MB Biblical Seminary has tested the market for a proposed Master's degree in Transformative Leadership. Invitations to participate in the survey were sent to pastors in the Fresno area, as well as to Mennonite Brethren pastors in Canada and in the US. Participants were sent an internet address, where they could fill out a variety of questions concerning their own context, as well as what they want and need in the seminary's forthcoming degree. The degree offers three new distinctive "hybrid" features:
1. The degree focuses on spiritual transformative renewal of the leader and the ministry community within the mission of God at work to empower healthy church life.
2. Learning will be stimulated in the vortex of the student's ministry context, the hospitality of an active pastor mentor, and the academic rigor of experienced professors.
3. Hybrid learning will involve five intensive week-long modules, each bridged to cohort engagement through online media within the context of local ministry.
Survey results have enabled MB Biblical Seminary to develop the new program in accord with the needs of potential learners.