Dear Fellow Ministers:

Another new year is well in the making and I trust you are excited about all God has in store for you. I know that this can be a great year of blessing. There are so many things that God wants to teach us and we need to learn. It is our privilege and honor to be associated with a denomination that expects and provides for our continuing education.

The CEU program is a great means to remind us of this honor. It is also a way to let the conference know what areas we are studying and to help plan for areas that may be lacking. Remember, there are a number of means by which our annual 24 units can be earned: events sponsored by the denomination, or by the Heartland Conference, or approved events outside of our denomination. In addition we can earn one unit for every 100 pages read of approved study books. It really is quite easy to get the 24 units required. Several this year earned in the 100+ CEU range!

Any book used by the Heartland School of Ministry, the SCU Graduate School program, books recommended by Heartland coaches, or listed on the IPHC website reading list is automatically approved for CEU's. Any training event sponsored by the IPHC Global Ministries Center or the Heartland Conference is automatically approved at one unit per hour of class time. We are also open to other events or books that may be deemed appropriate for training. Just contact me or the conference office to let us know.

This past year we have had great participation in the CEU program. I praise God that you have embraced the program in such a healthy manner. Every month the number of credits you have received is listed on your minister's report form. I am thankful to the office staff for helping make it easier for us to keep track of our credits. I believe 2012 is going to be another great year of us learning and growing together.

Don't forget some of the things coming up right here in our conference. DCPI training events will be taking place in the districts (up to 9 credits), the mid-term conference is coming up again in April (up to 3 credits), then Summer Summit again in June (up to 18 credits). Just by attending these three events you can earn enough credits for the entire year; of course many of you will earn well beyond the required amount.

If you have any questions please feel free to call me, or one of the CEU committee members: Aldon Preston (405-924-0010), Lynn Ice (405-659-2212), or Deral Hardy 405-210-7263).

I am praying for you to be blessed as we learn together.

Aldon Preston