Staying Alive in Ministry

According to some researchers ministers are "forced out" at the rate of six every day. Many for little reason other than a fight over the loudness of the organ, whether the pastor visits the sick enough or for his "poor sermons". It is always about control of the church.

People who are "called into the ministry are woefully naive about the difficulty of dealing with church conflict. Since I now spend a lot of time pastoring pastors and para-church leaders I get to see the results of such innocence.

The pastor loses his/her livlihood, reputation family stability and emotional strength. Depression, anxiety and family conflict often accompany the church fights. I wish seminaries and schools that taught leaders how to avoid such devastation but few are doing the job.

This is my main task today but, unfortunately, most leaders fail to ask for help until the crisis has gone so far that the church is in a mess too big to repair. Many failures can be prevented by wise interventions.

In the next years I will teach more seminars for youth leaders, pastors, pastoral care ministers and para church leaders as well as elders who want to foster healthy Christian organizations. I am calling them, Staying Alive in the Battle.

Tune in for more information as I develop a plan for Pastoring the Pastors

Parents: Accentuate the Positive

Have you ever found a paper or speech you had written many years ago and read it to discover you did not agree with very much of it today? As a teacher, educator and preacher I have a long paper trail. Unlike Harriet Miers I have written, spoken and discussed almost every imaginable topic. Oh well, there goes my chance to be on the Supreme Court.

I just finished reading a paper by Dr. Martin Seligman on the old gloom and doom approach to counseling and compared it to a much more effective style that looks for a person's strengths as well as his weaknesses. Man, have I changed my tune. Back in the Seventies I changed my doctoral emphasis after hearing two psychologists say things that really shook me up. They were insisting on a couple of things that caused me to completely derail the old ways of counseling and adopt a new and better way.

The first psychologist was O. H. Mowrer who said, "The early Christian church was the most powerful healing growth community that the world has ever known. I have researched many small groups and healing movements but none compare to the church." He added, "It is too bad that the church is selling its soul for a mess of psychological pottage."

As a Christian I was stunned and thought about my future. Then Dr. Carl Rogers spoke up "From now on the key to effective counseling will not be professional psychologists but trained lay persons. They are as effective as professionals and much less expensive."

I put two and two together and returned home from that conference with a decision to dedicate my life to making churches once again the most powerful healing growth communities in the world. Since then I have used the statements by these men as launching pads to equip Spirit filled men and women to take the love, truth and power of God to all people.

For far too long parents have listened to counselors with a gloom and doom philosophy. Mom and Dad, become detectives of the good and great in your kids. Stop obsessing over the negatives of a dirty room, long telephone calls and sloppy clothes and reinforce their strong qualities.

Ministry to Children and Youth is Vital

Every congregation needs a strong program for reaching the members' kids. Most Christians come to faith before age 21 so children's evangelism is critically important. Secondly, most new members do NOT come from outside but from inside the church.

A. Approximately 17 million people become church members each year through conversion.
1. About 7 million leave the church annually. (We must slow the exodus out the backdoor)
2. This is a net of 10 million new believers added annually

B. Some 53 million children are born into Christian families each year, three times the number won to Christ from outside the church.
1. About 21 million church members die annually.
2. This is a net gain of 32 million people if the children are converted.
3. When added to the 10 million new members it is a grand total of 42 million people added each year to the global church.

C. A rate of 115,000 people coming into the church each day, 365 days per year.
1. 27,400 people each day are new converts
2. 87,700 are babies born each day to believers

II. Thoughts and considerations

A. We must preach the gospel to our children as well as to outsiders
B. Most people who come to Christ do so as children or youth.
C. Most converts hear the gospel and respond to it through family and or friends.
D. Christianity is growing more rapidly than any other faith.
E. Christianity is growing faster than the population.
F. Helping members minister to their family and friends is critical to Christian growth.

