Deeply Knowing God & Self: Equipped With Competency-Based Education

By Anna Rosebrook (Grace College M.B.A. 26)

In Serbia, faith is nearly synonymous with Orthodoxy. Roughly 89% of the population identifies as Orthodox, while Protestants make up a mere 0.1%. It’s a landscape where Reformed, Gospel-centered theology is almost entirely absent, and where the books, training, and resources many Western Christians take for granted don’t exist.

Riste Micev helps lead a ministry that translates and publishes theological books across Serbia and the Balkans, trains pastors in expository preaching, and plants churches all at the same time. 

With his busy schedule, he was unable to attend a traditional seminary. Through Grace Seminary’s competency-based education model, Deploy, he pursued seminary while in ministry. Having graduated in May 2026, the program shaped his view of God, of himself, and how he pursues ministry in Serbia.

The Starting Point of Ministry

Micev’s ministry began years before his experience with Grace Seminary. His path into ministry started with his mother. She was the only Christian in their family, and for years, she prayed for him and brought him to church. Though their family’s faith was strongly Orthodox, Micev went to a Christian camp, where he heard the truth of the Gospel clearly for the first time.

“God saved me,” he said. “I believed and repented.”

After deciding to follow Christ, Micev’s life changed dramatically. He earned a degree in theology, attending a Bible school in Belgrade and staying several years on staff, mentoring students and serving in ministry there.

During that season, he met his wife, and they worked at the Baptist Theological School (BTS) and began their current ministry.

Equipping Pastors Through Translation

Micev leads Project Timothy, a ministry that translates and publishes theological books into Serbian, resourcing pastors and seminary students across the region who previously had little access to solid, gospel-centered material. He also runs an expository preaching training program for pastors and is helping plant a church.

Through Project Timothy, Micev and his wife have published nearly one hundred books in Serbian, giving ministry leaders the resources they need to grow in their faith and share the Gospel with others.

Pastor Training Online

Micev first heard about Deploy, Grace’s competency-based education model, through Dwayne, a longtime mentor he’d worked with for years at BTS. “When he called me, I knew that it was a good opportunity,” said Micev. “I see how more study is important for me.”

Competency-based education allows students to stay in their current ministry context while they study to further their theological education. The program uses a mentorship model to ensure students meet the competencies through the papers they write and the work they do in their ministry.

“The Deploy program was transforming,” Micev said. “It helped me understand God and myself more deeply. Writing many papers, reading books deeply, and listening to good teachers was such a blessing. My preaching and ministry are changing and growing”

Micev learned practices and skills he could apply immediately to his ministry. “I learned several things throughout the program: leadership, biblical theology, sanctification,” said Micev.

Reading stretched Micev most. Some of the material was difficult, dense theology he wasn’t used to working through. Still, he found that it was shaping him. “I was surprised by how good the books were,” Micev said. “They built discipline in me.”

Better Equipped for the Mission Field

Thankfully, the competency-based education Micev received didn’t stay in a classroom. It shows in every week of his preaching, in how he leads his church plant as an elder, and in the direction he’s setting for Project Timothy’s continued growth.

Micev invites us to join him in prayer for Serbia, for future translations of theological books, and the ministry happening through Project Timothy.

“Our hope for the future of the church in Serbia is for God’s Word to be preached faithfully from the pulpit,” said Micev.

Are you interested in receiving the same pastor training online that helped Micev further his ministry and deepen his understanding of the Lord? Check out Grace’s competency-based education model, designed for ministry leaders who desire to keep actively serving in ministry.