BSSM students spend such a large amount of time attending church based activities, however with Bethel being such a large church, it is perhaps sad that not more graduates feel closer to their local churches now. Of those who are still in Redding, the numbers are slightly better, with 45% feeling less connected to church than they did while they were studying. 45% feel the same level of connection and 10% feel more connected.

Church attendance for graduates is high, with almost 4 in 5 attending church or small group meetings at least weekly. Likewise, the vast majority of BSSM graduates are doing a great job at serving their local churches. 83% mainly attend one local church, and almost half (45%) have some sort of leadership role within the church. These roles vary greatly: 5% of graduates have a role simply serving others including hospitality, car park duty, setting up and tearing down; 10% serve in a ministry such as kids church or as part of the worship band; 25% lead ministries including youth ministry or serving as an elder; and 5% are pastors or other senior leaders. Note that far more may be involved in serving ministries but many graduates just gave details of one of the jobs that they hold.

At the other end of the spectrum, 1 in 10 rarely attend church, and a further 4 in 10 of graduates attend a church but are not involved in any significant way. Clearly not everyone is called to leadership within the church, but BSSM probably desire a higher proportion of graduates to serve a local church in some form or other.

When asked about their lives now, 50% of graduates feel less connected now to their church than they were to Bethel while studying at BSSM

Church attendance is high, and 45% of graduates have some form of leadership role in church

At least weekly 78%

Monthly12%

Less than monthly 10%

Church attendance


What do church pastors think?

Very positive 58%

Positive29%

Negative13%

Type of influence graduateshaving on their congregation?

Yes, a lot67%

Yes21%

No12%

Are graduates servingtheir pastor's vision?

Yes, definitley 67%

Yes21%

No12%

Based on this student would Pastors recommend BSSM?

Church pastors were sent a very short online questionnaire, regarding the graduates that attend their churches. With responses from the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and Mexico, most had positive experiences with BSSM graduates. Pastors were asked how much they felt the graduate was serving their vision. 88% of pastors indicated that they felt served by the graduate. “She is an incredible asset to our body. Since arriving she has lead in youth, worship, kids, and small groups” said one pastor. The 12% who didn’t feel served mostly expressed that graduates could be bit uncompromising with Bethel ideology - “he is great, but if it’s not how Bethel does it, he is not happy. For instance, in his small group unless everyone shares every little secret of their heart, he doesn’t believe people are being vulnerable, as it is not how he experienced small groups at Bethel”

Secondly, pastors were asked as to how the graduate was influencing their congregation. Here again the overwhelming response was positive, with 87% of pastors stating that the graduate was having a good impact. “She is a radical lover. She may not be the loudest, but she is an obedient servant. Her heart reaches beyond her words” said one pastor. “He releases so much life to everyone he meets and has brought a whole new level of love and life to people” added another. Here again however, the negative impact was occurring because of cultural differences between BSSM and the church. “people were very uncomfortable with her manifestations and have said that’s why they didn’t come back”.

Finally, pastors were asked whether they would recommend BSSM to others. Again the results were overwhelmingly positive with 88% saying yes. “You are doing a great job”, one pastor encouraged. “Thank you for implanting kingdom values and kingdom bravery into your students, we are a better community for it”, added another. However many found it hard to know how to incorporate returning BSSM graduates back into their congregations: “We need help with retention for BSSM graduates” said one. “I would love to see more integration back into the real world”, added another. “I have had several experiences of students with no commitment to church”, a third explained. “We have worked with other alumni who while very passionate, seem to make promises and offers of help/support but when it comes to the crunch do not come through on these offers.” Pastor from the UK

“They have all demonstrated an understanding of sonship and identity more than others their age who have not gone through BSSM. This is HUGE for a pastor!” - Pastor of a graduate


5. Ministry

The fifth in-depth area of a graduate’s life to be explored is the impact of their ministry. A graduate’s outward ministry is not as important to BSSM staff members, as their relationship with God or inner world. However, it was acknowledged that successful ministry is still required for revival to spread out from Redding. It is also vital that at some point and in some way, graduates are able to demonstrate the kingdom of God to those around them. This will vary from graduate to graduate as each of us has been created to be an individual representative of the body of Christ. Questions in this section have been designed to collect information on a graduate’s ministry lives without leaving them feeling judged or compared with others. Questions are again asked in three sections covering beliefs, practices and experiences relating to ministry.

The levels of agreement that graduates have with BSSM core values on ministry related beliefs are extremely high. Graduates who do not fully agree have almost always experienced pain through seemingly unanswered prayer. Others find it hard to regularly take risks for God outside of the BSSM world.

• On average, graduates offer to minister to people twice as often as they did before BSSM

• 88% of graduates do some form of ministry every month • BSSM graduates are estimated to have seen at least

35,000 people saved

93% of graduates agree that, “God wants to save and physically heal everyone”

96% of graduates agree that,“The Holy Spirit gives every believer the supernatural power to witness and release miracles, signs, and wonders”

90% of graduates agree that, “ I should take risks to demonstrate the gifts of the Spirit”

Beliefs about ministry


Graduates were asked how frequently they engaged in several different types on ministry. Prayer for healing and prophetic ministry were by far the most frequent with around half of graduates ministering in these ways every week. However, it should be noted that these ministries are mainly with Christians. Any evangelistic ministry such as sharing the gospel, prophesying or praying for non-Christians was less common. 35% of graduates are doing some form of ministry amongst those not yet saved at least every month and 3 in 4 shares the gospel every year.

Graduates current level of ministry is high. Almost 50% of graduates engage in some form of ministry every week. This is particularly impressive when compared with graduate’s ministry before coming to BSSM. On average graduates are ministering to people over twice as often they were doing before attending BSSM. Likewise, at the other end of the scale, before attending BSSM 39% of graduates were ministering to people extremely rarely. Now, only 6% of graduates minister this rarely.

