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About EI

Our Distinctives

We prioritize spiritual growth.

Our program focuses on teaching students to walk in daily fellowship with the Lord. We do not want to simply impart knowledge but desire that our students grow spiritually. Although we maintain a devotional emphasis, our courses are intellectually challenging and academically rigorous.

We emphasize practical Christian living.

We offer more than a degree program. Students follow a structured schedule, serve on campus, and participate in extracurricular activities giving them the opportunity to apply what they are learning in the classroom to their daily lives.

We offer a 3-year bachelor degree and a pathway to graduate studies.

Motivated students can earn the bachelor degree in as little as three years by earning their general education credits during the summer. Our graduates have been accepted at many seminaries and have excelled in their graduate studies.

We foster a sense of community.

Staff and students engage with one another, not just in the classroom, but throughout the day. This close fellowship provides opportunities for mutual edification and leads to lifelong friendships.

We value the local church and its mission.

Students are required to commit to a local church. We desire that our students value the local church and understand their role in God’s mission to the nations.

We are affordable.

We are committed to keeping costs low so that students can be trained without incurring debt (see current costs). Our low costs are made possible by God’s faithful provision through generous donors.

We are non-denominational.

We are a Christian school which is evangelical, non-denominational and which focuses on essential biblical truths rather than on any particular theological scheme or doctrinal peculiarities.

Our Purpose

The Evangelical Institute exists to train young believers to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ that expresses itself in godly character and missional living.

Desired Outcomes

  • GOSPEL IDENTITY: A deepening understanding of Christ’s death and resurrection that shapes all of life (1 Cor 15:3-4; Eph. 2:1-10).

 

  • SURRENDER: A daily dying to self and following Jesus Christ as Lord (Matt. 16:24; Phil. 3:8).

 

  • FAITH: A continual reliance on God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit that is based on God’s Word (Hab. 2:4; Gal. 5:16; John 15:5).

 

  • LOVE: A love for God evidenced by a life of obedience flowing from a humble dependence on the Spirit of God (John 14:21; 1 John 5:3).

 

  • PRAYER: A habit of intentional prayer that aims at both worship of God and intercession for others (Matt. 6:9-14; 1 Tim. 2:1).

 

  • SERVICE: A life of sacrificial love towards people that seeks to meet their needs (Mark 10:42-45; Gal. 5:13).

 

  • PROCLAMATION: A capacity and desire to effectively communicate the gospel with all of its implications (Matt. 28:19-20; 1 Pet. 2:9).

Our History

The Founder
Joseph S. Carroll was an Australian who spent many years traveling, teaching, and counseling missionaries serving throughout the world. These years convinced him of the need for biblical training with a completely new emphasis. In 1967, while on furlough in the USA with his wife and family, he was invited to develop a ministry center in Greenville, SC.
The Need
Mr. Carroll’s experience with worldwide ministries led him to understand that a Christian life or ministry not fully yielded to the Lordship of Christ and that did not recognize the importance of prayer and worship was destined to fail. He was convinced of the need for biblical training with a new emphasis on foundational principles being neglected by many sending groups.
The Hope
A conference center was established on the belief that when God launched a work, He provided all the funds and resources needed to develop and maintain it. From the outset, the life of faith was being practiced as it was being taught in classes. Year after year, the students were front-row observers to the Lord’s unfailing and abundant provision.
The Land
A lovely property at the base of Paris Mountain was selected as the ministry site. Although Mr. Carroll firmly believed this was the Lord’s location, the wealthy owner repeatedly refused to sell. The timely intervention of a missionary Mr. Carroll knew from Taiwan was used to change the owner’s mind. Her counsel: “If Mr. Carroll feels the location is the Lord’s choice, it is, and you should sell.”
The School
Later, the Lord impressed upon Mr. Carroll to add a discipleship training school for the preparation of servants. The Evangelical Institute began in 1972 with a class of thirteen students. Since that time, thousands of young people from all over the world have come to see the life of faith lived before them and to begin to walk that path themselves. The purpose for the school has remained the same all of these years.
The Affect
Many of our trained graduates have answered the call to various foreign fields. Other graduates pastored churches and aligned themselves with national mission projects. Many more have faithfully served in local churches as teachers, prayer warriors, counselors, and mentors. In fellowship with the Lord, these lives have planted seeds and borne much fruit.
The Future
After fifty-plus years, EI still has a purpose! In a changing world with powerful new tools to reach and disciple believers, we continue to create an environment for learning God’s ways and nurturing deep love for Christ. We will graduate new generations of youngsters, controlled by the Lord and filled by His Spirit, to enter the ranks of ministers.
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Doctrinal Statement

God

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in essence, power and glory. God is infinite in His knowledge and power, perfect in His character and ways, and is the Creator of and sovereign Lord over all things.

Scripture

We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God and without error in the original writings and that they are the supreme and final authority for faith and life.

Man

We believe that Adam and Eve were created in the image and likeness of God. However, they sinned, and thereby incurred not only physical death, but also spiritual death, which is separation from God. As a consequence, this spiritual death has been transmitted to the entire human race so that all human beings are born with a sinful nature, become sinners in thought, word, and deed, and are therefore rightly deserving eternal punishment.

Jesus Christ

We believe that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, and is therefore fully God and fully man.

We believe that, out of His great love for guilty and lost human beings, God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to die for the sins of mankind as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice. Jesus was buried, and He rose from the dead three days later.

We believe that through His death and resurrection, Jesus bore the penalty of sin, appeased God’s wrath, broke the power of sin and death, defeated Satan and secured eternal life for His people.

We believe in the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, His ascension into heaven, His enthronement as Lord of heaven and earth, and His present ministry there as High Priest and Advocate for all who believe in Him as Savior and Lord.

Salvation

We believe that all who repent of their sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ are justified by grace, apart from any of their works. Furthermore, all who receive the Lord Jesus by faith are born again of the Holy Spirit, and thereby become children of God.

Satan

We believe in the reality and personality of Satan and evil spirits who wage war against all people, especially the people of God, by spiritual and physical means in a constant effort to prevent or hinder the establishment of Christ’s kingdom in the hearts of all people.

Second Coming

We believe that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will personally return and set up His earthly Kingdom through which He will rule the world in righteousness and finally bring peace to the world.

We believe in the bodily resurrection of all people, eternal blessedness for the saved in heaven, and eternal misery and damnation in hell for the lost.

Church

We believe that, since Pentecost, the Lord Jesus Christ has been building His Church – His spiritual body – by joining to it all who have been born again of the Holy Spirit. He has commissioned and enabled the Church to make disciples in all parts of the earth and teach them His word.