Northwind Theological Seminary
Holiday Schedule
NTS Office will be closed
12/23/25 - 12/28/25 & 12/31/25 - 1/4/26
Save the Date - NTS Gathering & Graduation Experience - February 10, 2026
Location: Wycliffe Bible Translators
11221 John Wycliffe Blvd., Orlando, FL, 32832
Semiotics
This Doctoral degree is an advanced study program
delivered in an accelerated format.
Who Should Apply?
Pastors, preachers, communicators, ministry leaders who want to:
cultivate imagination as spiritual practice
preach with fire, depth, joy
explore AI responsibly without losing their soul
lead congregations into story-shaped living
Tradition is open. Denomination is irrelevant.
TUITION & FEES APPLY TODAY REQUEST INFORMATION
New for 2026
Doctoral Cohort of Sweet Fellows in Homiletics
Where Preaching Meets Imagination
Where Story Meets Semiotics
Where Humanity Meets AI
Study with Len Sweet
Len helps students see the sacred in unexpected places.
The Image: The Preacher with Two Owls
Athena, goddess of wisdom, perched an owl on her shoulder—
a creature that sees in the dark.
Every 21st-century preacher needs two such owls:
Owl One: Sacred Imagination ... Sees what isn’t yet.
Owl Two: Responsible AI ... Searches what already is.
Together they give preachers double vision: the foresight to imagine God’s future, the insight to navigate the present with wisdom, the discernment to use machines without becoming one.
This cohort trains you to preach with both owls perched and ready.
Because machines can write sermons. Only humans can preach.
Invitation: Pull Up a Chair
If your preaching longs to be encounter, not explanation…
If you want to preach sermons that ignite and invite, not just inform…
If you believe imagination isn’t child’s play but kingdom play—
the Spirit’s playground in the human heart…
…then this cohort has a chair waiting for you by the fire.
Bring your questions.
Bring your call.
Bring your owls.
Why This Cohort? Why Now?
We stand at a watershed moment both ecclesially (The Third Millennium Church) and cultural (The AI Revolution). AI can generate:
outlines that organize,
research that dazzles,
prose that sounds almost human.
But AI cannot:
create presence,
offer sacrament,
read the room,
hear the Spirit,
bear witness to a heart on fire.
In this new world, the preacher’s most valuable asset is not information. It is Imagination.
Imagination is what machines cannot mimic, manufacture, or monetize. Imagination is the preacher’s secret weapon or unfair advantage. This cohort cultivates that advantage.
Join Len Sweet Fellows in Homoletics at Northwind Seminary.
This cohort offers intimate learning with one of today's most insightful theological voices, with three options:
Doctor in Theology and Ministry
Doctor of Theology
Post-Doctoral Fellowship
Owl Track One
Sacred Imagination
The inner landscape of the preacher.
Sensory, kinetic theology
Metaphor-making and storycraft
Narrative intelligence:
Scripture as one epic story
Contextual Intelligence:
Spiritual discipline of noticing
Preacher’s presence and embodiment
Move:
from transformation to transfiguration
from information → to incarnation
from explaining the text →
to becoming the text
Owls see in the dark. So do preachers.
Owl Track Two
Responsible AI
The outer toolset of the preacher.
AI literacy and ethics
Prompt design and tool tutorials
Guardrails for integrity
Using AI to deepen research,
not replace witness
Avoiding dependency and plagiarism
Reading culture and congregation
in real time
Learn:
how to out-human machine
intelligence
how to out-love and out-story
algorithms
how AI becomes a servant,
not a savior.
Doctor in Theology & Ministry
36 Credits
A certified degree delivered in an accelerated format.
Course of Study
YEAR ONE:
Starting Well Experience
Foundations Course
Immersive Experience
Specialized Inquiry IOrcas Island: Imagination & Fire
By the sea and around the firepit, we train:
the owl of imagination
sensory, kinetic spirituality
shorelines and stories
tides and theology
the art of seeing in the dark
the island becomes a teacher.
YEAR TWO:
Contextualization Course
Immersive Experience
Specialized Inquiry II
Oxford University: Wisdom & Story
We enter the worlds of:
Lewis
Tolkien
Sayers
Chesterton and the Inklings
Libraries and manuscripts.
Tea and texts.
Legacy and imagination.
We train the owl of wisdom and tradition.
YEAR THREE:
Immersive Experience
Specialized Inquiry III
Cohort Chosen Location
The flock chooses the landscape:
Jerusalem?