Keep young families engaged in church and evangelize the kids

Births and Age

Nearly 1.5 million babies, a record, were born to unmarried women in the United States last year.

But teens accounted for just 24 percent of unwed births, down from 50 percent in 1970.

The increases in unmarried births have been among women in their 20s, especially those 25 to 29. Many are living with partners but still count as unmarried mothers if they haven’t formally married.

The 20s are the prime childbearing years, regardless of whether the mother is married or not. Among teens, more than 80 percent of mothers were unmarried.

There were 1,470,152 babies born to single women in 2004, 35.7 percent of all births up from 1,415,995 a year earlier.

The birth rate for women aged 35 to 39 increased 4 percent from 2003 to 2004. It was up 3 percent for women aged 40 to 44 and 9 percent for those 45 to 49.

Research Is Fun

The more I read about the positive affects of religious activities the more excited I become about attending church myself and recruiting others to do the same. These data show why Jesus called our faith, ABUNDANT LIFE and He was not kidding.

There are an abundant number of reasons why knowing God and living in community with His family bring joy, health, peace and great family life in addition to eternal life. Just today I read an AP report about the number of women having babies out of wedlock. We know from reading economic information that the quickest way to enter life-long poverty is to be a single parent.

One of the main reasons why scripture calls us to marriage and a loving family is to insure a stable economic and emotional life. Despite the hard work so many single moms put into child rearing the loss of one parent is almost impossible to overcome.

Research from a few years ago says that the people most at risk for mental and emotional breakdowns are single, whirte mothers with no religious affiliation. Not only are these ladies destitute they are also stressed so much they experience serious mental breakdowns.

Rearing our kids in Christ-centered homes cannot guarantee that they will always make good moral decisions or that they will stay chaste until marriage. People from every background make some decisions in the "heat of the moment" and regret it for many years.

However, rearing kids in church is a powerful vaccine against sexual promiscuity, pregnancy out of wedlock and getting involved in drugs. By going to church you are providing an umbrella to protect yourself and your kids against the sewage spewing from the media and society. It will not protect them from every spot but it can make the difference between a life of poverty and single parenting and an abundant life.

How to Prevent Depression

A brief and inexpensive cognitive-behavioral prevention program was given to university students at risk for depression. "At risk" was defined as being in the most pessimistic quarter of explanatory style about Adverse Events in the youth's life. 231 students were randomized into either an 8-week prevention workshop that met in groups of 10, once per week for 2 hours, or into an assessment-only control group.

The training group was taught how to renew their minds with a simple formula. ABCD

A = Activating Event
B = Belief System
C = Consequential Feelings
D = Decisive Behavior

Most Pessimistic young people explain Adverse Events (A) with a Belief System of thinking that a fatal flaw in them is responsible for the problem and it can never change. The class taught them to Renew their Belief System with facts and to challenget the old Pessimistic ways of thinking.

Subjects were followed for 3 years and we report the preventive effects of the workshop on depression and anxiety.

First, the workshop group had significantly fewer episodes of generalized anxiety disorder than the control group and showed a trend toward fewer major depressive episodes.

The workshop group had significantly fewer moderate depressive episodes but no fewer severe depressive episodes.

Second, the workshop group had significantly fewer depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms than the control group, as measured by self-report but not by clinicians' ratings.

Third, the workshop group had significantly greater improvements in explanatory style, hopelessness, and dysfunctional attitudes than the control group and these were significant mediators of depressive symptom prevention in the workshop group.

The Truth Shall Set us Free.

Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

Survey Finds Large Gap Between Psychologists and Clergy

Despite their popularity with patients, psychologists largely ignore clergy as a valuable resource to clients. While psychologists routinely collaborate with professionals in medicine and nursing, one key group of professionals is consistently overlooked: the clergy.

