{"id":9139,"date":"2025-02-14T09:20:29","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T14:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nccumc.org\/laity\/?p=9139"},"modified":"2025-02-14T09:25:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T14:25:52","slug":"counting-the-reasons-we-love-our-lay-speakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccumc.org\/laity\/2025\/02\/counting-the-reasons-we-love-our-lay-speakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Counting the Reasons We Love Lay Speakers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading has-theme-primary-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-615cdee715148b4d455380391d732d57\"><strong>499\u2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">That\u2019s how many sermons our certified lay speakers reported preaching last year.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Certified lay speakers travel across their districts\u2014and sometimes beyond\u2014to fill pulpits for pastors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading has-theme-primary-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-95e3f6b0607cea68fe5182237cfb5e3a\"><strong>70 hours\u2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">That\u2019s how much training certified lay speakers complete before stepping into the pulpit.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 2012, all certified lay speakers take seven courses in Lay Servant Ministries, including courses in United Methodist history and polity, leading worship, public prayer, spiritual gifts, and\u2014of course!\u2014preaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And their learning doesn\u2019t stop there. Certified lay speakers continue growing in their calling, taking additional courses at least once every three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading has-theme-primary-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ce9e213845454d8ae872c6d7d9e333b5\"><strong>46\u2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">That\u2019s how many certified lay speakers in the NC Conference are ready and eager to preach beyond their local church.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Click the buttons below to learn how to request a certified lay speaker for your church or to find out more about becoming certified yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/nccumc.org\/laity\/certified-lay-speaker\/meet-our-lay-speakers\/\">Request a Lay Speaker<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/nccumc.org\/laity\/certified-lay-speaker\/how-to-become\/\">Become a Lay Speaker<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>499\u2026 That\u2019s how many sermons our certified lay speakers reported preaching last year. Certified lay speakers travel across their districts\u2014and sometimes beyond\u2014to fill pulpits for pastors. 70 hours\u2026 That\u2019s how [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9140,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-announcements"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Counting the Reasons We Love Lay Speakers | Laity Ministries | North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nccumc.org\/laity\/2025\/02\/counting-the-reasons-we-love-our-lay-speakers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Counting the Reasons We Love Lay Speakers | Laity Ministries | North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"499\u2026 That\u2019s how many sermons our certified lay speakers reported preaching last year. 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