Weekly Saturday night bible study

• Discussing 4-year lectionary texts

• Encouraging the brotherhood

• Talking about life together under the Word of God

Sunday night combat training

• Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, boxing, wrestling, mobility training

Holidays

• Easter luncheon

• Memorial Day Sons of Solomon muster

• Fourth of July cookout

Residents

One full-time resident

• Local community-college student

  • Four month stay thus far

One part-time resident

• PhD in Chemistry, working as a researcher on radioactive chemicals in medicine

  • Stayed half-year in 2024

  • Part-time/weekends since then

    • Minus brief absence to finish PhD

Forthgang (longer stays completed this year)

• Southern Illinois transplant, local airplane mechanic

  • Four month stay

• Rockford local, currently deer-ranching in Ohio

  • Nine month stay

Visitors

• Several local men regularly visit and use the facilities

• Two travelers visited for long weekends

Projects

Reorganization - The new overseer’s prerogative

• Chapel established

• Library moved upstairs

• Bunk capacity reduced to ten

• Bunk rooms changed to streamline house dynamics

• Conference room added

• Lounges restructured

Tiling the chapel floor

• In-progress, expected to complete this month

• DIY with one experienced amateur and volunteers

• ~65 of tile has been laid as of 7/12/26

• Full report planned once the project is complete

• Residents and visitors invited to learn tiling basics

  

  Finances

Budget

• Basic expenses are ~$30,000 a year

  • ~$18,000 in rental

  • ~$6,000 in utilities

  • ~$3,500 in upkeep, insurance, HOA fees, etc.

  • ~$1,500 in NFP compliance

  • ~$1,000 in improvements

Funding

• Last year we finished at a $7,000 deficit (77% funded)

• So far this year we are 5% funded

  • Forthcoming commitments are expected to cover ~65% of our basic funding

  • Currently estimating a $9,000 deficit

All our support comes from volunteers and donations.

Your prayers are the greatest support we can receive.

If you are willing to help Hebron continue another year, contact us here on Substack or at sos.113.487@gmail.com to learn how you can financially support this ministry.

Jesus Christ is LORD. This truth offends reason. Believe in His name, for you are thereby a child of God our Father.

I cannot claim to be short-winded, as those who have spoken with me can attest. I cannot claim to be perfectly even-keeled, as those who have argued with me can affirm. Nevertheless, I shall here pursue measured and efficient writing.

The Hebron Collegium is the brotherhood who have visited, committed their ways to Jesus Christ, and confess that He is LORD. The Collegium chapter-house in Rockford is for patient challenge and targeted rest.

As I acclimate to my new responsibilities for the collegium, I hope to share progress, insights, and stories here so that you may rejoice in the good God is doing among us and be inspired to do good where you are.

Hebron does not exist to be the place where good occurs. It is for equipping those who come to do good in their calling. When all whom God deems need this place have come and gone, that work here will be complete.

I am considering these for future posts:

• Explore various rooms in the house (their purpose and their use) to set expectations for any visitors.

• Describe completed projects. We currently have a tiling project in the chapel.

• Share resident testimonies.

• Share insights learned and ideas explored by the brethren.

• Publicize the application process for longer stays.

• Record upkeep of the property (logging the waivers & procedures) to inform the long-term resident and record the policies publicly.

• Share publications by the brethren elsewhere online.

• Share monthly updates on events and finances.

I cannot know what you do and do not wish to read without your feedback. I endeavor to share what is good to share. Your encouragement and support will be most welcome. Your sharing of the good here may be God’s means of inspiring others to do good also.

Hebron adapts to those who use it. It is molded by those who come. Each member of Jesus’ body has a different calling. We cannot serve all. Whomever the Lord sends we shall serve as we are able.

The men who come do not leave unaffected. Each man’s impact is tuned to his need and his investment. We are not industrial; each man will grow as God provides his journey.

Many elsewhere have concerns. Many leave with complaints. Many visitors suggest improvements. I reside, remain, and endeavor to improve. Your prayers, patience, and support are always welcome gifts. May God bless His people, and strengthen us, His servants, to do each day His good and gracious will.

The blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ be upon you all,

Titus Berndt

The Smalcald Articles speak with clarity about the purpose of chapters and cloisters, and their words remain binding and prophetic for us today:

“That chapters and cloisters [colleges of canons and communistic dwellings], which were formerly founded with the good intention [of our forefathers] to educate learned men and chaste [and modest] women, ought again to be turned to such use, in order that pastors, preachers, and other ministers of the churches may be had, and likewise other necessary persons [fitted] for [the political administration of] the secular government [or for the commonwealth] in cities and countries, and well-educated maidens for mothers and housekeepers, etc.”

Pray the SOS Prayer Here

The Hebron Collegium takes this not as theory, but as mandate. Our work is to re-establish, here and now, the kind of house of learning the Confessions envisioned:

• For the Church: A place to raise up pastors, preachers, and faithful lay leaders.

• For the Commonwealth: A place to form strong, educated men capable of service in society.

• For the Household: A place to shape brothers as future fathers, husbands, and Heads of Christian homes.

In short, the Hebron Collegium is a living answer to the Confessions’ call: a house devoted not to vanity or tradition, but to the living Word of God and the training of His people.

For the Articles also warn:

“If they will not serve this purpose, it is better that they be abandoned or razed, rather than [continued and], with their blasphemous services invented by men, regarded as something better than the ordinary Christian life and the offices and callings ordained by God. For all this also is contrary to the first chief article concerning the redemption made through Jesus Christ. Add to this that (like all other human inventions) these have neither been commanded; they are needless and useless, and, besides, afford occasion for dangerous and vain labor [dangerous annoyances and fruitless worship], such services as the prophets call Aven, i.e., pain and labor.”

