Last week was pretty busy with all the meetings we had with the Pre-accreditation team. They worked all Tuesday afternoon and late into the evening amongst themselves going over what they had read about our academy and the different interviews they conducted in the day and a half they were here. On Wednesday morning they presented their findings to the leadership team before they flew back to their homes and ministries.

I am really pleased with their evaluation as I think they were able to really able to understand what we have accomplished in the last five years as well as understand our ministry context.

Here is the bottom line as I see it. We have to have a few students to complete our whole program even before they think about granting accreditation so we are looking at maybe two more years (this fall we should have our first graduate). In the mean time we can work on the areas that they recommend to get up to standard and I think we would be granted accreditation to at least two of the three programs rather quickly upon their next visit.

One strong recommendation they gave was to concentrate on the program that is on the level of a BTh. Right now we have a one year certificate and a two year program that is on the level of an MTh. All of the core teachers we have are pursuing their doctorate in their fields. The EEAA stipulates that the teachers have to already obtain their degrees to be considered in compliance.

Here is the breakdown of their review of our school.

14 areas with 90 sub-points

• 48 sub-points are in full compliance
• 19 sub-points are in partial compliance
• 16 sub-points that work needed
• 5   sub-points that much work needed (all having to do with graduated students and alumni which we don’t have any yet not)
• 2 N/A

My work in this was affirmed in the report as well. It is encouraging to know that my contributions are recognized in their report they said that the “Management and organization of daily operations are in very capable hands (Michaela K., Werner W., Eric McCauley).”

I find it exciting to be on the cutting edge of training Austrians for ministry and leadership positions in churches. Thanks to all who have been praying for this and continue to pray that we in leadership would know how to best teach, train and mentor those who want to serve our Lord in ministry.

I have been the project manager for this and have put many hours into this as we are seeking to have three programs accredited.

Christy says I need to tell what this all means in a way that people’s eyes don’t glaze over when I try to explain what this actually is.  Basically the accrediting association evaluates us to see if 1) we have clear goals and processes to achieve these goals and 2) if we are reaching these goals we have set.

In order to do this efficiently we have prepared about 300 pages of documentation on requested material and sent it to them last October and now three people are visiting for 2 1/2 days.  In these days they are here they basically do interviews with everyone that is involved in the Academy.  We have had meetings with faculty, office staff, the leadership team, board of trustees, church leaders in groups and then they have talked individually with some of us to see how things really work.

As I type the three that are visiting us are writing the report and will give us a presentation tomorrow morning at 10.  I haven’t done a big project like this in years and it reminds me of a big school project only this means much more!

Just in their questions I have already identified some areas that I think we need to improve and in others I feel we have done a really. Now I guess I need to wait and see what they say tomorrow.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas.

Going to a conference like this was something new for me and I learned a lot from it, some of it was just good to know what other educators and institutions are going through nothing tangable but there were things that I found out that I am directly putting into practice and using from my time there.

It was encouraging to hear about some of the other 1,000+ schools were doing and how God was moving in central America, Africa, and Asia.  It also reminded me just how “far behind” Austria is in comparison.  Many of the African and Asian schools had years of experience, hundereds of current students and were not just equipping church workers/planters but also initiating programs to help the community. 

It is exciting to hear how God is working in other parts of the world and it is just as exciting for me to be invovled in the cutting edge of this type of work here in Austria.

I want to thank everyone who is supporting us and for us in our work here in Austria.  We can’t do it alone.

(BTW I am in the back row just 6 person from the left.)

Tags: EVAK