July 3rd, 2008 01:04pm
jmhall8
God has opened some awesome doors lately in the area of counseling. I’ve had numerous folks in the last couple of weeks approach me about different situations in their lives. God never ceases to amaze me in how He’s already answered every question that’s been posed, through His word. But on top of that, He’s also directed man to write some pretty amazing books on the subject too!
One of those men I’m grateful to is Jay Adams. I’ve read a couple of his books and have a couple more that I still want to read. This morning I read “Ready to Restore, The Layman’s Guide to Christian Counseling.” It’s a super easy read that I would recommend to anyone who desires to fulfill their God given obligation to help those in need.
Hopefully, I will have the opportunity to implement his first, six-step session with someone soon!
1) Generate Hope
2) Gather Data
3) Negotiating Agenda
4) Assigning Homework
5) Gaining Commitment
6) Most importantly, Exalt Christ to His rightful position and place Him in the middle of the problem.
A couple of great points Mr. Adams makes in this book are: restoration is every believers obligation; and signs of a restored person are that he/she is helping to see that someone else is restored.
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July 2nd, 2008 10:11am
jmhall8
Last week I read a fantastic book, Tally Ho The Fox by Herb Hodges. INCREDIBLE!
The author gives a great analogy of how our churches are like a pack of dogs. He lists out four common denominators in chapter 10.
1. They will sleep
2. They will secure their own survival (If in this mode, do the cause a favor and die!(this is my own opinion))
3. They will, if unthreatened, accept a new member into the pack
4. They will fight among themselves
But there is a “punch line” and it is this: UNTIL A FOX GOES BY!
The entire book is about keeping the right fox in front of your church, which is the big fox (God’s name everywhere; the Great Commission). He speaks of how guilty our churches are of chasing the little foxes (Son 2:15 “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines…”) and in turn missing the big one. He talks of how our focal point has become attendance campaigns, budget drives, building programs, revivals, etc. In return, making disciples and carrying God’s name through out the world, has taken the back seat.
Here are a few questions I ask myself during my read that I believe every follower of Christ should ask him/herself:
-Where is the man I am training?
-Am I actively seeking to find someone new to invest my life in?
-How often do I pray for the world?
-Does my church have a missions program? or, is missions The Program of my church?
-How can I personally help to keep the big fox in front of my church?
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June 30th, 2008 12:22am
jmhall8
My name is Danny De Córdova Vélez,
How I came to know Christ: The very fist day I went to the church someone invited me to a youth picnic, in March 2004. It was there that David Gardner witnessed to me about Christ. I started to go to the services on Sundays and during a message from Missionary Austin Gardner; I accepted Jesus by faith 2 weeks after the day of the picnic. Read more…
For more details on how you can personally get involved in supporting a Peru Bible College student please contact me or click here.
June 24th, 2008 07:59am
jmhall8
How I came to Know Christ : I was studying in my home when Pastor Percy López and Luis Navarro knocked on my house door and invited me to a church. I decided to go, but without interest, and later I rarely went. I accepted Christ on November 19, 1998, during a Summit for leaders and pastors. After hearing a message from Chris Gardner I received Jesus in my heart. Read more…
For more details on how you can personally get involved in supporting a Peru Bible College student please contact me or click here.
June 11th, 2008 11:57pm
jmhall8
My name is Christian Andia Otazu. Once I got saved I felt like an alien trying to do what I used to do, like going to parties, or hang with worldly friends. So I had to break my relationships with them. My family thought it was an insult for them that I would go to another church that was not catholic. Some of my cousins wanted to reject me for good, seeing my change. So far my family is not saved, in spite of I that I witness to them often. Read more…
For more details on how you can personally get involved in supporting a Peru Bible College student please contact me or click here.
