Our goal is to invest in the next generation of leaders who will plant and pastor churches, lead ministries, and serve as missionaries wherever God calls them.
The SRP full-time residency is a comprehensive, paid residency program that equips individuals to follow God’s call on their life. In a full-time residency, we are able to broaden a leader’s understanding, opportunities, and ministry skills.
SRP has a six-month and twelve-month track. The length of the track will be determined prior to acceptance in the program.
Worship and Well Groups Pastor at The Well Church in Las Vegas
Wise Disciple Ministries
“Being mentored by Paul Gotthardt was foundational for my ministry. I honestly don’t think I could manage the level of responsibility I carry today without what I learned during that season. Paul taught me practical, life-giving principles for leadership and structuring my time well—but always rooted in living and working out of a deep relationship with God, not burnout or pressure. Those lessons shaped how I approach ministry to this day. Even now, though I’m no longer pastoring a local church, I’m teaching the Bible and mentoring other pastors using the same principles Paul poured into me.”
Mission Consultant at Georgia Baptist Mission Board
“Pastor Paul’s mentorship meant a great deal to me, both personally and in my ministry journey. He invested in me with care, wisdom, and intentional guidance that helped me grow in discipline, leadership, and healthy relationships. Especially grounded in the gospel. Our conversations were practical, honest, and deeply encouraging, especially during real ministry challenges. That kind of personal investment made a lasting difference in my life, and I’m grateful for the way he walked alongside me in my calling.”
Founder and Principal of Oakland Wealth Group and Associate for This Is the Gospel
“I valued my time as a mentee in the mentorship program, seeing it as a meaningful investment that not only prepared me for future ministry, but also deepened my faith in Jesus. Through this experience, I learned that true success in ministry is directly connected to my intimacy with God. Daily fellowship with Christ has transformed my personal devotion and how I pray, preach, teach, and lead both my home and others. This mentorship shaped me in ways no book or course ever could, grounding my calling in a living, growing relationship with Him.”
Pastor of Soul Care at Life Church
“My time with Pastor Paul from June 2017 to August 2018 was my first intentional discipleship experience, and it was deeply formative for both my life and ministry. He taught me that everything God desires to do in and through my life, He will accomplish out of the overflow of my relationship with Him. A truth that continues to anchor my walk with Christ. I was trained not just to understand Scripture, but to depend on every word God has spoken, which shaped my priorities in time with the Lord, family, rest, and faithfulness in ministry. Pastor Paul modeled a replicable, relational approach to discipleship that taught me how to exegete Scripture, preach, and mentor others rather than look for quick fixes. That process taught me to enjoy how Jesus forms His disciples, and it prepared me to pass on what I received to others.”
Lead Pastor of Journey Church
“My time in the mentorship program brought practical application to my seminary training. Seminary taught me how to faithfully handle God’s Word; this mentorship taught me how to faithfully handle ministry and lead people well. I still return to my notes regularly—often monthly, and sometimes weekly—in my role as a lead pastor today. What I appreciated a lot about this program was that the goal wasn’t to fit me into a “one-size-fits-all” ministry model. Instead, I was given a clear and healthy framework that helped me build a ministry in a way that reflects how God has uniquely wired and called me to lead.”
Assistant Director of
Thank you to Sherwood Baptist Church for the love and support you have shown my family and me over this past year. Through the Sherwood Residency Program, God has deepened our ministry, strengthened our intimacy with Him, and drawn our family closer together. Your prayer cards, encouragement, and fellowship have been such a blessing to us, and this past year has been one of the greatest gifts of our lives. We are thankful that God is leading me to continue serving in ministry through the Albany Biblical Counseling Center, and we look forward to building lasting relationships and growing in deeper fellowship with the body as our family continues to be planted here in Albany, Georgia.