Healing / prophecy with other Christians is common

Coming to BSSM doubled the amount of ministry

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Pray for Healing

Prophecy

Teach/Preach

Prophecy as evangelism

Pray for healing as evangelism

Share Gospel

Percentage of graduates doing ministry

At least Weekly Monthly or less Less than yearly

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Now

Before BSSM

PercentageofgraduatesdoingministrybeforeandafterBSSM

At least weekly Monthly or less Less than yearly


new Christians across the world because of BSSM graduates Although it is not the only fruit of ministry, seeing people become Christians is a major part of BSSM culture. Here, in a very conservative estimate, BSSM graduates have seen 35,000 people saved since graduation. To ensure validity, researches took a deliberately pessimistic stance when calculating this number, those with extremely high numbers were interviewed and some excluded from the analysis because the stories seemed overly speculative. Secondly, non-responders have been assumed to see zero new believers which is extremely pessimistic as many may not have responded due to being missionaries in other countries. Therefore, the true figure is almost certainly higher. Graduates gave details of testimonies where people were led to Jesus. Each is individual and beautiful, from a graduate leading her future spouse to God, to graduates leading strangers on the street to know God. “I lead my [now] husband to be saved by Jesus. We were just friends…He has since been saved, delivered, and growing in the Lord!!!”. Another graduate tells of an exciting encounter: “I met a Muslim drug dealer on the street, He offered me drugs, I offered him the Holy Spirit back. He got baptized on the street and gave his life to the Lord!”

people physically healed last yearOf course, one of the big focuses of BSSM teaching surrounds transforming individual’s lives through physical healing and restoration. It is therefore not surprising that graduates are

frequently seeing healings take place. Indeed 80% of BSSM graduates are seeing someone healed at least every year. When estimating a total number of healings from BSSM graduates again a pessimistic stance was taken. It was assumed that all non-responders had not seen any healings, and graduates seeing large numbers of healings per year were removed as outliers. In this regard if outliers are kept in the sample, the estimated number of healings would increase to 63,000 per year. The stories and testimonies of these healings again varied dramatically. From the simple and understated to raising the dead (three different graduates in the survey have seen the dead raised). “I recently prayed for a woman’s foot in the train - the pain left completely and she was full of joy and excitement. She said that she didn’t like church but that this “here” was very cool” said one graduate. “I was asked to pray for a baby that was declared brain dead in the hospital. The doctors we’re going to talk to the parents in the morning about when to turn off life support. I received the message late at night. I told that little girl’s spirit to come back and sent a message for the parents, which was shared with them, and the next morning, God raised her from the dead. She woke up completely healthy and was sent home that day”.

people impacted last yearGraduates were asked how often people told them that they had been impacted by them. Like the other statistics on this page, the number above is also almost certainly too low. “WOW - so hard to pin one down! Too hard! I am totally blown away with what God has done. He has given me a new way of bringing people into encounter with Him, their true kingdom identities and their unique purposes and destinies through a coaching model that He downloaded to me.”

125,000

35,000BSSM graduates have seen at least...

55,000


6. Work• 38% of graduates work in the economy / business sphere • 7% of graduates work in the government sphere • Graduates top advice is for students to focus on being

‘relevant’ and ‘useful’ when entering the workplace • 40% of graduates thought BSSM could have been more

intentional with tailored advice for each sphere The sixth and final in-depth area of a graduate’s life to be explored is their impact in the workplace. BSSM staff members were interested to know whether BSSM was equipping graduates with relevant skills for all spheres of society. The questionnaire asked graduates about their area of work, their beliefs regarding their work and how they practice their faith in the workplace. Graduates were also given the opportunity to share workplace testimonies and success stories, to enable BSSM to celebrate some of the impact that the school is having outside of the church walls.

Graduates were asked about their beliefs regarding God’s desire for us to minister and use the gifts of the spirit in the workplace. Again there were very high levels of agreement with these two beliefs. Graduates who disagreed did so because they did not feel able to directly minister in their places of work

93% of graduates agree that “We are all called to minister in whichever sphere or workplace we are in”

96% of graduates agree that “The gifts of the Spirit should be utilized in our day to day interaction with our job”

“I believe we are meant to love people and share the love of God, yes, but [I’m not being paid] to find a way to bring God up in daily conversations”

Beliefs about work


What spheres are graduates in?We asked which of the seven spheres graduates currently work in, and which ones they feel called to. The results shown below show the most popular sphere for graduates to work in is the business sphere (38%), whilst the least common is the government sphere (7%). More BSSM graduates feel called to work in Government, Arts and Religion spheres than currently are doing so. Also more want to influence family, but this is likely to be because more want to have children or get married than currently have.

Whilst some spheres of society have more graduates operating in than others, the level of impact that graduates feel they are having is approximately the same across all seven spheres. From testimonies of graduates having words of knowledge for new business strategies, to opportunities to impact government leaders, BSSM graduates are impacting all areas of society. 36% of graduates use a spiritual gift at least weekly in their workplace, and a resulting 57% feel that they are having a significant influence.

What kind of influence are they having?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Business Family Religion Education Arts Science Government

Spheres graduates work in and feel called to

Work in Now Called to

At least Weekly

36%At least Yearly46%

Less than Yearly18%

Use of any spiritual gift in their sphere

Yes57%

Partially 30%

No 13%

Are graduatesinfluencing their sphere?

“I just want all of our employees to be like you.... Your job is to create culture in our company” - business manager of a graduate


What have been some of the greatest successes?38% of graduates work in the economy / business sphere where success stories range from starting small enterprises to transforming others. “I helped open a restaurant 5 years ago, and I have incredible favor there! My boss loves me, and often says ‘I just want all of our employees to be like you.... Your job is to create culture in our company’. I still work there a few weeks out of the year on the corporate team to help develop their culture/excellence” said one graduate.

37% of graduates are operating in the family mountain. Success stories here range from general care in community - “preventing two families from being homeless”, to explicit ministry to families and in the home. “I had the privilege of leading my Muslim house helper to the Lord and saw God touching her multiple times during the time of her terminal sickness”.

The religious sphere has the third largest number of BSSM graduates working in it. Success stories here were mainly focused on church conferences and ministries. Graduates have served as guest speakers and some have run crusades internationally. “We teach regularly at Lou Engle’s Spiritual Air Force”, said one graduate, “We recently went on a trip to India, ministered at a new church plant, a Pastor’s conference…a first ever women’s conference, a leper colony and did crusades every night for three days till we got deported. We saw over 13,000 salvations, 7,000 healings and radical transformation in the hearts of the people, many got activated in the gifts, identity, and destinies! God moved powerfully!!!”

Just under 20% of graduates operate in the education sphere, the majority of testimonies were concerned with university successes. “I was the valedictorian of the University of Tennessee College

of Social Work, and won the professional promise award at the University of Tennessee in the college of arts and sciences for Religious Studies” said one graduate. Other testimonies were from schools: “An autistic student I worked with for about 2 years was moving schools. On the last day, I went out to say ‘goodbye’ and give his mother my contact information. She got out of her car and told me about the impact I had on her son. She said she could see it was God and it was so evident.”

