Testimonials

This is an amazing course, made all the richer by the instructors and the fellow students. The affirmations of my fellow students and the course instructors have not only encouraged me, but strengthened my calling. I will be ever grateful for this course.

One of the best aspects of this class was the sharing of our reflection papers and the response from and responding to our classmate's work. It would be next to impossible to get the same level of response in a classroom setting.

I found the academy an indispensable part of my education and journey into ministry.

I remember distinctly how we were taught to use the lectionary, research tools, and the process of reading and meditating and praying on the scripture, which allows it to speak to you in a way which brings the depth of God’s word to the fore. We would underline the salient words in a verse, which words jumped out at us or which prevailing thought became a periscope to understanding the text, and then the sermon preparation process that insured that we kept to the core meaning of the passage within the context of history, culture, and the rest of scripture.

The Academy was a comprehensive and progressive program for my work in the church.

For me the most important thing was confidence. I can see things that God has done over the years that were preparing me for this time of answering his call.

I liked the way that the course prepared us for the meeting with our district superintendent. At least for me, I had no idea what to expect from a meeting with her. It took a lot of pressure off me knowing that I was well prepared before I got there.

I am a preacher’s kid, and have been in the United Methodist church for over 60 years. Despite this experience, this course has been invaluable to me, not just for preparing me to fill a small membership church need, but rounding out my Christian education in general, and my Methodist upbringing as well.

For me this class has established a bible study routine, encouraged me to use new bible references and other relevant texts and disciplined my thinking. I would wholeheartedly recommend this class to any United Methodist lay person.

This course has caused me to stretch my spiritual muscles to complete the assignments. It was a challenge sometimes and I spent A LOT of time praying. But it merely "whet my appetite" for the next phase of the training. I can't wait to get started.

During this course I was able to define my call and develop a spiritual resume.

I learned that when I was initially called by God to do something He had for me to do, I reacted like Moses. I could give God countless reasons why I couldn’t do whatever He was calling me to do.

As time passed, I moved from the Moses call to the Abraham call. I had finally reached a place in my journey where I stopped fighting God and told Him I would go wherever He wanted me to go and do whatever He wanted me to do.