About Godhunting Resources: A Premier Christian Research Portal
Our Mission: Mining for Wisdom
Welcome to Godhunting Resources, the LXON world-class Christian Research Portal and digital headquarters featuring AI-assisted research through LXONSM. We utilize internet technology to disseminate comprehensive knowledge of God to everyone with internet access, serving as a hub for theological scholarship and leadership training.
Many people believe something is missing in their lives. They hunt for people they can follow and ideas that could put meaning into their lives.
Including print books, eBooks, audiobooks, etc., over 2.5 million books are published each year. That is around 7,000 per day. With so much information available, no one has time to keep up with all the ideas, leaving us to procrastinate on life’s most important questions. We tell ourselves that someday we will find time to learn more about a topic. Someday, we are going to learn how to play the piano. Someday, we are going to study our spiritual beliefs: Is there life after death? Is there really going to be a final judgment? Does our present life have any purpose? Why is there so much evil in the world?
We all agree that we need wisdom. We believe that some kinds of knowledge can lead to wisdom. The equation of God with ultimate wisdom is strongly supported by distinct philosophical frameworks (from moral theism to classical theism) that define the divine through attributes of perfection and ideal order. The equation of God with ultimate wisdom is strongly supported by distinct philosophical frameworks (from moral theism to classical theism) that define the divine through attributes of perfection and ideal order.
Some people seem to find it easy to believe that a personal God exists and that he will bring his kingdom to this planet. Others have spent many years studying the issues and still can’t decide what is true. Others are convinced there is no God. This subject can be very complex. Godhunting is a unique approach to Christian Apologetics and Spiritual Formation. Do you think all religions point in the same direction? Learn more
Our Vision for Christian Scholarship and Global Outreach
Certified Godhunter
We offer free college-level courses leading to a certified GodhunterSM certification at GodhunterSM Academy. What is the catch? You must attend and pass 14 online courses. They are open-book, and you can take them as many times as you wish. You must pass each course one at a time to be enrolled in the next course at no cost. We also provide study resources, including a textbook and podcasts, at no cost. Pass the introductory course and get free LXON tier 3 access. For more information, see Certified Godhunter.
What we do
Godhunting Resources endeavors to use the Internet to disseminate comprehensive knowledge of God to individuals with Internet access. The initiative is centered on a WordPress website and aims to maximize process automation to minimize staffing requirements. It will operate solely from a digital headquarters, requiring no physical facilities. The key ingredient involves leveraging retired volunteers for supervisory roles. Should paid staff become necessary, remote workplaces are anticipated to be accommodated.
As a premier Christian Research Portal, LXON, our organization focuses on several key initiatives:
- Subscription services delivering Bible newsletters, devotional materials, and informational newsletters to subscribers via email and text;
- Provision of downloadable teaching materials suitable for Christian schools and churches;
- Offering online library access to public domain out-of-print books and works by selected authors;
- Publication of select Christian papers, books, and other material:
- Training Future Christian leaders;
- Operating the John Warwick Montgomery Memorial Library and its bookstore;
- Providing access to select copyrighted materials; and
- Online college-level courses for theological training.
We are developing and implementing a system to identify future leaders for seminary training and to monitor their progress, working with a team of experienced educators.
Unlike normal scholarship programs that give a one-time payment, we intend to find candidates, normally in the second year of a master’s program at a seminary, to assist them through the completion of the next two years of their education to help create future Christian leaders in areas of the world that need them. This will usually involve at least partial tuition payments and will include following their activities closely and helping solve problems, including financial problems that may interfere with their graduation and the start of their ministry.
We want donors to be confident that their money will likely accomplish the intended goal. We will not limit ourselves to standard academic requirements but will try to identify candidates who already demonstrate the “roll up your sleeves” work ethic required for outreach, along with superior “people skills”. We are looking for candidates with a documented history of local initiatives or sustaining community work alongside their studies.
Candidates will be required to maintain an active presence in their MemberPress Circle so that donors and other interested people can interact with them during their education and, hopefully, continue to support them in their ministry. Students must provide at least a monthly update (text, photo, or video).
Our scholarship program is designed to create future Christian leaders in areas of the world most in need. Unlike typical one-time grants, we provide comprehensive assistance to selected candidates, usually starting in the second year of a seminary master’s program, to support them through the final two years of their education.