Success stories from the arts mountain were focused on social media and media production: ”I wrote and creatively directed a short film that was featured as ad of the month around the industry/ world” said one graduate. “I worked for the largest multichannel network to launch the Rock’s YouTube channel as a line producer/ creative producer. Two other people and I got it to 1,000,000 subscribers in a week and a half. I set several shows in motion and handed it off to someone else who enjoyed digital more than myself. I built some amazing relationships and loved people along the way”.

For the 10% in the science mountain, the vast majority of successes were in the medical realm. “I completed my GP training and have been given 2 jobs without even looking for them or needing an interview. Both feel like windows to my destiny and given by God”. Another graduate who was a doctor said how she prayed for a woman dying of Parkinsons “One day I was singing Jesus Loves Me to her in Spanish (her first language) and then repeating over and over ‘i declare peace all over you’ as I watched her body shake. She turned her head towards me, resting her forehead against mine and croaked out ‘I feel it all over me.’ A week later she passed in peace”.

Lastly, 7% of graduates operate in the Government mountain. One graduate was working at the United Nations in Geneva, and another was in international relations: “[I was] invited to visit the president’s palace in Burundi after giving a prophetic word to his advisor”. A third “was able to predict information helpful for the senator”.

“I was invited to visit the president’s palace in Burundi after giving a prophetic word to his advisor”


What would graduates recommend to students entering their sphere?

Whilst this question was very much pressing for constructive feedback for BSSM, the most common answer from graduates was actually affirmation towards BSSM. “Actually I feel incredibly equipped for my current sphere. BSSM helped re-wire the way that I think and look at the world... It really just set me up to enjoy life and pursue my destiny!”. In particular graduates were most thankful for the teaching on identity and culture that BSSM gave graduates. “It stuck with me how Bill Johnson said to serve in any way that was needed, even if that meant cleaning toilets. What really equipped me is the culture of honor that Bethel carries. This has been very evident since starting my job, I see the difference and others see it too.”

However, almost 40% of graduates did feel that BSSM could do better at teaching how to apply the culture to the spheres: “I felt that second year didn’t quite set students up for success in the outside world as it might” said one graduate “There were a few weeks of deployment, looking at areas of society to influence etc, but 90% of the second year content and activation was pastoral/church-based”. In this regard a large amount of graduates wanted individuals from the different spheres to have come in and shared and taught at school. “I would have liked to have heard from Christians who are working in non-Christian environments. I work in child protection for the state government and therefore I cannot share my faith with the families that I interact with unless I want to be fired”.

Unsurprisingly the majority of answers to this question focused on the students direct relationship with God. “Learn who you are in Christ and the Father and quit comparing yourself to others.” Indeed, the emphasis was on doing things in God’s time and not worrying about performance. “Let go of the need for everyone to know you are prophesying. Literally only God knows what I’m doing in the classroom. It’s low key but the impact is huge,” said one graduate in the education sphere. “Run the race set before you at a pace God directs. It could be a sprint at times, but it will be more of a walk at times as well. Be OK with that.” “Take time alone - lots of time and go in God’s presence when no one is around you! Harder times will come and you have to strengthen yourself in the Lord”.

Secondly, graduates advised that students should be intentional about becoming “applicable” to their sphere. The emphasis here was not on evangelism but rather learning to “serve the vision of leaders”, “learn your craft”, “ask questions”, “work hard”, “stay consistent in small things”. One graduate summarised: “Faith is really championed at Bethel, but I think we need to be aware that the world there is almost a higher value for faithfulness. That’s not necessarily exciting. Our gifts need to be paired with perseverance in order to have long term effectiveness. Our dreams don’t usually come true overnight.”

What do graduates feel BSSM could have done better to prepare them?



5Graduate opinions

“What could BSSM have done better to prepare you for life after graduation?”

24% said to have given

them better expectations

22% said they wanted

more practical applications

Whilst many graduates thought that BSSM had done a great job preparing them for life after graduation, there were three main categories of suggestions. The first, in line with previous questions, was giving current students a better expectation about themselves and about the world outside of the “BSSM bubble”. Better expectations about life outside of Bethel was focused on knowing how hard it would be - “I know they did talk about it some during the last few weeks of school, but I felt like I had no idea how hard it would be to return home” said one graduate. “There could have been some more attention to the leaving part. Like get rid of relationship week and give us your going home and it’s going to suck week. A panel of people to ask questions... get some good advice from people outside of the ‘bubble’” added another. But expectations about life were also focused on knowing how different the ‘real world’ was. “It was also very easy to feel like Bethel was the entire world. This

creates an echo-chamber, where you don’t realize that not everyone in the world thinks like you”. The answer to these first unmet expectations was very often to have people from the ‘outside’ come in and share. “You need people who haven’t just graduated to lead revival groups or people who have only lived in Redding since graduating” said one graduate. “If the aim for the school is to send people out then there needs to be a focus to the out bit. From people who have been out and from the spheres you’re sending them too”. This focus of expectations lastly dealt with graduate often unrealistic

expectations of themselves. “In a culture where you only say good things about each other – you overestimate how good you are. I think that I felt really great about myself – part of that was that I just didn’t have a good hold on reality” confirmed one graduate during an interview. “Getting us to think about what it’s like out there in real life, rather than just wanting to take over the world when we leave” was the advice from another.

This last quote starts to illustrate the second most mentioned comment. Graduates asked for more practical applications of BSSM culture. “I’d love to see more emphasis on the spheres of influence and on ways to do healthy, kingdom life outside the bubble” said one graduate. “More practical application and opportunities to serve and minister in situations outside of the ‘bubble’” said another. “More practical problem solving techniques for work life; like what do you do if you’ve served for 3 years and the pastor is still dishonouring or you’ve served the vision, but it’s still not moving in the direction you’d like” added a third. Another suggested that “there could be more talks from people who work in the secular world and can describe what it is like to be a revivalist without using any jargon. I

“There needs to be a level of gravity that can only come from outside the

green house otherwise there is this tendency to believe that the green

house is real life, which only sets you up for failure in the desert”

- 2nd year graduate


[have] never said ‘bam, take it’ since graduating”. Another echoed: “Maybe just bringing in more people who work as professionals to share what it looks like to bring God into their environment”. Indeed this idea of having

professionals come in from other ‘spheres’ was mentioned number times by graduates. “I think I felt like I was told YOU’RE AN AWESOME AMAZING WORLD CHANGER LEADER and then I got thrown into the real World like a fish out of water. Ministry life and real world life are very different. And I was very disillusioned. I knew I was AMAZING but that didn’t translate into society as a whole”.

