One More Last Thing

As this post goes up, I’m in the middle of my final retreat/conference in the Residents in Ministry (RIM) program.  RIM is the (typical) three year period between one’s commissioning and one’s ordination in the Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church.

The program itself has gone through a lot of changes in the three years that I have been a part of it.  First off, there was the conference merger, which brought together North Indiana and South Indiana.  So, immediately, these things doubled in size.  But also, the RIM board has tried to come up with a recurring curriculum that would better help to train pastors in the program.

At first, it seemed as though these things were supposed to be our opportunities to get away for a couple of days, and there was something educational that was part of it.  Then it became something that was more of a Continuing Ed program.  There have been some great meetings, and there have been some that… well… let’s just say that the were unforgettable… for all the wrong reasons.

Regardless, I feel like the RIM board is trying hard to improve things, and they certainly do seem to be getting better.  What’s really cool about this whole process is that with this year’s ordination class, it’s the last of the North Indiana/South Indiana commissioned classes.  Next year’s ordination class will be the first class that was commissioned in the Indiana Conference.  We are certainly moving forward, and it’s kind of neat to be there at the beginning of it all.