A recent research review found that a scant .02% of the studies in leading psychology journals considered clergy in their data. To better understand the role of clergy in relation to the practice of psychology, a group of researchers from the University of Hawaii and the National Institute for Healthcare Research (NIHR) surveyed eight leading psychology journals from 1991 to 1994. Each article was reviewed to see if it contained statistics that examined "the role or use of religious professionals."

The reviewers found that of the over 2,400 studies examined, only four assessed the role of the clergy in mental health. This lack of attention to the role of the clergy in mental health is even more alarming when one considers how often clergy members deal with mental health issues.

Recent surveys have found that:

•four out of ten Americans seek assistance from clergy members in times of personal distress

•clergy are more likely than psychologists and psychiatrists combined to have a person with a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev.) mental health diagnosis come to them for assistance

NIHR president and study co-author David B. Larson, M.D. summarizes, "Research has repeatedly established the importance of religion in mental health. It is imperative that those of us in the mental health community begin working more closely with the clergy."

Reference: Weaver, A.J., et al. "What Do Psychologists Know about Working with the Clergy? An Analysis of Eight APA Journals: 1991-1994." Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. 1997; 28(5): 471-474

Find a therapist who will work with you church and minister!

How to Treat Depression

Anxiety and Depression are the two most common mental and emotional problems faced by Americans and especially American youth. It is, therefore, important, to know how to treat the people who suffer so greatly from them.

In the treatment of depression, recent research shows that drugs are in and therapy is out. Comparing data from two large national surveys, researchers found the following trends:

Three times as many Americans sought outpatient treatment in 1997 as in 1987.

Antidepressant use doubled during the decade among patients seeking treatment.

Some 74% used drugs to treat their depression in 1997, compared to 37% in 1987. (This is exactly twice as many using drugs.)

Among those seeking treatment, the proportion receiving psychotherapy declined from 71% to 60% during the 10-year period.

And the average number of visits to a talk therapist declined from 12.6 in 1987 to 8.7 in 1997.

What could account for such a shift from talk therapy to drug therapy? Especially when we know for sure that talk therapy is as effective as drugs, is less expensive in the long run, and has fewer problems than drug treatment?

About 80% of the time, drugs alone are not enough. Talk therapy has much greater outcomes in the long term. This is especially true when the talk therapist helps the client find supportive resources at home, at church and in the community.

Significant and Cutting Edge Churches

Cornerstone United Methodist Church
(513) 874-09107600
Princeton Glendale RdHamilton, OH 45011
www.cornerstonechurch.org

Great contemporary music, exciting biblical but practical teachings, interesting snd insightful kids programs, small groups and plenty of ministry.

Horizon Community Church

Services at Country Day School, Given and Shawnee Run roads, Indian Hill.
Church offices: 7800 Laurel Ave., Madeira, Suite 400
Sunday services: 9:15 and 10:30 a.m.
(513) 272-5800; e-mail: office@horizoncc.com

Creative services with high quality music and great teaching as well as interesting kids meetings with a lot of support for parents.

Depression

Religion appears to reduce the incidence of depression among those with medical problems. For instance, University of Michigan Professor of Sociology David Williams conducted a randomized survey of 720 adults suffering from leg and hip injuries in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1990.

Those who attended religious services regularly were less depressed and less distressed by life events than those who did not. This finding held across age, race, socioeconomic status, educational attainment, and religious affiliation.

Religious affiliation alone did not have these effects, but religious behavior did.Younger people also tend to experience fewer of the anxieties of growing up if they are religious. For instance, both male and female Texas high-schoolers found that religious beliefs gave meaning to their lives and reduced the incidence of depression among them.

Feel better-Go to church

With God all things are Possible

If you doubt that just read on a bit more and see what God is doing in the lives of millions of people.

The research findings are amazing. Read on and thank God.

If we had a drug or medical treatment such as surgery that had such positive outcomes it would be patented, branded and sold for thousands of dollars.