The third most mentioned aspect was an intriguing one. Here despite the fact that the question clearly stated what Bethel could have done, 1/5 graduates were quick to ask for more follow up to be in place “I think people need to be reminded that when they leave- no one is going to check up on them or see how they are doing. Not a church as far as pastorship - I think people feel like bethel becomes their home church while they are in school, so when they leave and don’t get anyone checking on them. They feel abandoned by their ‘home’ and by their pastors who become like parents”. Indeed this category was regularly tied with the idea that graduates were expecting more connection after they left and weren’t prepared “To be honest, I didn’t really feel prepared at all by bethel for the hard times I experienced after school. While no one could have anticipated this, it would have been nice if there were some sort of alumni program where I could plug back in”. “To make sure we had at least one mentor to be able to talk to and process life outside BSSM with. Kept in contact, intentionally cared and done more than passively been there. This may be a lot to ask for, but it would have been awesome to have more connection after... maybe having more ways for people to check in on how we are doing even after school”.

21% said they wanted follow

up after they graduated

“Maybe just bringing in more people who work as

professionals to share what it looks like to bring God into their environment” - 3rd year

graduate


“What can the alumni department do to help you now?”

43% said some form of personal

contact from BSSM

33% said being connected to other alumni

Answers to this question were overwhelmingly focused on two categories surrounding personal community. Here 43% of graduates wanted some form of direct contact from BSSM. “I would love to stay in touch more with [my leaders] in a personal way” said one graduate. “Maybe encourage me that I am doing well and where I am at is normal” added another. Here suggestions ranged from simple emails asking how a graduate is doing, podcasts discussing life outside of Bethel culture, and some mentioned potential further mentoring on skype. “A weekly video that was posted to talk to us about specifically living out this kingdom culture outside of the greenhouse of Bethel. Also the ability to speak to someone on the phone even for a little bit, advice and prophetic words would be huge. Something like a VLOG?” Indeed whilst these suggestions varied in how this contact happened, the theme each time was encouragement, care, and a feeling of being connected: “I would have enjoyed receiving monthly connection letters, testimonies of alumni everywhere, what they are doing and experiencing”, concluded a third. “Be more proactive about encouraging us and staying connected to us. Fathers and mothers still taking time to pray for you and champion you.” Indeed, there is a strong sentiment in many of the comments about being part of a family - “If we are Sons and Daughters of the house, then we would love to still have access and a sense of pursuit from ‘home’ even if it’s a weaning process. Either this or change your language about being sons and daughters, fathers and mothers!”.

Graduates do not only want to be closer to Bethel, there is a strong desire to be more connected to other alumni. Again there were a variety of good ideas and suggestions - “a key alumni person to get connected with in my country...having someone that can support you for the first 6 months of being back home again I think would have been incredibly beneficial!” Others commented on events that have already occurred: “I really loved having the first alumni get-together and dinner, it was fabulous, very encouraging and strengthening. I ask you to continue doing that every year I was so blessed”. However, a few graduates commented that although they would love to be more involved in community, realistically it would be impractical in their situation.

Of course there were a significant amount of graduates who felt the alumni department were already doing a great job. Here graduates affirmed the alumni connection days that had occurred recently, as well as the fact that they had been invited to and were completing the survey. “Just to see an email in my inbox from ‘Dann Farrelly’ was a major encouragement” said one graduate, “but can we please have more of this kind of thing! We want to feel a sense of connection again!”.

“If we are Sons and Daughters of the house,

then we would love to still have access and a

sense of pursuit from ‘home’”- 2nd year

graduate


“What has been the greatest challenge since you graduated?”

30% said finding a similar

community

15% said being surprised by life

outside

15% said bringing Bethel

culture to life outside

The most frequent answer to this question was the challenge of finding community similar to BSSM. Within this experience there were three main themes. Firstly, there was the feeling of being lonely: “Feeling alone with no other like-minded Christians around me. Trying to build upon all that I learned while at Bethel but doing so on my own”. Additionally, graduates were particularly challenged by the suddenness of the loss of Bethel community. “Going from people seeking me out to pour into me and helping me grow, to being completely on my own. It was a bit of a shock going from so much intentional pursuit by mentors to suddenly not having anything at all” said one graduate. “It would have been nice to have someone in the Bethel sphere to connect with once in a while and ask “is this normal?” or “how do I do this?”. Another added: “The greatest challenge has been living without my friends from BSSM. I met my people there that I connected with better than almost anyone else”.

These two struggles often led into graduates struggling maintaining a sense of identity without other graduate support. “I was told by a good amount of people during school that I was meant to do great things, but now that I don’t have those voices always reminding me”, said one struggling graduate. “Not being believed in or seen the way that I was at Bethel. There I felt so big, here I feel so insignificant and unseen” added another.

The other major two types of challenge mentioned by graduates were the surprise (and often disappointment) of life outside of Bethel culture, as well as challenges in translating the culture back to their home environments. “The hardest thing has been facing reality that although Bethel was fun and definitely the best thing for our marriage, it [wasn’t real life]” said one struggling graduate. “There were a lot of things that I didn’t know about the world that really blind-sided me” added another student who was at university. “In BSSM, you’re in this beautiful bubble where most people are loving and seeking each other’s good. It’s hard to come into the reality of the world.” In some ways this shock was related to the difficulty of transitioning - “Transitioning from the BSSM ‘hot-house’ back to normal live. I had a culture shock for about 2 and a half months although I am born and brought up in Germany. I knew that some people get culture shocks especially when they go to third world countries the first time. However, coming back home and having a culture shock was not what I have expected.”


“If you could share one thing with current students what would it be?”

40% said focus on private

relationship to God

The answers for this question were extensive, well thought out, and diverse. However, by far the most mentioned theme was the need to focus on building a personal relationship to God, outside of the corporate meetings. “Place stewarding your quiet time with the Lord as highest priority” said one thriving graduate. “It is from this place you will know your purpose”. Whilst this may seem like obvious advice, many times graduates highlighted a real sense of urgency in pursuing God. “Start developing your well with God WHILE you are at BSSM. Invest into something that is going to extend way past your few years in an environment where everything you need is so accessible!” said one graduate. “Cultivate your own history with God outside of the BSSM wave!” added another.