Path 1 is a full-time, in-person residency designed to help a church planter grow in leadership and ministry skills to plant a healthy church. (IPR-FT)
Path 2 is a full-time, in-person residency designed to help ministry leaders work through their calling and/or gain the understanding and experience needed to eventually serve as pastors, church planters, missionaries, and ministry leaders. (IPR-FT)
Path 3 is a focused, in-person training designed for those who want to engage God’s mission and explore God’s call while maintaining current jobs. (IPT)
Path 4 will offer focused training online before planting a church.
Path 5 will offer full-time training to help restore, rebuild, and revitalize struggling churches.
Path 6 will offer focused training and counseling before the possibility of reentering the ministry.
Our first calling is not to ministry; our first calling is to intimacy. Ministry is what God does out of the overflow of intimacy with Christ. SRP focuses on helping leaders understand, develop, and live out of the overflow of intimacy with Christ.
While God is omnipresent, there are times when He chooses to show Himself in ways where His presence is more easily recognized, His activity is profoundly visible, and His favor is so unmistakable that people say, “God is present and at work.” When you experience it, you want more. We want to help ministry leaders understand and pursue the manifest presence of God in the places they serve.
Sherwood maintains a constant emphasis on the gospel and discipleship. SRP residents will be provided with and trained in gospel resources for discipleship. These resources emphasize our created purpose and train people to live in right relationship with God, the church, and the world.
Each month of the program will provide a new leadership emphasis. Each part develops the person and encourages a lifetime of leadership growth.
Communication is crucial. Every ministry leader needs the ability to cast vision, share God’s Word, communicate needs, and direct staff or volunteers. Each participant will work on communication the entire time they are in SRP.
Therefore, SRP emphasizes key aspects of personal and ministry health. Part of establishing health is learning to live out of the overflow of relationship with God. Another part of health is developing key disciplines early in ministry to stay grounded while facing continual changes and pressure. We want to see ministry leaders making a positive impact for God’s kingdom for decades into the future.
If a kingdom focus is not taught from the beginning, it is very difficult to develop over time. We will train SRP participants to cast vision for the kingdom, to think in kingdom ways, and to work with a kingdom perspective.
We don’t want anything to distract from learning and growing as much as possible. To accomplish this goal, Sherwood has already made a significant investment by purchasing, renovating, and furnishing beautiful homes for our full-time residents. We pay for utilities, provide a small salary, assist with health insurance (in approved paths and cases), and offer opportunities for eligible school-aged children to attend Sherwood Christian Academy while their family is in the program.
Unfortunately, everyone doesn’t get an opportunity to grow up in a healthy church environment. Wounds, misconceptions, and poor practices in a church can adversely impact decisions and direction for future ministry. Sherwood is a healthy church and provides a safe environment for learning.
Participants will have opportunities to build deep relationships with others in the program and with staff and members of Sherwood. Our desire is to continue relationships long after individuals graduate from the program.
Paul Gotthardt has served as the Senior Pastor at Sherwood Baptist Church since 2021. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 1998 with a B.A. in World Religions (with an emphasis on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). He received his M.Div. in Biblical Languages from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in May 2003 and completed his PhD in Christian Counseling from Adonai University in March 2009.
Paul has led four churches in three states (North Carolina, Nevada, and Georgia). He planted his first church in North Carolina in 2002, and God tremendously blessed during that time. After transitioning that church to another pastor, Paul and Brea moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, to plant Life Baptist Church. They served at Life for the next 18 years.
Life began around a dining room table with four adults, a dream for discipleship, and a lot of prayer. Along the way, the church met in 14 different locations including a house, casinos, schools, churches, professional buildings, club houses, parks, and even parking lots. In God’s time and through a miraculous answer to prayer, Life was able to purchase property and build a beautiful campus in the center of southwest Las Vegas.
In 18 years, they saw more than 2,000 people come to faith in Christ. Life was recognized for over a decade as being in the top 1% of the most evangelistic churches in the SBC. The church grew an average of 30% each year for 18 years and had more than 2,300 people gathering in biblical community. Due to the high transiency rate of Las Vegas, Life discipled and sent more than 5,400 people to other cities and churches around the world. Through partnerships and kingdom engagement, Life worked in more than 30 nations and helped plant 20 churches in nine states.