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June 11th, 2008 11:48pm
jmhall8
Sorry for the absence for so long! I’ve been busy :)
May 9th, 2008 07:28am
jmhall8
My name is Cesar Rolando López; I am from Mollendo district, Arequipa province, Arequipa department - Peru . I was born in 1976 April 29th.How I came to know Christ: My parents got divorced when I was 12 years old, and I began to depend on myself to study and support myself. I was looking anxiously for a father who would love and protect me; so I had friends, but the only ones I could find where in the street, I started drinking alcohol when I was 16. I was living with my mother, but I was mostly alone, because she worked a lot. I had to take care of my younger sisters because I am the older brother. I finished my school studying at night. I was disappointed with my life, I had not purpose or goals, I just lived weakening up every day to be with my friends and hang out. I made my mother suffer because of behavior and my lifestyle. A day before my mother’s wedding, Friday morning of the year 2002, I listened to message from Brother Austin Gardner, and I felt like he was preaching only to me, when he said: What are you doing with your life? I could not answer… or at least my reply was NOTHING! instead of doing something with my life, I was destroying it. It was in that moment when I accepted Christ, and ask him to change me. Sunday I started searching for the church in Yanahuara district, advertised on TV. I met missionary Jeff Bush and I begin to grown in my new Christian life.
How Christ has changed my Life: It was a radical change because now I live completely for God, working in a decoration store I shared my faith with other people and all I was learning with my co-workers. There were difficult spiritual moments, but Jeff was encouraging me always. My mother was very happy in the way that the Lord changed me; I stopped saying blasphemies, drinking alcohol and smoking. Nevertheless she hadn’t given her life to Christ. I tried to testify to her several times, it was hard because one of my sisters was getting ready to become a nun. My sister went to Argentina to become a nun, but is now back living worldly life. I pray God for my family’s salvation. In that time I met my wife Elena, I invited her to the church, she was saved and soon we were happily married. God has done a miracle with my life, from the ashes to pure joy, He blessed me with a beautiful daughter who I named “Grace”, remembering what God has given me. He has given me plenty more than I deserve. Read more…
For more details on how you can personally get involved in supporting a Peru Bible College student please contact me or click here.
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April 29th, 2008 03:32pm
jmhall8
A friend of mine is in need of prayer.
“I went to the surgeon today and we have a plan. The surgery will be next Thursday at 7:30 am. They are going to go in through a 9 inch incision that will be made in my back between my ribs, separate to of my ribs and start to work on my right lung. They are going to need to surgically remove a section of my main bronchial tube and my middle lobe and possibly the lower lobe. The bronchial tube will be reatattched using a muscle that will be taken from my back to help it heal quickly. I am expecting to be in the hospital for 5 days. The surgeon classified this as a pretty major surgery so I would definitely appreciate your continued prayers especially on next Thursday. I haven’t been in the hospital for more than 10 years so this is all new to me. I am fully confident that my God knows where I am and will work all these things together for my good and His glory.
Again, so many people from all over the world have told me that they are praying for me. I would imagine that thousands of disciples of Christ know about this tumor and are praying. That is a huge source of strength for me. Pray for John Miller, the surgeon who will perform the surgery and for a quick recovery so we can return to North Africa. It looks like I will be able to be in North Africa for the last couple weeks that our summer interns will be there so I am excited about that. Keep praying!”
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April 29th, 2008 11:49am
jmhall8
My name is Carlos Leonardo Roca Fabium.
My Plans for the Future: God has placed in my heart to win my country for Christ. And after this to leave my country and take the gospel to all the people who need him. I can’t be calm because I know there are so many souls that are without Christ and my heart is saddened as I see the need of the world in every continent and in my country. Read more.
For more details on how you can personally get involved in supporting a Peru Bible College student please contact me or click here.
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April 17th, 2008 08:31am
jmhall8
The Tico (taxi) pulled up to the curb adjacent from the Cemetery General. The young man in the back looked into the front gate, seeing the countless graves full of empty bodies. He exited the car, paid the driver, and walked in between the two large black gates, swung open for visitors.