This support goes beyond just partial tuition payments. We closely monitor their progress, providing mentorship and helping to resolve any obstacles, including financial difficulties, that might prevent them from graduating and starting their ministry.
The John Warwick Montgomery Library & Digital Bookstore
We provide online library access to public domain out-of-print books, archival materials, and unique works by selected authors. Our bookstore offers select Christian papers and interactive content designed for perpetual access. More about John Warwick Montgomery.
Need wisdom?
We decided to build this website to help organize and simplify the search for God. We seek to provide a variety of study resources using all forms of media. Our Board has resolved these questions for itself with the Christian message. However, for some of us, it has been a lifelong struggle to find faith. We believe we can control our biases and present the information fairly from all points of view. We offer courses on 12 theories of God, including atheism and agnosticism. If you do find faith, it is not always complete. Many lived with elements of unbelief. It is important to keep seeking to work on our faith and unbelief. The Gospel of Mark has an account of a healing that is a good illustration of this need. Jesus’ disciples had been given healing power. People from miles around came to his disciples for healing. Once, when Jesus was gone, a man brought his son, who was seized with convulsions. The disciples could not heal him. Jesus approached the man and told him that healing was possible for his son if he believed. The man knew Jesus had healed many people, and knew that Jesus required faith for healing, so he answered this way, “I believe. Help my unbelief.”2 This type of person is like many of us and is part of our target audience.
The GodhuntingSM Approach
Believing that God speaks through the Bible, we were influenced by verses indicating that everyone will know about him. For example: “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as waters cover the ocean” (Isaiah 11:9b). We want to be part of that project. The Internet seems to be a useful tool to accomplish this goal.
Good Shepherd Metaphor
Since God is unseen, his presence is expressed in symbols and metaphors. We have chosen our home page a depiction of a Shepherd and sheep. This is a standard biblical reference, as in “God will tend his people like a shepherd”3, using “shepherd” as a metaphor for a leader and sheep for humanity. In biblical times, sheep were not known for being wise, as Plato says in Laws, Book VII, 808d, “… no sheep or other witless creature ought to exist without a herdsman ….”
God was very critical of the incompetent and selfish leaders (shepherds). See Ezekiel 34 for an example. Throughout Scripture, God is the good Shepherd (“the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel” Genesis 49:24). Jesus claimed to be the good Shepherd who was willing to die for his sheep (John 10:11).
The Gospel of Matthew quotes Zechariah 13:7 in support of that claim (“Strike the shepherd, scatter the sheep” Matthew 26:3). The good shepherd image was one of the earliest Christian images of Jesus. For many, the search for God is the search for a good leader to follow.
Silver Mine Metaphor
The Bible uses mining as a metaphor for hunting for God because it requires diligence and hard work. “Seek wisdom with the same effort you seek income, and you will find the knowledge of God.”4
The Bible distinguishes between the wisdom of God and the
wisdom of man.
Man’s wisdom: “Bring as much labor as we can get into
the mines and carry on work in them, feeling confident that the ore will never
give out and that silver will never lose its value.”5
God’s Wisdom: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all
these things will be added to you.”; ”You will seek me and find me when you
seek me with all your heart.”6 The promise is this: “Get near to God,
and he will get near to you.”7 “Work hard to come near to God as a tested,
reliable, and worthy person”8
MEET OUR Leadership
Our leadership team manages specialized departments, including the Department of Research (monitoring global trends and identifying sources) and the Department of Education (overseeing course programs and the certified Godhunter curriculum)
President: John J. Tollefsen is the Founding President of God-hunting Resources. His relevant experience includes that of a CEO of an Internet content company, international business and non-profit work, and business training. In addition, he is an experienced attorney and retired Certified Fraud Examiner and Certified Controls Specialist with over 50 years of experience in business law and complex financial litigation. He served as an Assistant Instructor in Forensic Accounting. In addition to his legal and business expertise, he holds multiple advanced degrees in theology and Christian leadership, including a master’s in theology and a Diploma in Christian Apologetics. For more information
Director: Dr. Philip B. Payne
Education: B.S. Wheaton College, Illinois, 1969 – M.A. NT Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Ill. 1972 – M.Div. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Ill., 1973 – Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache, Goethe Institut, 1973 NT research under Peter Stuhlmacher Tübingen University, 1973 – 1974 – Ph.D. NT under J.P.M. Sweet, C.F.D. Moule, University of Cambridge 1976.