The stent that Dr. Kereiakes placed in my chest a few years ago was a wonderful invention and the manufacturers charge a lot for it to cover the cost of research and development. Faith, hope and love come freely from the hand of God and it is every bit as important as that stent.

I am so thankful that God chose to add me to His forever family and gives me long life and prosperity.

Alcohol and Illegal Drug Abuse

According to Jerald G. Bachman of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, "Factors we found to be most important in predicting use of marijuana and other drugs during the late 1970's remained most important during the early 1980's. Drug use is below average among those with strong religious commitments."104 The more powerfully addictive the drug being considered, the more powerful is the impact of church attendance in preventing its use.105

In results almost identical to those for alcoholics, researchers at the National Institute of Drug Abuse, a section of the National Institutes of Health and the nation's premier drug abuse research facility, found in their interviews of narcotic addicts that "the addict had neither current religious preference nor a history of attending religious services.... In addition... the addicts' fathers were much less involved in regular or frequent religious practices, than were a parallel group of control fathers.... Religiously, the mother was far more involved than her husband, the difference in regular religious participation between the addict's parents being twice that for the control's parents.... Religiously, the addicts were significantly less involved in reading the Bible, and praying." They also had far more frequent loss of interest in religion during adolescence.

Louis A. Cancellaro of the Department of Psychiatry at the Veterans Administration in Johnson City, Tennessee, writes that, Like their fathers, addicts are less religiously involved than their normal peers, and during adolescence, less frequently make decisions either to become more interested in religion or to commit themselves to a religious philosophy to live by.

Moms and Dads need to attend church together

Self-esteem

The absence of self-esteem weakens the personality and puts the person at greater risk for crime, addictions, and other social maladies. In all religious denominations, psychological weaknesses decrease as religious orthodoxy increases.

Among college students, for instance, the practice of religion was shown in 1969 to have a positive effect on mental health; students involved with campus ministries were much healthier and made much less use of mental health services.

Significantly, self-esteem is linked to a person's image of God. Those with high self-esteem think of God primarily as loving, while those with low self-esteem think of God primarily as punitive. Carl Jung, one of the most influential pioneers of modern psychology and psychotherapy, said: Among all my patients in the second half of my life... there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life. It is safe to say that every one of them fell ill because he had lost that which the living religions of every age have given their followers and none of them has been really healed who did not regain his religious outlook.

Other evidence exists that people with a religious commitment, whether young or old, who become emotionally or psychologically distressed are much more likely to seek help.

Joy comes from faith in God. Want to be depressed. Reject God.

Depression

Religion appears to reduce the incidence of depression among those with medical problems. For instance, University of Michigan Professor of Sociology David Williams conducted a randomized survey of 720 adults suffering from leg and hip injuries in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1990. Those who attended religious services regularly were less depressed and less distressed by life events than those who did not. This finding held across age, race, socioeconomic status, educational attainment, and religious affiliation. Religious affiliation alone did not have these effects, but religious behavior did.

Younger people also tend to experience fewer of the anxieties of growing up if they are religious. For instance, both male and female Texas high-schoolers found that religious beliefs gave meaning to their lives and reduced the incidence of depression among them.


Feel better-
Go to church

Government and Religion
By Patrick F. Fagan
William H.G. FitzGerald Senior Fellow in Family and Cultural Issues

When policymakers consider America's grave social problems, including violent crime and rising illegitimacy, substance abuse, and welfare dependency, they should heed the findings in the professional literature of the social sciences on the positive consequences that flow from the practice of religion. For example, there is ample evidence that:

· The strength of the family unit is intertwined with the practice of religion. Churchgoers are more likely to be married, less likely to be divorced or single, and more likely to manifest high levels of satisfaction in marriage.

· Church attendance is the most important predictor of marital stability and happiness.

· The regular practice of religion helps poor persons move out of poverty. Regular church attendance, for example, is particularly instrumental in helping young people to escape the poverty of inner-city life.

