Ministry education with an Anabaptist and evangelical theme is going online through Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary. First classes planned for fall 2012.

Lynn Jost, seminary dean and vice president and dean of Fresno Pacific University, is directing the creation of a two-step online program. First will come eight courses students can take for 3 units of credit each, or audit them. (These courses will fulfill Mennonite Brethren denominational credentials for pastors.) Part two will consist of making these courses part of a 39-unit master of arts degree in ministry.

Making solid relationships and adapting to change can make or break ministry, the pastor of a church of 8,000 told more than 400 pastors, lay leaders and parachurch staff during Fresno Pacific University’s 2011 Central Valley Ministry Forum.

Larry Osborne, senior pastor at North Coast Church, Vista, California, was the speaker at the February 17 event in the Special Events Center on the main FPU campus. His title was “Ministry in a Hyperchange World: Staying Focused When Everything is a Blur.”