 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
||||||
 |
|||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
      |
 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
In September and October of this year we were very pleased to host the Addiction Proofing Your Life seminar at our church. Our leaders felt the need for such a seminar was critical given the rapid rise of compulsive and additive behavior with the church family and the devastating effects this has had upon families. Given that the title of the seminar uses the term "addiction," we weren't sure what kind of response to expect knowing that folks who were willing to attend were in fact being vulnerable about their weaknesses. To give David Eckman the best platform possible, we invited him to preach to the entire congregation on Sunday and followed it with four Monday evening seminars. Because of David's humility and gentleness coupled with a passionate spirit of acceptance he is able to create an atmosphere that disarms even the most enslaved individual from shame. The fact that almost 500 came out that first Monday night was evident that this seminar was hitting a critical need in our body. David's presentation of the addictive cycle was extremely clear and put in terms that everyone could identify with. David has a unique gift of taking Biblical truth that has lost its cutting edge because of familiarity and redefining it with acute relevance without sacrificing accuracy. One psychologist in our church said to me that there was nothing David taught that he disagreed with. David also shared the platform with several women whose redemptive stories confirmed the seminar material and opened doorways of hope. At the close of the seminar specialized small groups were offered covering various addictions (eating, alcohol, sexual, gambling etc) for which BWGI Ministries provided training for small group leaders, or in some cases, used their experienced leaders to facilitate. They also provided personal one-on-one counseling both during and after the seminar. As the
organizing pastor the experience took almost no effort on my part,
except to provide the stage for these wonderful servants of Christ
to provide healing to our body. In the end we received nothing
but gratitude from countless members of our church family who now
felt free to discuss deep issues of the soul in the open air of
acceptance. |
|
In the Lamb, Brian Morgan |
|
|
|