· Religious belief and practice contribute substantially to the formation of personal moral criteria and sound moral judgment.

· Regular religious practice generally inoculates individuals against a host of social problems, including suicide, drug abuse, out-of-wedlock births, crime, and divorce.

· The regular practice of religion also encourages such beneficial effects on mental health as less depression (a modern epidemic), more self-esteem, and greater family and marital happiness.

· In repairing damage caused by alcoholism, drug addiction, and marital breakdown, religious belief and practice are a major source of strength and recovery.

· Regular practice of religion is good for personal physical health: It increases longevity, improves one's chances of recovery from illness, and lessens the incidence of many killer diseases.


Church is good for all of us. Try it and live long and prosper!

Abstract from Optimism and Fundamentalism
Marvin Seligman, Ph D

Note from Gary: What Dr. Seligman calls "Fundamentalism" we would call "Evangelical" or "Bible Believing" churches. Seligman is a non-practicing agnostic psychologist who is past president of the American Psycholgy Assoc. I suggest you get his books: Learned Optimism and Authentic Happiness. They are wonderful primers for teachers, preachers and parents.

Explanatory style from nine religious groups, representing fundamentalist, moderate, and liberal viewpoints, was investigated by questionnaire and by blind content analysis of their sermons and liturgy.

Fundamentalist individuals were significantly more optimistic by questionnaire than those from moderate religions, who were in turn more optimistic than liberals. The liturgy and sermons showed the parallel pattern of optimism.

Regression analyses suggested that the greater optimism of fundamentalist individuals may be entirely accounted for by the greater hope and daily influence fundamentalism engenders, along with the greater optimism of the religious services they hear.

Parenting Power: Vaccinate Your Kids Against the Virus of Sin

For the next few posts I am going to put up stuff about the ways parents can better rear healthy kids. I am doing a lot of work among local churches teaching about the challenge of rearing kids, especially teens. The importance of the Parents attending church regularly and also them getting into support groups cannot be overestimated.


In 1973 the Surgeon General summarized the major learning from the study of WWII veterans: Perhaps the most significant contribution of WWII military psychiatry was recognition of the sustaining influence of the small combat group or particular members therof, variously termed "group identification," "group cohesiveness," "the buddy system," and "leadership." This was also operative in non-combat situations.

Repeated observations indicated that the absence or inadequacy of such sustaining influences or their disruption during combat was mainly responsible for breakdowns during battle. These group or relationship phenomena explained marked differences in the psychiatric casualty rates of various units who were exposed to a similar intensity of battle stress.

(Medical Department, U.S. Army, Neuropsychiatry in WWII, Vol. 2: Overseas Theatres (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1973), p. 995.


Parents are in a difficult struggle with social pressures and sinful influences in media, schools and some peers. It is more important for the parents to get strength than anything else. How can they stay healthy themselves? Get Christian support.

NIMH psychiatrist David Larson, M.D. did an overview of research on religion and health and found, at least 80% of the time, religious commitment is associated with mental health benefits.

So, take your kids to church and stay for the fellowship and small groups. Pray, eat, celebrate and work with other believers and ask for their wisdom. It is guaranteed to help you and your kids.

Forgiveness and Power Thinking

A man was stranded on the proverbial deserted Pacific Island for years.
Finally one day a boat comes sailing into view, and the man frantically
waves and draws the skipper's attention. The boat comes near the island and
the sailor gets out and greets the stranded man.

After a while the sailor asks, "What are those three huts you have here?"
"Well, that's my house there."
"What's that next hut?" asks the sailor.
"I built that hut to be my church."
"What about the other hut?"
"Oh, that's where I used to go to church."