The Hebron Collegium rejects “aven”—vain labor, fruitless worship, and human invention—as the engine of education. Instead, we turn directly to Christ, the Scriptures, and the wisdom of the ages. Our goal is not to create another cloister but to renew a true collegium: a chapter-house where the baptized are equipped for life in church, state, and family, in fidelity to Christ and His Word.

This is not nostalgia. It is obedience. It is the Lutheran Confessions, fulfilled.

Come and See: Schedule Your Retreat

$15/day all meals included : Monthly and longer stays available : Ask about the summer vicarage program.

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The Hebron Collegium is

a Gap Year Bible School for Men, a fraternal order and prayer fellowship founded on the principles of Knowledge, Wisdom and Discipline as unearthed inevitably in the Psalms, Proverbs and Red Letters of the Living King, Jesus Christ.

Currently we have 2 Full Time Residents

Plus Room for:

4 More Residents,

Men’s Groups of 6 or less (including Solo Questers)

1 Qualified Fellow Day or Week/Longer Retreat Suite

A Collegium is Men Helping Men Help Men

Eat the Meat. Make Broth with the Bones.

When not investing the in the currency of people, without which all Kingdoms must perish, I’m spending my personal time focused on the development of both the Wood Shop and the Overseer’s Corner, as well as upgrading the Threshing Floor athletic fellowship building.

Come Visit! $15/Day - Meat Included

He is not dead, just as He said.

A Christ Centered Brotherhood in Rockford Illinois

Founded by the Sons of Solomon

Pray the SOS Prayer Here

The Hebron Collegium is a gravitational hub for Christian men seeking to escape the fog of modern dissolution, a home for Sons of God in search of clarity that breaks the storm of anti-male dissociation, and a retreat center for the Kingdom exiles who hunger to found their patriarchy on Bible-Reading, fraternal Spirit and the Reign of Jesus Christ alone.

The Sons of Solomon is a men’s prayer movement founded on the principal reality that the Psalms are God’s prayers, the Proverbs are God’s insights and the Red Letters of Jesus Christ are the Words of the King that shall never pass away.

“Hold to the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Tim 6)

The Scriptures of the New Testament define false teachers as those who do not hold to the sound words of Jesus Christ. The words of Jesus are the criterion. Everything else—law, doctrine, ethics—flows from adherence to His speech.

When Paul writes “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” to the Colossians (ch 3) he is not first speaking of the doctrines of the prophets nor the traditions of the synagogue. Paul, more than any other, knew that the OT was a closed book to the mind veiled by this age. Revelation became intelligible to him only through Christ’s direct Words. This word of Christ indwelling the Christian is the first fruit deposit of the Holy Spirit as the eternal gift of God to men.

When Paul summarizes his ministry to the Ephesian elders before he walks the lonely road to Jerusalem, he roots his charge in teaching the whole counsel of God as fulfilled in Christ. “Remember the Words of the Lord Jesus,” he says. “That He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.” His appeal is not to theories, but to Christi Jesus’ own words.

Peter warns in his second letter, “Remember the commandments spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken through your apostles” (ch. 3). He is explicit: the prophets speak forward, Jesus speaks centrally, and the apostles transmit what Jesus said to all who will believe on the basis of their words.

John also say in his second letter, “Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son,” and in his first letter he says, “His commandments are not burdensome.”

A Sower Went Out to Sow

Hebron exists to foster this Spirit of Wisdom, not a rejection of dogmatics or tradition, but a foundation of fellowship is those good and perfect gifts that came down from heaven in the Son of Man, and which shall never pass away.

The Best Thing to Do is to Visit

Hebron is equipped for six full time residents, six short term guests, and one full time overseer. Currently, we have room for you!

Soon, we will establish a calendy connection for your visit. Cost is $15/day which covers your food and amenities. (Full time residency is $400/month for room and board.) Hebron operates on a “Whole Foods Kitchen” Cooperative, which means residents share the cooking, cleaning and shopping duties. But don’t let any of that slow you down. We will gladly host you without cost in order to foster your journey as a Christian man seeking to calm the storms of this age as they assault your heart. Nobody leaves unchanged.

Soon, we will have an Instagram channel where you can see our stories, our struggles, and our growth together. Also, we hope to make your support of our mission simpler and more clear with giving platform option. In the meantime, you may always write for information at 4204 Shorewood Dr. Rockford IL 61101, or send a message through the Substack messaging platform.

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What Do You Do There?

Opportunities for young men are available to receive local work and training via the ever growing network of the brotherhood. Current connections involve mechanics and airplane mechanics, sales and personal growth opportunities, Rock Valley Community College, Rockford University, and online degree/study sets the sky as the limit. Personal coaching and Spiritual Guidance are overseen by Rev. Jonathan Fisk, and personal development and pre-seminary curriculums are tailored to your personal goals and growth. The theological library alone is worth the week of retreat for seasoned pastors, laity and men’s groups alike.

A Rising Tide Lifts All Ships

The Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training facility, full capacity vehicle lift, crafting woodshop and backyard farming exploratorium provide the hungry young man’s hands every chance to grow in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

In a time when men of God are under siege and the next generation find themselves unseen, unheard and left out to dry, the Hebron Collegium is a next-era school founded on the principles of knowledge, wisdom and discipline are the sure and certain measure of the Scriptures applied in the godly and integral fear of the Lord.

What Do the Confessions Say?