Graduates were concerned by experiencing how the atmosphere of Bethel could replace a direct personal relationship with God: ”Be careful that you do not become dependent on corporate anointing and presence only” stated a graduate, “keep your focus on your personal relationship with the Lord, not with works of ministry or trying to ‘be someone’ or needing to be in the spotlight” concluded a third. “Spend time on your own relationship with God and let him speak deep into the dark and painful areas of your heart…because when you leave BSSM, and all the enthusiastic worship and friendships and treasure-hunts and so on are no longer around you, that is what counts. That is what will sustain you into your future, whatever it holds” Graduates highlighted the need to develop key strategies for pursuing this direct relationship to God: “Hound the father for a word / vision for your next season. He has them for you, and don’t let up until you have one. It will make or break your transition into regular life” said another thriving graduate. “Ask God to download vision for your future beyond Bethel and BSSM-that is key”.

Although this first line of advice was mentioned by almost half of all graduates, it was particularly highlighted by those who were doing well. Out of the graduates who were thriving - over 60% mentioned the need to develop and cultivate this direct relationship to God as a priority.

For many people this first category of advice overlapped with other themes. “The most important thing you will keep when you go home is your discipline with the secret place, your journals and your friends” said one graduate. “Invest in your own history with God and find your tribe”. These answers shift the focus to the second most emphasised answer of building community for life after graduation”.

“Truly invest in learning how to cultivate and

steward your secret place and how to pursue His

presence, not relying in others to do it for you” -

third year graduate

26% said focus on relationship to community


Graduates were keen to advise students to already have people to run with before graduation. “Community, community, ommunity! Your tribe will be with you after you leave - so please take the time to get close. I was afraid to be close to people because I figured that I knew I was leaving and wouldn’t see them again - but I was wrong!” said one graduate.

However, this community needs to be intentional! More than just making good friends, students are advised to start building a team to walk with through transition. “Before you move, prepare and seek out healthy people to help you transition SUCCESSFULLY. Realize you’ll have to be INTENTIONAL and purposely seek out community regardless of where you go” said one graduate. “Leaving is harder than you might think, what is important is to find the people who will support you, the ones who will walk through the sh*t with you and help you crawl out on the other side. They are the ones who hold your arms up when you can’t anymore on your own” added another. “If you do not really feel connected and have not really a group you run with and have no vision how it goes in after BSSM then don’t stay silent but talk to your Revival Group Pastor as an urgent thing. And ask again till you are heard” concluded a third. “Never go alone, you need a family.”

Interestingly the size of this support group is also important to graduates. Rather than build a vast network, the concern was more with finding a few key individuals. “Find a handful of people that you can actually take with you. Not everyone will be able to be more than a memory or Facebook “friend” or piece of your network. Try to find at least one true friend” said one graduate. “Don’t get caught up in the hype of things. If you’re not seen while at BSSM, don’t worry about it. Find people two or three people and build relationship with them” said a thriving graduate. Secondly, the need to find a good community once you had fully transitioned was also key “To find a good community to plug into, because they can’t do what God has called them to do alone. They need support!!” said one graduate. “Having community with a few people you will be living close to after you graduate, will be much more valuable than many friends on the other side of the planet” concluded a third.

The final two categories of response focused on both using the opportunity in front of BSSM graduates, as well as not getting caught up in “popularity” and “performance” contests. Indeed in some ways, many of these comments mediated and cautioned over the idea of getting too involved in community and becoming too reliant on other graduates. “There are so many [parties and social possibilities] at BSSM, but focus on your solo, individual relationship with God, as you cannot take the group atmosphere with you and also focus on”. This final quote indeed highlights the third most common piece of advice graduates would give to current students: Don’t just get caught up in the experience of BSSM but learn to be real with yourself and with others.

“if you do not really feel connected and have not

really a group you run with and have no vision how it goes in after BSSM then don’t stay silent but talk

to your RGP as an urgent thing. And ask again till

you are heard” - Third year graduate

21% said to be yourself

21% said to use the opportunity



6Possible reasons behind success

How did we calculate ‘success’?

Based upon conversations with RGPs and BSSM staff, a successful BSSM graduate was the following:

» Someone who has a vibrant relationship with God » Someone who has a healthy view and conduct of themselves and

their own identity in Christ » Someone with close relationships with people around them » Someone who is actively involved in a local church in some form » Someone who is taking risks in their ministry life and stretching

themselves » Someone who is influencing the world around them for God

(potentially in their place of work if they have one)

Using answers from each of these 6 areas of a graduates questionnaire, we were able to calculate a score for each area. For example, the more frequently the graduate was spending time with God, and experiencing His presence, the higher the score they were allocated for this area. This was not to judge them against each other, but to enable us to see what those graduates who were doing better had in common.

There are many personal qualities, circumstances and decisions that can affect whether a graduate is successful. Some of these BSSM have influence over, while others less so. Whilst this section covers many of the attributes that successful BSSM alumni have in common, it focused particularly on those things that BSSM are able to influence in their curriculum and in their role with graduates.

Possible reasons for success• Graduate success is most correlated with church

attendance and number of accountability partners • Graduates who marry are also more likely to be successful• Proportion of housemates / close friends who are Christian

is only slightly correlated with success • Number of years graduates spend at BSSM is not

correlated with graduate success


Being raised in a Christian home is beneficial

The first influence of a successful graduate of course comes from attributes that pre-dated BSSM. In this regard, those raised in a Christian home are usually more regular church attenders, better at living in community, and doing better personally. However, this up-bringing made no difference to level of ministry,

Likewise with regards to gender there was very little difference between men and woman. The only thing that it did influence was the level of confidence in knowing scripture, where men were significantly more confident over their biblical knowledge.

...getting married improves success even further

The part of the graduates personal life that has a significantly larger effect however is marriage. Here those married before BSSM are more successful in every area than those who are not. Likewise, those who married after graduation, are also more successful.

Where graduates live has some influence...

The choice of living location also has an impact as to graduate success. Compared to America, those living in Europe tend to be doing worse personally (both in outlook as well as practices involving alcohol). Those living around the world (not in Europe or America) are finding it harder to get involved in a church. And those living in Canada tend to be doing a little bit worse in their relationships with God, their ministries and at work.

Amount of years completed at BSSM makes almost no difference...

Finally, there are aspects of graduate experience that surprisingly seem to have very little influence. Indeed, whether a graduate completed 1 or 3 years at Bethel doesn’t seem to make much of a difference in their level of success. Likewise, the amount of years out from Bethel also appears to not be making a difference to graduate success.

