The History of Christian International

Bill Hamon's Call to the Ministry

After Bill Hamon's salvation at the age of 16 in Boswell, Oklahoma, he had a great desire to become a minister for God. He attended Bible College in Portland, Oregon and became the pastor of a small church in Washington state in 1954 at age 19. In 1964, Bill and his wife, Evelyn, and their three young children moved to San Antonio, Texas where Bill was asked to be a teacher at a Bible college.

Founding of Christian International School of Theology

While Bill Hamon was teaching at the Bible college, he met a businessman named Ken Williams who attended the college for one semester. Ken's business then hindered him from attending any longer. As Bill helped in Ken's business, he recognized the need for a quality correspondence Bible college for those unable to commit to a traditional classroom schedule. Together they formed what became Christian International School of Theology. Ken used his business knowledge to incorporate it into an organized institution of higher learning. Bill used his biblical and theological ability to begin writing the college courses and developing the brochures and catalogue. The first students were enrolled in 1968.

From 1969 to 1979, Bill and Evelyn Hamon directed and developed Christian International School of Theology. During this time it grew from a few students to thousands of students and hundreds of CI Extension Colleges based in local churches. The first CI Extension College was started in 1970 with 20 ministers attending. At the same time, CI Extensions were established in Topeka, Kansas and in Mindanao, Philippines.

At first Bill established CI Extension Colleges by traveling throughout the U.S. on a Greyhound bus. His first trip was an 8,000-mile, six-week itinerary. He flew on a commercial jet for the first time in 1973 when he flew to Washington D.C. to talk to the Department of Education about CI's correspondence and extension college education. In 1977 the college headquarters was moved from San Antonio to Phoenix, Arizona.

First School of the Holy Spirit

During the 1960's Bill Hamon taught on the gifts of the Holy Spirit many times. One semester he taught on one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit in one session, and then in the next session had the students practice moving in that gift. These were the first attempts Bill made at activating saints in their gifts of the Spirit.

During the decade of the 1970's, Bill traveled throughout the world teaching, training and activating Christians in their gifts and callings. In 1979, he started what he named the "School of the Prophets " in Phoenix, Arizona.

The heart of Bill Hamon's ministry is the Genesis principle that every seed reproduces after its kind. This is the fulfillment of a prophecy that was given to Bill in 1984 about how he would train others: "…It's going to be a multiplying of yourself, producing reproducers reproducing reproducers who will reproduce reproducers."

When the headquarters for Christian International was moved to the panhandle of Florida in 1984, Bill started conducting Holy Spirit and Prophetic Seminars in the new area. For the first year or so he did all of the teaching and prophesied over the attendees himself. By 1987 he had trained enough teams to prophesy over all 450 attendees at the CI conference in May of that year. What would have taken one man days to do by himself took only two afternoons for the teams. This principle of reproducing his gifting his others has marked Dr. Hamon's ministry since that time and is the basis for CI's vision.

Teaching Resources Developed

Christians began coming to northern Florida from all over for the purpose of being taught, trained, activated and matured in their gifts and callings. From those teachings and activations, a 300-page teaching manual was developed called the Manual for Ministering Spiritual Gifts (more info). It has been used to train ministers and leaders who, in turn, have used it to teach, train, activate and mature believers in their gifts and callings. Over 250,000 saints and leaders in many nations of the world have now been trained through this manual.

CI's course using the Manual for Ministering Spiritual Gifts became the first module of our Apostolic Prophetic Training seminars (more info). Over time 18 additional modules were developed to equip God's people in their gifts - including prophetic ministry, healing, miracles, deliverance, evangelism and more. These are taught twice yearly in Florida and at various other locations around the world, wherever God's people are hungry to be trained.

Dr. Bill Hamon's first book, The Eternal Church (more info), published in 1981, gives a detailed overview of the restoration of the Church, the corporate Body of Christ. It gives highly encouraging prophetic insight into what exactly the Holy Spirit is doing in the world today - where the Body of Christ has been and where we are headed. In 1987 he released Prophets and Personal Prophecy (more info) which has become a classic work on the subject. It has now been translated into more than ten languages. Many more books, teaching manuals and training materials have followed, all with the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.

