-By Timothy Long, Associate Mission Director

Every July we look forward to seeing new faces come through the doors of the Mission Office for Candidate School. BBFI missionaries fondly remember those endless days of Candidate School and classroom instruction with the directors of the Mission Office. I personally remember two full weeks of intensive training, both during the day and evening. However, in recent years there have been changes that streamline and expand on what is taught in an effort to help our missionary candidates be better prepared for missionary life. A few of those changes are outlined below:

1. Candidate School was adjusted to two one-week segments to be completed over two consecutive years. TEAM (now Intern Missionaries) complete week one in July of the year they are recognized. They are not required to complete week two until they are approved as Career missionaries.
2. We have incorporated several guest speakers to contribute their expertise in different areas such as language acquisition, cultural adaptation, spiritual development and Financial Peace, to name a few.
3. We have asked ALL the Mission Office staff to contribute to the teaching segments, teaching on the areas they specialize in here at the Mission Office (of course you all know how valuable they are, and that they do the brunt of the day-to-day work here in the Mission Office).
4. For the first-year candidates, we have adapted and added new classes to the lineup that will help missionaries as they hit the deputation trail. Some of those classes include foundations of communication, blogging, vlogging, website development, and utilizing social media. At the same time, we have retained and developed our courses on deputation and prayer letters.
5. In addition, to prepare missionaries for the reality of international travel in today’s world, we have added courses on travel security and theology of risk.
6. The financial courses continue to develop as financial conditions around the world change, so the QRApp course has been incorporated into the financial course lineup this year. It is specifically designed to help BBFI missionaries ease into and stay a step ahead in the area of financial reporting.
7. A final note to all missionaries who are already on the field–beginning this year, we will be recording some of the courses and making them available on the website so you can also enjoy the most up-to-date information to help as you do your ministry on the field or come home on furlough. We believe that helping the missionaries with the latest information and training is necessary, and hope that the new videos added this year will be a benefit to you.