The possible reasons behind success are...


Housemates and friends are only weakly correlated...

BSSM staff thought that the most important factor for the health and success of a graduate is to live their lives as part of a community with those of a similar faith in order to support and encourage each other. Indeed based upon both interviews and longer answers so far, graduates do communicate the importance of this aspect of their lives. However, when this issue is further examined it appears that it is only certain types of community that are truly influential. The first that we tested were the passive forms of community - such as who a graduate lives with

and who their closest friends are. This is certainly true in part, graduates who live with housemates of a similar faith are more likely to be successful, but only just (see the chart to the left). Provided you live with a few BSSM house-mates, there seems little difference in the average success scores. This same slight influence is also true for the amount of close friends, and the amount of people graduates share most of their week with. In both cases, the influence of these forms of community is slight.

Accountability and mentoring is significantly more correlated with success...

However, when we turn our attention to more intentional aspects of community we start to see a much greater influence. Firstly, the amount of accountability partners, the amount of people a graduate is mentoring, and the amount of people who mentor a graduate all have a strong positive influence on graduate success (see graph to the left). In this regard it is a more intentional aspect of community that is a better predictor of graduate success.

As one of the top graduates expanded “keep not just community, but accountability in your life. I tried to hang out with friends and other Bethel alumni - but without being intentionally accountable it didn’t connect me to what I knew was real as well as it could”. Indeed this advice was echoed by others interviewed “I realized some of my best times with the word was when a structure and accountability was provided” said a graduate referring to their experiences during transition.

3

4

5

6

None Some About Half

Most All Aver

age

Succ

ess

Scor

e fo

r G

radu

ates

The proportion of housemates that are Christians with a similar faith to Bethel

3

4

5

6

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Aver

age

Succ

ess

Scor

e fo

r G

radu

ates

The number of people a graduate is accountable with


Church attendance is the most correlated behaviour...

Secondly however, and following the need for structure and accountability, is the value of church attendance. Here this particular form of community has an even greater level of influence. Indeed, out of all the factors examined for this research, none were more important for determining success than a graduate’s church attendance (see the chart to the bottom left). When a graduate attended church more, they were significantly more likely to feel better about themselves, to read the bible alone more, to feel connected

to God on a deeper level, to thrive in their work places, to feel more connected to their community, and to minister and pray for non-Christians more. Indeed, in each of these cases, the value of church attendance far outweighed the importance of living with housemates with a similar faith, or having Christian best friends. “I think that it is vital to be involved in one church body where you serve and tithe. That is where you have accountability and community but I also think that the church as a whole should be united” said one thriving graduate.

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The frequency a graduate attends church meeting / small group



7Conclusions

Conclusions The problem with bad news and negative stories is that they often carry more weight than reality. In a world where outliers often become the focus because of their rarity, all too often they can skew our perception of what is real. No doubt that for the Toronto blessing in Canada the few negative stories that there were tainted a lot of what God was doing. This is possibly also true for BSSM in some ways. Stories of loss of faith, or hurt and breakdown after attending the School of Supernatural Ministry, are anecdotally told amongst staff, graduates, and critics alike. But are they a fair representation of the normal experience? This report has shown that the overwhelming answer to this is “no”.

Corporate testimonies in faith and marriages

Things are perhaps better than some expected in the lives of BSSM graduates around the world. The most obvious statistics give BSSM cause to celebrate: 97% of BSSM graduates are confident in their faith, across all years of graduation in every nation. Of course it is likely that some of the non-responders could have lost their faith, but with an overall response rate of 82%, any numbers losing their faith would still remain very low. Whilst, like the Great Shepherd, we should always be going after the 1 in 100 – it appears that for BSSM graduates this proportion is less of a metaphor and quite close to the reality. Another area where negative stories carry more weight is with marriages. Divorces are again something that should never be overlooked and are horrifically difficult for those who experience them. But again, it appears that for BSSM graduates there is a much better reality than some may have predicted. Drawing upon the relational lessons learnt at BSSM, (something that time and again came up in our study), marriages are one of the greatest success stories from the graduate population.

Only 5% of graduates get divorced in the first 5 years of marriage – a rate which is four times lower than the national norms for both the secular and Christian world. Indeed, we calculated that if BSSM graduates were a nation they would have the 3rd best divorce statistics in the world (far better than any of the current rates in developed countries). In any regards, this is very positive, and should be celebrated as a major success story from the school.

...in identity and influence

And there are many other success stories too: BSSM is truly excellent at equipping students with strong personal identity and social skills needed for healthy relationships. Indeed, whilst 85% of expectations were met for graduates attending BSSM, 99% of expectations were specifically met regarding a greater level of personal identity and strengthened character. “Being able to love people well, love them right where they are at. Not being responsible for them, but being encouraging to them” said one thriving graduate in answer to the question ‘what from BSSM works best in your life now’. Indeed even amongst students who had changed or lost their faith, there was a recognition of the strength and value that this part of BSSM culture offered. Sitting down for Skype interviews with many struggling individuals, time and again the conversation would switch from the negative to the positive as they talked about how much Danny Silk’s messages, or Dann Farrelly’s brave communication classes had empowered their social lives. “I learned a lot about trying to create an excellence for myself and expecting an excellence for when I’m doing things. But also having a grace for myself when I mess up and a grace for others when they mess up” - said one graduate who had lost his faith. To be able to impact individuals positively, even those who now disagree with BSSM, is another corporate success story worth celebrating.

One could suggest that these three strengths are all contributing factors to the fourth most significant


testimony coming from graduates. Whilst salvations and healings need to be recognised as just a fruit and not the roots or the branches of the tree, they do reveal and validate the latter. Whether it is the conservative estimate of 35,000 individuals saved from interactions with BSSM graduates, or the 55,000 people healed in the last year alone from graduate prayers, there appears to be a significant amount of fruit coming from graduate lives. From business leaders saying that they “just want all of our employees to be like you....” to pastors who say graduates “have all demonstrated an understanding of sonship and identity more than others their age who have not gone through BSSM”, the impact that graduates are making is significant and worth celebrating.

Whilst these success stories are just a glimpse at what God is doing, they are at least a good first step in discovering the big picture testimony from BSSM. With continued analysis and more focused questions in the future, we have no doubt that more stories like these can be further discovered and celebrated.