 

Network of Ministers and Business Network

As many Christians became trained and activated in the Holy Spirit, a need became apparent for networking prophets and other five-fold ministers for fathering, accountability and maturing. Christian International Network of Prophetic Ministries was formed in 1988 to meet this need. Dr. Hamon was given the title "Bishop" because it is a biblical term for an elder (1 Timothy 3:1-7, NKJV), thus reflecting his status as elder of the CI Network of Prophetic Ministries.

In 1992 CI Network of Churches was established to include local churches who wanted to be linked up with CI for prophetic/apostolic impartation and input. In 2004 the name was changed to CI Apostolic Network (more info) to reflect the five-fold ministry and diversity of member ministers.

Today, hundreds of CI Apostolic Network ministers and leaders have been reproduced. They in turn are reproducing hundreds of others to fulfill the same ministry of teaching, training, activating and maturing saints in their spiritual gifts and ministries. Thousands of other leaders and saints have been trained in their spiritual gifts as well, so they can fulfill their callings around the world.

Over the years as Dr. Hamon prophesied over thousands of people, he kept sensing the heart of God for people to be released as His ministers in every vocation and field of influence. He realized that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are just as important, or even more so, in "secular" occupations as in church-based occupations. In the late 1980's the Christian International Business Network was formed to specifically meet the needs of these ministers in the marketplace. Today CIBN Workplace Ministries (more info) continues to reach out to believers in all walks of life.

International Training Center Built

For several years Christian International Ministries and the affiliated local church, Christian International Family Church, operated out of a relatively small building on the north side of Highway 98 in Santa Rosa Beach. In 1994 construction began on the International Training Center and home of CI Family Church. CI is now established on 86 acres in Florida with many current and future plans under development.

 

Residential Ministry Training Center Launched

CI opened its residential Ministry Training Center (MTC) (more info) to students in September 1995. The instruction combines the traditional teaching style of a Bible school with the hands-on activation experience of a School of the Holy Spirit. Students engage in practical ministry, such as helping to put on conferences, as well as receiving mentoring and actively participating on a prophetic presbytery team.

The Ministry Training Center has expanded to a three-year program, enabling students to complete a variety of training and degree levels. As part of the CI Equipping Network (more info), which also includes CI's original vision - the CI School of Theology - the MTC is one of several tools for equipping God's people for ministry as church leaders, business people, ministers to other nations and more.

International Bases

From 1994 to 2003 Dr. Bill and Evelyn Hamon continued traveling widely preaching and proclaiming the truths of the restoration of God's Church and the Prophetic-Apostolic Movement. As awareness of their ministry grew, they began receiving more and more invitations to minister in various nations of the world. At times they literally traveled around the globe.

Keeping the reproducing principle in mind, CI established several headquarters in locations outside northern Florida during this time.

They include: Christian International Central in Indiana, which reaches out to the U.S. Heartland; CI India in northeast India where national leaders have been raised up and thousands of ministers are now connected; CI Europe based in Burton-on-Trent, England; CI Asiaheadquartered in Sano, Japan, which is working expand the apostolic and prophetic in East Asia; CI Australia/New Zealand; CI Canada based in Alberta; and bases in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. Other men and women, including graduates of CI's MinistryTraining Center, serve as CI representatives in additional regions around the world. These outreaches are coordinated through the Christian International Global Network (more info).

Future Outreach

As of 2007 Dr. Hamon is 73 years old, but he continues to energetically press ahead with the vision God has given him. His eldest son, Tim, serves as CEO of Christian International, while many other leaders head the various networks and outreaches of CI.

Many prophecies are yet to be fulfilled, including more widespread prophetic and apostolic training through media such as television and the Internet, greater expansion of training God's people in business and government, a greater release of the power gifts such as healing and miracles, and greater apostolic impact in the nations. As we press forward, we encourage you to join with us in making future history (more info).