What's next

As many of you know, my wife of nearly 30 years passed away on November 5, 2015 after a long battle with cancer. Much of my ministry activity "paused" to support her and my family. Thanks so much for your understanding and many words of encouragement...I am grateful.

I am praying about what's next...if God leads, pray with me. I have no idea the next step for this site or my other sites but am ready and willing to move forward by His grace.

Merida Mexico - 2014

Well, we finalized the student list for our Mission Trip to Merida Mexico through North Point Ministries' GlobalX team...I am excited to lead with my good friend Daniel Harper. We will take about 35 or so students (and about 10 leaders) to Merida for seven days on July 12, 2014; if it is anything like the last two years, it is gonna be intense; incredible relationships forged, lives changed and completed construction work for a local church or school. I can't wait to see what our Lord has in store for our team. More info to come...our first meeting with students and parents is in January. If you think about it, pray for our team!

A day of inspiration

Today has been been a somewhat "inspirational" day...I completed two poems and posted one to the website titled "Forgiveness"; the second poem titled "Little Girl" illustrates the struggles between a dad and daughter in that transition period of little girl to young lady (and yes I'm in the early days of that one thus the inspiration). "Forgiveness" is a poem of grace and highlights some key themes around the concept of forgiveness and at the very end, what I see as a common misunderstanding around confession (or 1 John 1:9 which I hope to blog more specifically about later). I hope you enjoy the poems! Have a great week!

 

I stink at blogging but will try again...

Obviously, if you look at my blog history, I am a terrible blogger. I am giving it a go again and who knows, I might actually create more than a couple posts this year! No promises!

Mike and I just started another Freedom From Addictive Behaviors Advanced webinar on August 1; we started these back in October 2008 and have been very happy with the response. There is still time to register if you would like to attend. Each week you will hear Mike Quarles teach and Mike and I answer questions...it's really a fun time and best of all, you don't have to leave your home to attend! Join us on Thursday evenings.

Well, next post may be a little bit on 1Corinthians 1...been chewing on that for a while now. Very cool stuff. We will see!

Grace Walk Recovery Leadership Training

Are you looking to help others who struggle with addictive behaviors via your church, organization or even one-on-one? Mike Quarles, Director of Grace Walk Recovery Ministries, is hosting an 11 week webinar series beginning April 27, 2010. If you're interested, please register at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/952902467.

The Webinar is taught by Mike Quarles, Director of Grace Walk Recovery Ministry and assisted by Vernon Terrell. Mike, and his wife Julia, are co-authors with Dr. Neil Anderson of four books on freedom from addiction. Mike is a former pastor who struggled with alcoholism for 8 years. He is an ordained minister and a seminary graduate. Vernon is a Senior Director at a large telecom firm and has ministered to others for more than 30 years (check out http://www.FreeNHim.org for his bio under About Us).

The Webinar’s purpose is to give you a biblical understanding of the problem of addiction and God’s answer. It is also designed to train you to take a group through the course using the Freedom From Addiction Workbook with the same PowerPoint Slides. The Webinar will take you though the Freedom From Addiction book and Workbook by Neil Anderson and Mike and Julia. Each Webinar will cover a chapter in the 200 page Freedom From Addiction Workbook; be advised it will require a lot of motivation and effort. There is no cost, but you will need to buy the book and workbook (at your local Christian book store, amazon.com, christianbook.com or simply e-mail Mike).

In the Webinar you will learn God's answer for addiction, which is freedom in Christ; you will also learn to discern the flesh patterns which are rooted in lies that have developed into strongholds and result in addiction. The primary focus is on the "truth that sets free". The Webinar will teach you who you are in Christ and what you have in Christ, which is all you need to experience the freedom provided for you though the finished work of Christ.