Need for better expectations

However, for every success story revealed about BSSM graduates around the world, there are insights that can empower improvement and growth. After all, lessons can be learned from even the greatest victories, as each BSSM continues to grow towards the corporate vision of transforming a generation of revivalists. In this regard this report has shed light on areas where growth can be made and improvements implemented.

The first key theme throughout the data coming from alumni, is the need to manage expectations of graduates before they leave BSSM, both about the world outside, as well as their changing relationship with BSSM. As with every culture of astonishing vision and experiences (of which Bethel certainly is one) there is a danger that hopes can be

unmet, and a sudden loss of experience can become a real shock. It appears that this is somewhat the case amongst students of BSSM. Whilst at Bethel, there is a high level of powerful and transformative experiences in graduates’ personal lives, with community, with God, or with ministry. Here they articulate that they have “never experienced community like it”, never “felt God was more real” or never had so much “hope and excitement for my life” than when they were in BSSM. Whilst this itself is a really good thing, problems can arise as the graduates start to expect this as the new ‘normal’, leaving many disappointed when these experiences change. In this regard they have a false expectation of what life outside Bethel will be like. “It was very easy to feel like Bethel was the entire world. This creates an echo-chamber, where you don’t realize that not everyone in the world thinks like you” said one graduate. “BSSM makes [God] feel more normal and near - which is amazing. It’s just hard to understand why every worship set after that can’t feel like BSSM. It’s hard not to get used to it there” added another. “I think people come into the school thinking this will be the new normal. It’s a bubble and I almost lost my ability to connect with the real world. It took me a little bit of time before I was able to connect within my profession again.” Likewise, referring to his perceptions of self “In a culture where you only say good things about each other – you overestimate how good you are. You can think you are invincible and completely unstoppable. You leave, and you quickly realise that you are just like a lot of other people!”

This is hardly surprising of course, when for the vast majority of staff members, this culture has become completely normal. BSSM leadership can rightly get used to such experiences because this is what they have experienced since the first day they arrived at Bethel. Whilst again this isn’t necessarily an issue, it was something that frequently caused graduates to struggle. “You need people who haven’t just graduated to lead revival groups or people who have only lived in Redding since graduating. There needs to be a level of gravity that can only come from outside the green house otherwise there is this tendency to believe that the green house is real life, which only sets you up for failure in the desert”. Indeed, many graduates suggested whether more speakers at school could come from other

‘If BSSM graduates were a nation they would have the 3rd best divorce statistics in the world’


‘mountains’ other than the church. This for them would have helped align expectations with the reality of the world outside, as well as provided ways that they could translate Bethel culture well into different contexts. The most obvious answer to this first level of unmet expectations is simply to be more real with students about what is normal and what is real life. Whether this is through bringing in people from outside of Bethel to shed light on their experiences, have panels of alumni come back and share about theirs, deliberately cater AMT’s and teaching to be applicable in spheres other than just the church, or indeed to simply explain more explicitly how different life is going to be after graduation, is up to BSSM leadership.

Secondly, graduates attending BSSM usually experience a strong sense of family, sonship, daughtership, and community while studying. Saturated in the BSSM culture is this metaphor of being part of a tribe with mothers and fathers. It is no doubt partly for this reason that graduates feel so connected to their community whilst at Bethel, and feel so connected to their revival group pastor (an increasing trend over the past 10 years). This new level of church community also becomes their normal. When they do leave therefore, they do so with a feeling of being sent out, of flying from the nest, of leaving ‘home’. Such a diverse set of metaphors, each with the same sentiment, creates a very strong expectation of continued connection and continued relationship. However, this can be a source of substantial pain when they no longer do have access to what they felt like was their home. As has been shown in numerous graduates lives, they are often surprised when this amazing connection they had with Bethel leadership and other Bethel graduates hasn’t just weakened, but completely disappeared upon transitioning. Even those with healthy expectations (who recognised it was almost impossible for BSSM leadership to keep in contact with every graduate) articulated that just an email would have helped and that there should be far more interaction with alumni. During one of our skype interviews, and amidst tears of disappointment, one woman told us how amazing her BSSM community had been whilst at Bethel. “It was the first time in my life I had experienced such an amazing family, I hadn’t had many close people

growing up back home, but to suddenly have such a real real community was such a breakthrough. I was sure that transition wasn’t going to be easy, but I had no idea my community would vanish when I did. But it didn’t happen that way. It didn’t happen like other people had testified it had happened. As graduation occurred, I really felt lost in the shuffle. I felt lost. Lost in the shuffle”

There were two common solutions to this problem that graduates proposed. Firstly, BSSM leaders could simply be more real with current students and let them know that there will be very little interaction with them after they graduate. Secondly, however, and given the recent increase in activities from the alumni department, the answer could be to engage more with graduates and to build a stronger alumni community. Again, needs and perspectives differ from graduate to graduate – some requested more alumni events, others wanted online platforms for interaction, and others still desired direct contact from the alumni department letting them know that they are still cared for. In each case, the sentiment was that graduates wanted more relationship with BSSM after they leave. To repeat a quote from earlier “If we are Sons and Daughters of the house, then we would love to still have access and a sense of pursuit from ‘home’ even if its a weaning process. Either this or change your language about being sons and daughters, fathers and mothers!”. On this note when conducting the interviews for this project, we were struck time and again at how grateful graduates were to simply have some form of contact with someone representing BSSM. “I feel so grateful to have the opportunity to let someone hear my story. Really from the bottom of my heart thank you. You don’t know how much of an answer to prayer this has been. For years I have been saying ‘God just please let me share’. Whether you agree or not is besides the point. At least you let me share”.

Church attendance and personal relationship with God

Whilst graduates certainly face challenges during transition, it is useful to observe what helps them to successfully navigate these challenges. Whilst this represents a secondary goal of this study, data


starts to shed light on a few key decisions that graduates have made that helps them transition well and continue with life successfully.