Teil’s mind moved from thought to thought like a game piece on a very confused board game. He had come to Peru because he thought it would be cool to see another continent, and see what life was like for people in a third world country. He had come because it was better than sitting at home and listening to music in his room for a week before school started. It was something better to do: a mission’s trip.
He began to think as he made his way up the white gravel road in the center of the Cemetery.
Man, this was just supposed to be a mission’s trip with some friends. I’m not called to do anything like this.
Man, I don’t even care about this stuff.
He only spoke those word to himself to appease his conscience. He knew that something had happened inside of him, but he was not willing to accept it. He had come for a fun trip with some friends, not expecting to hear from God.
Why now? He thought. I didn’t feel or hear anything when I was at home. Why now do all these question enter my mind?
Teil never tried to be special, but despite his best efforts, he always seemed to stick out of the crowd. Sure, he dressed like everyone else, but he never thought the same. The words he was speaking to himself now were lies.
He had always thought about the world and how they all lived in darkness. He wondered if God would let them all go to hell; he wondered if he just left them alone they would not be held accountable.
Maybe, he wondered, if I just pretend they are not there, it will all go away. The only difference here is that all his escape routes were destroyed and he was faced with facts he could no refute. The earth is lost, and it is his job to do something about it.
He continued his walk through the Cemetery in Peru, thinking of the people inside the tombs.
All these people inside these tombs are truly dead. How sad. All the people in our church graveyard, as far as I know, are saved and still alive. These people are dead once from their painful physical life and now a second death in the lake of fire. There is only death around me.
These people that walk past me, speaking a different language are all dead, yet I’m alive. How is that fair?
How can I do this?
These painful thoughts had been accruing to him the entire trip, but none hit as hard as they did in this cemetery. That is why he decided to sneak off from the group and find a place to think. And that place ended up being the Cemetery.
The air of the place felt thicker than the rest of the city, and the graves structures towered above as a reminder that the dead live here and they can never leave.
That they are trapped in an eternity of physical entombment and spiritual torture because no one would come to tell them that Christ died for them. Those thoughts exploded in his head, echoing off each side.
All these things that I have heard and seen since I have been here, why change now? My life is set and I can just support these people. I… I can’t go. I’m too young to do this.
The gravel crunched beneath his feet and the pale sky gleamed upon him, creating a somber
place for thought.
Everywhere around him the statue of Mother Mary and her Son stood tall as a reminder that superstition and culture reign. The cold air wrapped around him and the stench of death that did not exist touched his nose. He sensed that the world around him was dying, but that it was not just the immediate area but also the entire world.
He began to notice and realize a reality that he had never seen before. The strong breeze carried words in them. Soft and gentle, they floated by. He had never noticed them before.
The words passed by his ears like the touch of a whispers breath, caressing his ear.
Condemned
The word, repeating, began to dash at him like a horde of scared people, running from a diesis that could not be cured. He knew the world would never be the same to him.
At that point in time, he walked through the middle of the world; every child, every person he passed was now dressed in black with the word, “condemned” written in blood on their foreheads. They passed him by in droves, looking for something in this world that they cannot find. A light in their life that tries to ignite but is put out by a splash of water that is the world. They walk in a pain that will never release until they do. A pact made in their soul with their enemy that has never been named. They wish every day for the one thing they will never accept. And now, Teil realized that the only option in his life was to give it all up, grow up, and go.
The wind stopped and the dust settled as he made his way to the temple in the middle of the cemetery, kneeled to the ground, felt the pain of the gravel scraping against his skin, and prayed with a tear for every word.
“ Dear God.” He began like it was a letter written to his Father. “ I am sorry for my life and how I have spent it.
I am and was going to waste my life doing something that would never matter in this world or in eternity. You are the sole purpose for life. You are my existence, why haven’t I given it all to You? I now stand.” The young man stood to his feet with trails of tears on his face. “My new life has to begin somewhere, and there is no better time… than now.
This was taken from Austin Gardner’s Blog.
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