Participants in the 2021 Dakotas Conference Licensing School. Photo by Eric Van Meter.

For newly appointed Licensed Local Pastors, this transition is accompanied by the rigorous completion of the Dakotas Licensing School, which is typically held at Lake Poinsett Camp near Arlington, South Dakota. Due to the COVID pandemic, for the second year, the Dakotas Conference Licensed Local Pastor School, comprised of 11 members from two different conferences, the Dakotas Conference, and the Minnesota Conference met virtually. 

A United Methodist licensed local preacher is a layperson who has been accredited by the United Methodist Church to lead worship and preach on a regular basis. 

Rev. Val Reinhiller, a pastor at Faith UMC in Williston, North Dakota, is the dean of the licensing school and finds much fulfillment in helping steward these future leaders of the church.

"Licensing school's goals are to educate those answering the call of Christ as Licensed Local Pastors. We give them the beginning tools for ministry. We teach the basics and then walk alongside as they enter the ministry," says Reinhiller. 

Rev. Reinhiller felt the virtual format worked well. "Everyone was willing to be flexible and work with technology. We used Zoom and people are pretty familiar with how that platform works. Things went well."

The Dakotas Licensing School began in 2011. Some of the professors have been teaching since the beginning of the school. The five instructors leading the learning this year were: Rev. Gary Ball-Kilbourne, Rev. Ross Reinhiller, Rev. Val Reinhiller, Denise Van Meter, Rev. Eric Van Meter, and Rev. Fred Vanderwerf. Val, and Ross Reinhiller operated out of a quasi-studio, set up at the Reinhiller home in Williston, North Dakota.  

Participants met by Zoom, on June 13-18, for a range of 4-8 hours daily. 

“This is the second year to hold the Dakotas Licensing School online. We were online major chunks of time each day,” said Reinhiller. “The students did well attending classes online. They had opportunities to listen to lectures, participate in large group and small group discussions.”

Each student did 40-60 hours of homework before Licensing School began. Reading and written assignments were sent electronically by each of the instructors to the participants. One of the assignments was to video record a sermon that was viewed and critiqued during the live sessions.

The eleven participants completing the school were: Robert Blackburn, Tiana Bohn, Annie Carlson, Seth Duncan, Jeffrey Hauser, Adele Kenkel, Jessie Irvine, Bobby Postal, Melissa Rowenhorst, Russ Steele, and Trent Tumbelson.