As we shared at the UMCRM Association’s Annual Meeting at Lakeview, The UMC’s General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) has approved an educational program that will qualify for Certification in our beloved field of ministry. YOU CAN GET STARTED THIS MONTH! No, really. The first step is to sign up to take the Compass Points courses being offered February 26-March 4th at Bethelwoods Conference Center in North Carolina. Information will be available there for students ready to take the next steps toward Certification.

It’s time to sign up for Compass Points now. Head to www.compasspointsprogram.org for all the details. (Transportation to Bethelwoods and pick up at the Charlotte airport are included.)

In a nutshell, if you start this month, you could complete your Compass Points classroom requirements by February of 2018. That’s one year. Two more classes will be offered in September 2017 and the final two in February 2018. In November of 2017, you can take the UMCRM Immersion Experience that is the United Methodist-specific component to the program. Then you’re more than halfway done.

In addition to the above classroom requirements, two experiential components will complete your program: A directed Site Visit at a camp and retreat center of your choice, where you will interview the staff regarding hospitality, facilities management, food service, policy development and a few other things. The final piece is your Capstone project, a directed presentation before your classmates at one of the participating associations’ annual or bi-annual national gatherings. If you can’t wait until UMCRM gathers again January 28-February 1, 2019, you’re welcome to join another denomination’s annual conference for the capstone.

So now is the moment to get going. Talk to your Director or Board; hopefully they will chip in to help with the very reasonable tuition and expenses and contribute to developing your expertise as a Camp/Retreat Ministry leader. In case you need more incentive, one of the teachers of the first class is UMCRM’s own Cat Holbert, who knocked it out of the park as Event Chair for last week’s amazing National Gathering at Lakeview Center in Palestine, TX. Are you registering right now?!

If for some reason you cannot start the program this month, hopefully you can get on the schedule for September’s classes at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. Questions? Contact UMCRM Education Chair Gary Lawson.