The Tentmaker Internship

A 24-month residency · Corpus Christi, Texas · Founding cohort Fall 2026

One calling.
Two crafts.

Train in ministry. Build a business with AI. Graduate self-supported, ready to plant faster and go where others can't.

The opportunity

The fields are ready. The old model is slow.

The need is everywhere. But the usual path to meet it moves slowly. You wait to be trained, wait to be funded, wait to be sent. Whole communities stay unreached because no one could get there and stay.

Now picture a minister who carries their own support. Who can move into a new city, start a real business, and plant, without waiting to be funded or placed. Who can go where the gospel isn't yet, and stay as long as it takes.

That minister is something new. This residency builds them.

Acts 18:1–4

Paul made tents.

When Paul reached Corinth, he moved in with Aquila and Priscilla and worked their shared trade: tentmaking. The craft went with him. It meant he could enter a new city on his own feet, support himself while he preached, and stay planted as long as the work required. He accepted help from other churches at times, but his trade meant he never had to wait for it to begin.

The craft has changed. AI is the new tentmaking.

The model

Two tracks. One calling.

The Ministry Track

At the church

  • Ministry and character formation
  • Preaching and teaching reps with honest feedback
  • Evangelism and discipleship, person by person
  • The unglamorous operations that keep a congregation moving

The Agency Track

Under Krate Solutions

  • Build what small businesses gladly pay for: websites, automation, AI assistants that do real work
  • Real clients, real deadlines, real invoices
  • The business skills to run it all yourself

“I'm not selling you a theory. I run an AI agency about twenty hours a week. It supports my family and frees my ministry to go wherever it's needed. This residency hands you the same two crafts, side by side, for two years.”

Nate Bigbee, founder

The residency

Two years, on purpose.

Year One

Learn both crafts.

Preach and get reviewed. Study with people. Sit inside real client builds until you can run one yourself.

Year Two

Carry real weight.

Real ministry responsibility at the church. Real clients whose work you own end to end.

By graduation you are not hoping the model works. You have already lived it. Self-supported and sendable, ready to plant anywhere.

The fit

Who this is for

  • You sense a genuine call to ministry and want to test it with your whole life, not a weekend.
  • You are teachable. Both tracks run on feedback.
  • You can be in Corpus Christi, Texas for two years.
  • You are curious about technology. No experience required. Curiosity is.

Who this is not for

  • Anyone looking for a shortcut to a title.
  • Anyone who wants ministry without the grind of a craft, or a craft without the grind of ministry.

The backers

A partnership between GC3 in Corpus Christi and Krate Solutions, led by evangelist and founder Nate Bigbee.

A real church and a real, working AI agency, both in Corpus Christi, Texas. You train inside both.

Questions

Asked and answered

Do I need tech experience?

No. The agency track starts from zero. You need curiosity and the willingness to practice.

How does self-support actually work?

You build real skills and real income through the agency track while you train, so your ministry is not dependent on outside funding to begin. We walk through exactly what that looks like for your situation on the discernment call.

Where does it happen?

Corpus Christi, Texas. The ministry track lives at the church; the agency track happens inside a working agency.

When does it start?

Fall 2026. The founding cohort is one or two people, on purpose.

What happens when it's over?

You leave with two crafts, a track record in both, and the freedom to plant wherever you are sent.

Who runs it?

Nate Bigbee: evangelist at the church, owner of Krate Solutions, and a working tentmaker.

The gate

The application is behind a game.

Here's a small taste of the real thing: keeping two crafts alive at once. Catch Bibles in the ministry lane and contracts in the agency lane, and keep both going for sixty seconds. It speeds up as you go. Clear it and the application opens, or skip straight through anytime.

The Two Crafts is a two-lane game. Press the spacebar, arrow keys, or tap to switch between the ministry lane and the agency lane. Catch Bibles and contracts and keep both meters above zero for sixty seconds. If you would rather not play, use the skip to the application link.

The Two Crafts

One tap, click, or spacebar to switch lanes. Catch Bibles up top and contracts down low, keep both meters alive for sixty seconds. It only gets faster.

Almost there

Clear the game to open the application.

Or skip straight through, it's your call.

Back to the game

Founding cohort · Fall 2026 Play for the application →