Firstly, successful graduates recommend pursuing God before and during transition. Although the pursuit of community is an important factor that should never be ignored, it is the pursuit of the personal connection with God that repeatedly came out as the number one focus. The first question that revealed this was in the way graduates prepared for transition. Here, those that deliberately focused on building a stable relationship with God outside of the ‘BSSM wave’ found transition much easier. Although pursing community itself isn’t a bad thing, it appears that relying on others for how well you do is not the answer. As one thriving graduate suggested “there is so much emphasis on community… But I think that sometimes students are so excited about going after healthy community… that [they forget to pursue] those places of learning to cultivate the secret place and the presence with him. This is why I found transition easy”. Likewise, when later asked what they would recommend to current graduates, the successful and thriving graduates repeatedly recommended the same thing. “Build your quiet time with God”, “keep your focus on your personal relationship with the Lord, not with works of ministry or trying to ‘be someone”, “cultivate your own history with God outside of the BSSM wave!”. Some even went a step further, suggesting that those who hadn’t developed this deeply personal connection before coming to BSSM would struggle. “Personally, I think it’s important that students have learned how to cultivate their relationship with God and have a degree of maturity in Him, before attending BSSM. I feel it can be risky for students to learn of how amazing they are before having a revelation of Gods mercy. It can create passion, excitement and external confidence yet lack a knowledge of true self love and love for others, being humble, how to sustain relationship with God and how to submit their pain to him so they can get the heart healing they need.”

If pursuing God is the most important thing to do personally, then connection and integration to a local church community is the most important thing to do socially. As was clearly

shown in the data, as graduates leave BSSM and head in different directions, some find it easy and some find it hard. If they are attending church more frequently however, the chances of them finding it easy almost triple. The number one behaviour that correlated with overall success is church attendance. Whilst it isn’t possible to say attending church causes success (it is possible it is the other way around), church attendance stands out significantly when compared to other measures of community. Regular measures for community (closeness of room-mates and friendships etc) were all very weakly correlated with graduate success. As the data shows aspects such as close friends, house-mates, or even people graduates spend the most amount of time with each week, didn’t appear to be greater or less for either those who were struggling or those who were thriving. By contrast, church attendance, and other forms of highly intentional community such as accountability partners and mentoring, was far higher amongst those who were thriving.

There are several potential reasons explaining this, but perhaps the most obvious is that simply talking, socialising, and even encouraging each other only goes so far to help a person in their relationship with God (the highest priority). Having intentional structure, leadership, guidance, and a larger group who engage directly with God and pursue him together is potentially much more powerful. Whilst simply being close to BSSM friends certainly offers the former, it is church community and to a slightly lesser extent accountability and mentoring that brings the latter. At church events, the graduate is engaging directly with both community, and with God, but crucially with both together.

In summary, the two most important areas for graduates are the need to focus on God privately, and the need for church community socially. Both are vital and both should be pursued in any healthy relationship with God. Church community provides the fellowship as well as the structure in which is engage in collective connection with God. Here the graduate is part of a network that should motivate, as well as nurture, them towards growth and spiritual health. Pursuing the private encounter with God however, means that graduates


aren’t reliant on community for this connection. Here despite whatever issues and circumstances may occur in larger social settings and despite things that are outside of the graduates control, he or she is able to retreat and remain in God’s presence. Throughout this report these appear to be two of the main messages that BSSM can learn from their alumni.

Moving forward and future questions

The main goal of this project was to discover and celebrate the corporate testimony of the 8000 graduates currently around the world, and to provide the information Bethel needs to grow in excellence. We believe that the past few chapters have certainly started to achieve this. With regards to the former, exciting testimonies of continued faith, healthy marriages, churches planted, salvations, healings, and influence in each of the spheres of society, each celebrate and add weight to what BSSM has been doing for the past 18 years. With regards to the latter aim (to grow in excellence), the need to better manage expectations, as well as the specific value in emphasising private encounter with God and church attendance, are possible initial answers to further growth.

But for every question answered there are new questions that start to be asked. Indeed, compared to national norms do BSSM marriages continue to do even better after 10 years as they did after 5? What are the secrets behind BSSM marriages that set them apart from those in other Christian communities? If BSSM could prove that their teachings were having a significant impact on the success rates of marriages across the world, then perhaps the teachings could be adopted by more schools and churches and making even more marriages strong and healthy. With regards to continued faith, when are the specific moments when graduates go through doubt, and what are the keys to helping them in these moments? Why is bible reading significantly lower than worship or prayer amongst some graduates, and could this be adjusted with a few tweaks to the BSSM curriculum?

This research likewise found some interesting initial insights from church pastors, but again provoked more questions: What would church leaders around the world really value from BSSM graduates? What are some of the main areas of concern for them? Finally, of course, there is plenty more going on. There are testimonies from the 90% of graduates not included in this research, that we have yet to celebrate. It is therefore, probably of no surprise, that we would like to continue researching BSSM students into the future.

As BSSM continues to equip a generation of revivalists to transform the communities they travel back to, stories like the ones told in this report will continue to develop. Whilst we take the time to celebrate what God has been doing up to now, we also look to the future, excited to discover where else He is on the move.


From the outset, this project has meant a great deal to us personally and professionally.

Professionally, the work presents the largest project so far undertaken by Eido Research as a team together. We have grown significantly in ourselves, leading our volunteer team, working with each other and in our professional abilities. We are truly proud of this report, which achieves a standard of excellence that neither of us had previously reached alone. Were we married, our wives would probably have reprimanded us for spending too long pouring over facts and figures, but this has really been a labour of love that we are truly delighted to present to you now.

Personally however, this project has meant far more than is possible to convey in this epilogue. As we are both graduates of BSSM, both sons of the Bethel house, and have both experienced life transitioning from this astonishing place, the stories in this report are very close to our heart.

For Ben there were several occasions (three, if remembered correctly) when the calculated statistics were just so good that he shed a tear or two in happiness. To be able to discover such amazing glimpses of what God is doing through BSSM’s alumni is beyond anything he could have hoped for in a job.

Likewise for Samuel, sitting and listening to graduate after graduate open up their heart about their experiences over the past few years was an astonishingly raw, real, and humbling experience. Himself a graduate from 2010, his vision to see this project happen began on his second week back from leaving Redding. To be typing this now therefore is a dream of over 5 years come true.

Ultimately of course BSSM graduates are the heroes of this story. Like troops marching into battle some have stumbled and others have conquered, but neither are more valuable or more worthy of having their story told. It has been our honour to research such great men and women as these. Without their time and contributions, this report would be completely useless.

And so it is a great privilege to present these results to a school we admire as much as BSSM. We hope and pray that this report will encourage your hearts, strengthen your arms and inform your steps as, hand in hand with Jesus, you run with endurance, the race set out before you (Hebrews 12:1).

With much rejoicing,

Samuel Verbi and Ben Winkley

Epilogue



“Come back to me in 20 years time and tell me you are still burning” - Bill Johnson

Documents

The story of BSSM alumni - Eido Research · heart for excellence, we provide objective evidence that enables our clients to celebrate their achievements, grow their vision, and improve