2021 school to be offered on Zoom with flexible curriculum

The Rev. Dan Lebo, senior pastor of Gravel Hill UMC in Palmyra, is the new Dean of the Eastern PA Conference’s Local Pastor Licensing School, as of September 1. He succeeds the Rev. Gordon Hendrickson in that role. Lebo will register students for 2021 and lead in designing a new Licensing School program, set to launch in January. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, all courses in 2021 will occur via Zoom video-conferencing.  

With a flexible curriculum, the new school will allow students to complete courses in as little as two weeks or up to six months at their own pace. A three-day retreat with faculty will initiate a new hybrid instruction model.  

“We plan to offer the school two times per year,” said the Rev. Dawn Taylor-Storm, Director of Connectional Ministries, in informing the Board of Ordained Ministry of Lebo’s hiring. “We are working out details for the January retreat on Zoom.” Those details may be announced in early September.

The Rev. Dr. Dan Lebo, an elder, has served on conference and district Ordained Ministry boards. He is an adjunct faculty member and chaplain at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, where he previously served Annville UMC. He was also director of Innabah Camp & Retreat Center in 2013-2014. Lebo and his wife Rebecca have two daughters and are expecting their third child in the fall.