Starting the Course of Study at Duke University

Last weekend I started my Course of Study for the United Methodist Church. The Course of Study is required for all local pastors and is essentially to make sure we're all trained as proper United Methodists.The classes are held at Duke University. There is a total of twelve classes, each requiring three weekends at Duke. The weekends are in September, November, January, and March. The class time is Friday night and Saturday morning. So, if you haven't done the math, if you go straight through with no breaks, you can finish in three years. But, it seems that they give you twelve years to finish, so I could take one class a year and retire before I finish.


The class I'm taking in September is titled "The Pastor as Bible Interpreter". The Professor is Mickey Efird, who has apparently written more books about the Bible than I've ever read. I like the class, it reminds me of some of my undergrad classes. But, it sure is a lot of info in eight hours each weekend. I think I had better get my hands on a digital voice recorder. I can't write as fast as I did years ago.


There are five of us in this first class from our Licensing School class. A few got a jump and started last year. I have to admit that it was a relief to find known friendly faces in the class.


Duke is a nice campus, seems well laid out, but I got lost anyway. When we got out on Saturday I started walking back to my car and realized that I didn't have a clue where I was or where I was going. I wandered around for about 45 minutes before I found the parking lot and then I had to find where my car was in the lot. I think next week I'll leave a trail of bread crumbs to find my way back.