The D1.5 program gives students opportunities to go back through our Classic Training a second time while volunteering and serving throughout the semester. This is a great opportunity for those who want to deepen their understanding of the foundations of discipleship and learn how to take that material and disciple others.

Ellerslie’s Advanced Training picks up where our Classic and Weeklong programs end and goes even deeper into cultivating a practical and passionate devotional life with God and gives practical training in real-world ministry.

In short, if you want a refresher course on the Classic Training and have an opportunity to volunteer at Ellerslie, the D1.5 is for you. If you want to go even deeper and have an entirely new set of classes and training, the Advanced is what you’re looking for.  Or register for both and have two incredible seasons at Ellerslie!

We are purposefully keeping the D1.5 program small—and have reserved 6 spots for men and 6 spots for women in each of our programs (summer and fall). Because the D1.5 program happens at the same time as our Classic Discipleship Training, we have limited space on campus, but the small number of students also allows us to give more personal time and focus to each student.

Once the program is full, we will be happy to waitlist you in case a spot opens up or if we decide to increase the number of students in the D1.5 (i.e., as the program gets closer, if there are campus spots not taken by classic training students, we likely will make more space available in the D1.5).

Yes! If you are interested in joining the D1.5 program and have financial difficulties, we want to help. While we don’t have unlimited scholarship funds available, we will do everything we can to help. In the application, there is a spot where you can apply for a scholarship based on your need. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected].

Yes! We want to make the financial side of attending as easy as possible. Like our other programs, you are welcome to select the payment plan option in the application and choose between 2-10 payments (months). Please know that there is a 3.5% payment plan fee applied for those who choose that option.

For those who choose to pay-in-full, payments are due eight weeks prior to the start of the semester.

D1.5 students will have three aspects to their curriculum:

1. The Classic Training – students sit in and re-experience the classic training sessions. Students in the past have often said that this is incredibly enriching as it allows you to go deeper and grasp things you missed the first time. Note: there will be different homework than the classic students.
2. The D1.5 Classes – attend specialized classes just for D1.5 students. Three times a week, we have a special D1.5 class focused on understanding how to disciple others, leadership, communication, and biblical study. These classes are taught by Eric, Nathan, and Philip … with bonus instruction by Leslie Ludy.
3. The Volunteer Team – experience ministry and discipleship from a different perspective as you participate in the campus volunteer team, helping us serve the Classic Training program. 

In previous years, we have had an entire team of alumni return and serve as volunteers to help us in areas such as: kitchen prep, admin, dorm monitors, hospitality, tech, etc. This year, we decided to use the D1.5 students as our volunteer base—to provide practical ministry training and opportunities to serve which gives hands and feet to the instruction. 

We hope so! We are relaunching the D1.5 program in 2023, and decided to do it again in 2024! Depending on the interest and its effectiveness, we hope to continue offering the program in the future … but there is no guarantee, so if you are interested, we encourage you to consider joining us in this next training season.

If you have any other questions not addressed above, please reach out to us at [email protected] and one of our team will be happy to respond to you within 48 hours.