Paul has authored three books: Eight Questions and the God Who’s Asking, Christ Is All You Need, and 1 Samuel. He also wrote and developed the resources for ThisIsTheGospel.com and much of ChristLifeResources.com. In addition to his duties as senior pastor, Paul mentors church planters, writes extensively about discipleship, and trains pastors primarily in the Middle East, Central America, South America, and Africa. With more than 25 years of vocational ministry experience, he freely shares about what worked, what didn’t, and what he’s learned. He and his wife Brea have been married since 1996 and are blessed with two daughters.
Patrick Sebesta serves as our Sherwood Residency Program Director. He graduated from Kennesaw State University in 2009 with a B.A. in History (with specific focus on cultures and civilizations). He continued his education by completing an M.Div. in Mission Strategies from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 2015. Patrick has served in part-time and full-time ministry positions since 2007 at two large churches in Georgia. He began his ministry journey at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church outside of Atlanta and he’s been at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany since 2016. He has been blessed to serve on short-term mission teams across the United States and on five continents around the world.
Patrick is skilled at training leaders, developing teams, and creating systems that allow ministries to operate smoothly. While serving in sports and recreation ministry, his leadership and administrative experience allowed him to recruit and lead hundreds of coaches and volunteers who engaged tens of thousands of people from the community. Whether hiring staff, addressing staff problems, partnering in the community, equipping volunteers, teaching Bible studies, creating systems, or even leading a national movement in mentoring sports and fitness directors, Patrick has seen success and failure at every level. He has proven experience and incredible wisdom to share with church planters.
Patrick serves alongside his wife Lindsay. They’ve been married since 2010. They have a passion for investing in people and helping them walk through the joys and sufferings of the Christian life (Philippians 3:10). In addition to serving church planting families, they want to see people awakened by the gospel to a life of knowing Christ and making Him known. Patrick and Lindsay have two children, Daniel and Elizabeth.
Please follow the link below to our online application. We look forward to speaking with you and how we can partner with the call that God is placing on your life!
SRP is quite different from a seminary. SRP will build upon the important skills the seminary provides. SRP will emphasize important leadership traits required for church planting, including how to call people into committed service, how to build committed teams, and how to lead and administrate church ministry teams. This will be accomplished while remaining faithful to preaching God’s word and maintaining a balance in family and spiritual disciplines.
The primary instructors are the staff and leadership of Sherwood Baptist Church. Through their relationships, many other ministry leaders and seasoned church planters will provide training throughout the program.
The typical week includes four days of instruction, coaching, group discussion, guided reading, case studies, sermon preparation, and church plant planning. Significant ministry involvement is also expected on the weekends and some evenings, including opportunities to preach and teach. Occasional trips, site visits or conferences will take us out of the office from time to time.
Not exactly. Almost everything is accomplished during the day, but reading and sermon prep are required. Some of this preparation may be required in the evening. Additionally, residents are expected to be part of a Connect Group and to take part in selected church leadership meetings.
SRP has a six-month and a twelve-month track. The length of the track will be determined prior to acceptance in the program and is based on ministerial leadership experience prior to entry.
We believe God will use different personalities to plant healthy, growing churches. We do not subscribe to a stereotypical view of the church-plant pastor.
What we do look for, and what the high calling of a senior pastor requires, is strength in five key areas. SRP residents must:
Due to the rigorous nature of the program, it is not feasible for residents to work in addition to their studies.
The three major options are home school (inherently flexible), private school (Sherwood Christian Academy onsite), or public school. There are advantages and challenges unique to each, and no one choice fits all resident families.
Sherwood has dedicated 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom homes within walking distance of the church. The homes are near one another, providing both proximity for the wives and a measure of personal space.
Yes, although couples need to count the cost. The program is just six months in duration, but we understand that certain circumstances may make working outside the home necessary.