Who is TG?
Who is Training Ground?
Training Ground is a Christ-centered, experiential discipleship ministry. Each summer we invite a few of the young men we work with (ages 18-25) to live in intentional community while discovering who they are in Christ and the full life Jesus offers. Our programs offer real-life testing, intentional Biblical teaching, and leadership development centered around work, wilderness, and worship all in the context of community.
Experiential Discipleship
At Training Ground, we believe some of the most important lessons in life and faith are learned through experience. Young men need places where truth moves from something they know in their heads to something they have lived with their hands, their feet, their failures, and their faith.
That’s why we put young men in environments that ask something of them. They work with their hands. They spend real time in the wilderness. They take risks, carry responsibility, face discomfort, solve problems, and learn to depend on one another. And they do it alongside older men who are willing to stay close—to ask good questions, share their own stories, speak truth, and help them make sense of what they are experiencing.
Work builds responsibility. Wilderness strips away the noise. Worship anchors identity in Christ. Together, they create an environment where young men can discover more of who they are, how God has wired them, and what it looks like to follow Jesus with their whole lives.
This is not a camp. And it is not a class. It is life-on-life discipleship—older men staying in the room with younger men, walking with them through real experiences until truth takes root and they are ready to stand, lead, and do the same for someone else.
Leadership Development
At Training Ground, we believe that leadership is more about identity and character than achievement and productivity. All of the achievements and accolades given to us when we are productive cannot alone define us or answer the deeper questions of our hearts. Only God’s deep and passionate love can anchor us. We believe God grows a young man into a leader by the discovery of his identity in Christ and the development of character.
Training Ground extends an invitation to live, see, and serve from our identity in Christ. Our mission is to grow men of character and heart who will impact their community, families, and fulfill the purposes God has for them. We love honesty, self awareness, repentance, and receiving the Father’s love in the deep places of our hearts. By providing real life experiences in work, in community, and in the wilderness, we believe God sets young men free to live intentionally from their identities in Christ.