Philip B. Payne has been a supervisor of New Testament Studies in many of the colleges of The University of Cambridge and has taught New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Bethel Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, and is supervising a Ph.D. student at Columbia International University.
Philip Barton Payne, the founder and president of Linguist’s Software, is a specialist in New Testament Studies. He is well known for his studies on New Testament Textual Criticism, the Parables of Jesus, and Man and Woman in the Teachings of Paul. He and his wife Nancy were missionaries in Japan with the Evangelical Free Church, where they ministered to students in the Kyoto Christian Studies Center and lectured on the New Testament in various Japanese Seminaries. Phil started Linguist’s Software in 1984 in response to requests for the Greek, Hebrew, and Japanese fonts he had created for use in his studies and ministry. His company now sells fonts supporting more than 2600 languages. Phil and Nancy have three children: David, Kimiko, and Brendan.
For more information, visit https://pbpayne.com/
Director: Lane E. Tollefsen
Education: B.A. U.C.L.A. 1975 – M.R.E. Western Seminary 1978 – M.I.T. City University, Seattle, Washington, 2001
Lane Tollefsen is a retired teacher who has taught for more than 25 years in Washington state, teaching in public schools and a private Christian school. She is married to John Tollefsen, and they have two children, Kristen and Justin. Lane also serves as Secretary-Treasurer of God-hunting Resources.
Director: Pr. Laurent Cleenewerk de Kiev
Education: Bac C (France) – BTS (Brevet de Technicien Supérieur) Informatique de Gestion – BTS (Brevet de Technicien Supérieur) Commerce International – DUESTC, Université Montpellier II, IAU – Licence (Licentiate) in Orthodox Theology (Institut Saint Serge, Paris) – Master in Ecumenical Studies (Ukrainian Catholic University) – Doctorate in the Study of Religion / PhD in Eastern Orthodox Christian Studies, St Gregory Nazianzen Institute -Master of Divinity (Saint Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, 50 credits completed) – Master of Public Health (EUCLID faculty track) and Coursera Certificates – Global Health Delivery (Harvard) – Ph.D. in Public Health (UCN)
Pr. Cleenewerk de Kiev’s current professional activities include: International Faculty Coordinator & Oversight Council Chairman at EUCLID (Pôle Universitaire EUCLIDE / Euclid University); Associate Professor of Global Health and Bioethics; Professor of International Administration and Theology (EUCLID / Euclid University); Global Academic Chairman at the Euler-Franeker Memorial University; and Faculty at Ukrainian Catholic University (Institute of Ecumenical Studies)
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health (UK), a member of the International Association of Bioethics / American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, certified in Global Health Delivery (Harvard) and Bioethics & Genomics (HarvardX & USCF)
For more information, visit https://cleenewerck.org/
Our LXON Christian Research Portal Non-Profit Model
We want to continue offering the resources on this website at no cost, unless we must pay royalties to others or they are items sold through our bookstore. Some of our scholars may offer courses and other items for a fee, to help cover their living expenses. We currently have no major donors and pay no salaries, but anticipate hiring additional help, such as a librarian. We hope to attract volunteers.
We are a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS (number 33-3656345). We intend to continue to raise funds to cover tuition for worthy seminary students. At this time, we are assisting a pastor from Nepal attending a U.S. seminary.
VOLUNTEER
If you decide to volunteer, we welcome the help. We need volunteers in many areas, including teachers and biblical scholars. We need web-savvy people including coders. If you have time and the right skills, we can probably develop a project for you.
For example, we are planning to republish Christian Classics that are in the public domain. Each project is time-consuming because it requires OCR fine-tuning, scanning (sometimes), and proofreading. Once the text is finalized, it must be properly formatted and turned into a final product. As the work is done, there are usually other unexpected challenges.
Another example is our online library. We need help planning its structure, organizing its content, and uploading files.
Ready to join the hunt?
If you wish to volunteer, you can find the form here. We are in the process of developing a management team. A draft of our plan is available here. We may start with volunteer committees filling these roles and later individuals When we develop enough support to pay salaries. If you see anything that interests you, whether on a short or long term basis , let us know on the volunteer form. We also have listed specific projects in another post.
To provide financial help click a button below. The PayPal button transfers your money without a fee to us. It accepts any major credit card.
Provide resources so everyone may know, from the rising to the setting of the sun, the only one God. (Isa 45:6)
