Our History & Mission
Developing spiritually mature, competent professionals for global impact.
Our Mission
An institution of higher education that develops students to be spiritually mature, globally conscious, competent professionals, who practice their Christian faith in any context, making consideration for the poor and marginalized through education, advocacy, and empowerment.
Our History
The Institute for G.O.D. in 2005. Students pictured above have gone on to serve Jesus as nurses, K-12 administrators, midwives, teachers, accountants, contractors and more.
Getting Started
The Institute had its inaugural year in 2004 with the purpose of training missionaries who are biblically educated and practically equipped to respond to the diverse problems of the developing world. The Institute functioned as the educational training arm for Global Outreach Developments—a global missions and community development organization founded in California in 1996, later moving to Nashville in 2000.
In 2004 seven students came to Antioch, TN. They joined twelve staff members of the organization in both discipleship and service. Gregg Garner, Founder/CEO of G.O.D. Int’l and President of The Institute, with the help of his father, Dr. Mike Garner, the first Director and Dean of the school (2004-2010), created the initial curriculum and taught the first classes.
The curriculum focused on giving students the hermeneutical tools to interpret the Bible responsibly and develop a knowledge of Christ and his mission. Rather than focusing solely on abstract theological concepts, the curriculum exposed students to the entirety of the biblical canon and its impact on daily life and service. Students were then challenged to put their theology into practice during national and international mission opportunities.
After the first year, enrollment more than doubled. Students came to Nashville from across the country. Within a few years, the Institute received students from East Tennessee, North Carolina, New York, Georgia, Arkansas, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, New Mexico, California, Washington, and Hawaii, as well as international students from Mexico and Uganda.
Gaining Momentum
In December of 2008, The Institute moved its campus 25 minutes across town from Antioch to historic Old Hickory, TN. The campus was formerly a segregated school during the Jim Crow era in the South. The building had been severely damaged by weather, vandalism, and fire. It was a rundown building at the center of a struggling neighborhood.
Abandoned and rundown, the former segregated school was about to experience a renovation fueled by love and mission. Students served day and night to get the campus ready for classes within 40 days.
In a God-inspired effort to resurrect the campus, faculty, staff, and students gave their time over 40 days to completely renovate the campus. At the end of the effort, the school was re-appraised at seven times its purchase value.
The campus has now expanded to about 30 acres. It includes classrooms, gardens, sports fields, an amphitheater, auditorium, workshops, a coffee shop, and more. Today, God continues to draw students to the Institute in search of biblical education and a supportive community of believers with whom they can live out their faith. This combination offers students something energizing and meaningful. We are confident that students will gain the tools they need to make a real difference in a world of need, to the glory of God.
Graduate Lavinia Fernandez translates for a state wide teachers conference for the ministry of education in El Salvador.
Getting Out There.
Graduates of our programs have moved on to become college professors, elementary and secondary school teachers, adult education specialists, youth program directors, missions specialists, youth pastors, senior pastors, music pastors, designers, contractors, photojournalists, master plumbers, published writers, electricians, doulas, midwives, mechanics, development advisors, legal advocates, restaurant managers, artisans, counselors, consultants, and business owners. Their practical skills are motivated by the biblical command to use their talents to serve others, making special consideration for the poor as emphasized by Jesus the Lord.
Our greatest achievement is the living testimonies of our graduates, coupled with the history they are writing in obedience to God. Their lives of obedience to Christ are the surest indicator of our success as an educational institution.
Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says,
"Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Surely we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we? You yourselves are our letter, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all; and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." (2 Cor. 3:1-3.3)