INTRODUCTION – The finished work of Christ provides freedom.
How You Got Where You
 What Keeps You in Bondage
 Giving up on self
 Understanding the Gospel and Your Heavenly Father
 Our Identity in Christ
 Freedom From Fear
 Freedom From the Past and Victory Over Sin
 Freedom From Performance-based Acceptance
 The Battle for the Mind
 Growing in Grace

This Webinar is held every week on Tuesday, from:
Apr 27, 2010 to Jul 6, 2010 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM EDT

Register Now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/952902467

Once registered you will receive an email confirming your registration with information you need to join the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP, 2003 Server or 2000

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

Setting Your Mind Rack Card Available in eStore

I just made available a new 4x9 rack card titled "Setting Your Mind" that I hope you will find helpful. I have inserted the text on the back of the card below since the graphic on the web may be hard to read. These cards are designed as discipleship follow-up resources; of course, they can simple be used as personal reminders of the truth they attempt to describe. As long as these cards can help some of you in whatever way God leads, that's good enough for me. Have a great week. --Vernon

--------------------------Back of the Setting Your Mind Rack Card-------------------------------------
Setting our mind on things above can be a challenge in the world in which we live, especially when so many “voices” bombard our daily thinking. As the diagram suggests, we should be mindful what input we allow into our thinking (easier said than done)! Of course, I do not advocate living in a cave, but in an age of nearly unlimited information and entertainment outlets we should be wise regarding what we choose to read, watch and listen (not in a legalistic way, just common sense...creating artificial rules is not the key to victorious living). Since we can’t really stop all the input, we should focus our attention on what we can do in the area of our thoughts. At a very high level our mind and brain will take most of the raw input and catalog, draw inferences, build relationships and store it for further processing. Some thoughts we simply dismiss; others we pause and take time to process and the rest we accept as true (they are consistent with our current belief system). All of these pass through filters we’ve developed over time. Many are filtered through conclusions developed in our growing up years (these personal, social and cultural filters are like assumptions we rarely question but perhaps should). Some thoughts run through our religious filter that supposedly keeps us on the straight and narrow (God, however, might be walking on a completely different path). Filters aren’t necessarily bad, in fact, they are universal and are an outgrowth of our belief system. The question is, “what are YOU believing?” and more importantly, “is it TRUE?” Our thoughts can be very powerful and may trigger emotional responses that reinforce our thinking in the current direction of an emotional storm...we get caught up and unable to escape the fast current. Emotions can also settle into emotional states and spiral downward in a seemingly endless cycle of emotional defeat. Emotions are not bad, they simply respond to our thinking and are a vital part of God’s creation. What thoughts are driving your emotions? Are they true? Setting our mind on things above is the idea of thinking from God’s perspective, not our own fleshly point of view. As we align our belief system with the Truth of God’s Word and trust the Spirit of God to guide our thinking we better filter this enormous input, calm many of the emotional storms and make behavior choices consistent with the righteous person we are in Christ!

“For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,” (Romans 8:6)

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
(Romans 12:2)

“and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:32)

Merry Christmas

Life has been so busy...I can't believe it's Christmas! I pray you have a great Christmas and an awesome new year! I'm finishing up a new "rack card" (like the Battle Blueprint and In Adam / In Christ cards) called "Setting the Mind". It should go to print in January if not sooner...I hope you will find it helpful.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Great Ministries

Just finished redesigning some ministry web sites for two good friends (well, web sites are rarely "finished"). Check out Mike Quarles Grace Walk Recovery Ministries at http://www.FreedomFromAddiction.org and also Pat Higginbotham at http://www.PatHigginbotham.com. Mike works with Steve McVey (from Grace Walk) and has been running a recovery ministry for many years; Pat is a licensed counselor, specializes in child and family issues and serves as an expert witness in child abuse cases. Enjoy the sites.

Rack Cards on a mission

A staff counselor at First Baptist Atlanta is using 250 of our “In Adam / In Christ” rack cards on a mission trip to Kenya this month discipling Pastors and educators. We’re thrilled to be a small part of their training efforts. Please go to our eStore and pick up a few as a follow-up to your discipleship efforts.