The year 2015 has been a year of significant growth for satellites campuses of The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI). We have expanded from 182 sites to 218, training leaders in 15 countries. We approved sites in Guatemala, Cameroon, and Cuba, where Gustavo Delgado (TUMI Satellite Administrator) was instrumental in establishing three new sites, with a potential fourth starting in January 2016. The number of active students has grown from 2,000 to nearly 2,500 this year, and the number of incarcerated students grew from 1,100 to 1,400. Cathy Allsman (Incarceration Ministries Specialist) now supports TUMI sites in 67 prison/jail locations (up from 57 a year ago), and we were recognized this year as an official program by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons.
With over 15 years of operating TUMI satellites, we have seen 468 graduates –159 of who accomplished this feat in 2015 alone! Three institutions of higher learning recognized the Capstone curriculum for accredited hours at their institutions (Fuller Seminary, City Vision University, Cairn University) and two others are currently in negotiation. Fuller Seminary entered into an agreement to co-brand TUMI curriculum to their constituents, and the Free Methodist denomination recognized TUMI’s Capstone Curriculum as satisfying their Spanish-speakers’ educational path to ordination. In our efforts to create new relationships with ministries like these, we contacted over 200 people to join us in partnership.
As significant as this growth has been, 2015 was a year to focus on preparation for even faster growth. With the worldwide need for indigenous leadership training, we have been redesigning our administrative systems, developing a new database platform, and have added additional staff to support our growing network and translate curriculum into new languages.
In January, Bob Stevenson joined us as Associate Satellite Director. Bob is doing a masterful job of screening, supporting, and orienting new TUMI satellites in urban America and around the world. Bob and his wife Linda served with World Impact for 20 years, serving in many leadership roles: Director of World Impact Chester, Director of Harmony Heart Camp, and Midwest Regional Director of Operations.
In September, Harold Roesler joined TUMI as Translation Manager to help design a “translation factory” that will provide the capacity to produce 20 translations of Fight the Good Fight of Faith (TUMI's follow-up curriculum) and 10 translations of the Capstone Curriculum (TUMI’s seminary-level curriculum) by 2021. Harold has made tremendous progress in organizing a complex operation that should see “factory production” start in 2016 for Romanian, Arabic, Russian, Amharic, French, Telugu, Urdu, Hindi, and other languages.
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