Iona?
Cape Town?
Savannah?
Reykjavik?
Memphis?
We read: stone and soil, history and hospitality.
The place becomes the pedagogy.
A Community of Practice
This is not a passive lecture hall.
This is formation:
sermon labs
table fellowship
narrative workshops
peer feedback
embodied exercises
AI tutorials
portfolio creation
final dissertation thesis or project
You will forge:
sermons that sizzle,
stories that stick,
preaching patterns that become
second nature,the muscle memory of imaginative
seeing.
Dissertation & Defense
Continuing Well Experience
Prerequisite: Master's Degree
Semiotics|PATH program provides a path for those engaged in ministry to complete a Master's Degree concurrently in the first year of the DThM Degree. REQUEST a proposal.
Imersion Experiences:
Students will participate in an intensive learning experience in Years One, Two, and Three. An Immersion Fee applies, and travel expenses are the student's responsibility.
Students who graduate will receive a
CPCA Commission-certified degree from NTS.
— Name, Title
Doctor of Theology
42 Credits
An accredited degree delivered
in an accelerated format.
Course of Study
YEAR ONE:
Starting Well Experience
Foundations Course
Immersive Experience
Specialized Inquiry IOrcas Island: Imagination & Fire
By the sea and around the firepit, we train:
the owl of imagination
sensory, kinetic spirituality
shorelines and stories
tides and theology
the art of seeing in the dark
the island becomes a teacher.
YEAR TWO:
Contextualization Course
Immersive Experience
Specialized Inquiry II
Oxford University: Wisdom & Story
We enter the worlds of:
Lewis
Tolkien
Sayers
Chesterton and the Inklings
Libraries and manuscripts.
Tea and texts.
Legacy and imagination.
We train the owl of wisdom and tradition.
YEAR THREE:
Immersive Experience
Specialized Inquiry III
Cohort Chosen Location
The flock chooses the landscape:
Jerusalem?
Iona?
Cape Town?
Savannah?
Reykjavik?
Memphis?
We read: stone and soil, history and hospitality.
The place becomes the pedagogy.
A Community of Practice
This is not a passive lecture hall.
This is formation:
sermon labs
table fellowship
narrative workshops
peer feedback
embodied exercises
AI tutorials
portfolio creation
final dissertation thesis or project
You will forge:
sermons that sizzle,
stories that stick,
preaching patterns that become
second nature,the muscle memory of imaginative
seeing.
Comprehensive Exam
Dissertation & Defense
Continuing Well Experience
Prerequisite: Master's Degree from an accredited institution.
Imersion Experiences:
Students will participate in an intensive learning experience in Years One, Two, and Three. An Immersion Fee applies, and travel expenses are the student's responsibility.
NTS Courses have been mapped onto Kairos University degree requirements.
Students who graduate will receive an ATS-accredited degree from Kairos University.
Students in this degree apply to NTS and are officially enrolled and admitted to both institutions.
Defense Advance with Len Sweet on Orcas Island
Publish Your Doctoral Project
During the Project Experience, students will complete a Manuscript as their Doctoral Treatise Paper.
During the Defense Advance, students defend their Manuscript to their fellow students and visiting faculty.
Following a successful Defense, students will have the opportunity to publish their peer-reviewed Manuscripts.
Program Outcomes
With a focus on rich theological reflection on ministry practice, the Doctor of Theology will help you develop and deepen your knowledge of theological content, be more fully formed in Christian character, and generate new understandings of the craft of ministry. Through the program, you will develop and demonstrate proficiency in its eight outcomes: Starting Well, Specialized Inquiry: Literature and History, Specialized Inquiry: Concepts and Models, Specialized Inquiry: Practices and Methods, Integration: Macro Context, Integration: Micro Context, Generative Learning, and Continuing Well.
Dissertation
As part of the Doctor of Theology program, you will be invited to generate for dissemination high-level scholarly research within a specialized theological field of inquiry toward the improvement of ministry praxis. You will work alongside a mentor team crafted around your specialized field of inquiry, and your entire learning experience may be individualized and contextualized as much as possible toward exploring your degree concentration and research focus.
Customized Learning Experiences
Learning experiences in Kairos are built around an invitation for students to explore some aspect of their vocation, Christian thought and practice, or the human experience. As a Doctor of Theology student, you will be able to engage in individualized and guided learning experiences that encourage deep theological reflection on ministry practice within your context and tradition.