The jealous bring down the curse they fear upon their own heads.
Dorothy Dix

The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.
William Penn

If malice or envy were tangible and had a shape, it would be the shape of a boomerang.
Charley Reese

We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until... we have stopped saying "It got lost," and say `I lost it. Sidney J. Harris

Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.
Erica Jong

What poison is to food, self-pity is to life.
Oliver C. Williams

Even an Atheist Can Spot Good Works

In an earlier blog I mentioned the fact that when we were at Ground Zero there were no atheist groups to be found among the thousands of volunteers. Nor were groups of philosophers, Communists, Socialists, or political parties. 99% of all the people handing out clothes, water, food and coffee were conservative, even Fundamentalist Christians.

In some cases, hardened atheists have come to the same conclusion. Roy Hattersley, an ardent, militant atheist and author of many anti-Christian screeds has seen the light. Writing in the London Gaurdian, Hattersley says:


"It ought to be possible to live a Christian life without being a Christian," laments Roy Hattersley, a columnist for the U.K. Guardian. An outspoken atheist, Hattersley came to this conclusion after watching the Salvation Army lead several other faith-based organizations in the relief effort after Hurricane Katrina."

Notable by their absence," he says, were "teams from rationalist societies, free thinkers' clubs, and atheists' associations—the sort of people who scoff at religion's intellectual absurdity."

According to Hattersley, it is an unavoidable conclusion that Christians "are the people most likely to take the risks and make the sacrifices involved in helping others."Hattersley also notes that this pattern of behavior goes beyond disaster relief:

Civilized people do not believe that drug addiction and male prostitution offend against divine ordinance. But those who do are the men and women most willing to change the fetid bandages, replace the sodden sleeping bags, and—probably most difficult of all—argue, without a trace of impatience, that the time has come for some serious medical treatment.

"The only possible conclusion is that faith comes with a packet of moral imperatives that, while they do not condition the attitude of all believers, influence enough of them to make [Christians] morally superior to atheists like me."

Roy Hattersley, "Faith Does Breed Charity," Guardian.co.uk (9-12-05)

This man has more courage than almost anyone I know. He openly admits he was wrong to indict Christians in the past and, ifact, we are morally superior to him. (I disagree. We are not morally superior but the love of God compels us to love those who are unlovable.)

Pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to show Mr. Hattersley the truth and bring him to salvation.

Campus Life

Black students have the highest levels of religious practice on America's campuses, according to a survey of 112,232 students at 236 colleges.

One-third of the black students polled said spiritual growth and following religious teachings are both essential, compared with fewer than one-fifth of the white and Asian students polled.

Black students reported higher levels of church attendance, prayer, and belief in God.

Washington Post reporting on a study by the Higher Education Research Institute

Obituary

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Mr. Common Sense. Mr. Sense had been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such value lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm and life isn't always fair.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies such as adults, not kids, are in charge.

His health began to rapidly deteriorate when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. - Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Mr. Sense declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student; but, could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Finally, Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense finally gave up the ghost after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, she spilled a bit in her lap, and was awarded a huge financial settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by two stepbrothers; My Rights and Ima Whiner.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

If you still remember him, pass this on; if not, join the majority and do nothing.

Religious Teens Have Healthier Habits

Religious teens are less likely to drink and drive, and are more likely to eat right and engage in other healthy behaviors, a new survey says.

John M. Wallace Jr. and Tyrone A. Forman of the University of Michigan questioned 5,000 high school seniors about their religious participation and health habits. About one-third of those surveyed said they attended religious services once a week and considered religion an important part of their lives.

That same group of high school seniors also were less likely to get into fights, use tobacco or drugs, carry a weapon or drink and drive, the survey shows.

These students also were more likely to wear seat belts, eat nutritious foods, get enough sleep and exercise.

Survey findings suggest "that religion does not only simply constrain behavior, but it also encourages or promotes adolescents' involvement in behavior that can protect or enhance their health," researchers write in the Oct. 27 issue of Health Education and Behavior, a journal of the Society for Public Health Education.

Researchers also say the results were the same regardless of race, gender, family structure, parents' education and geographic region.

Daily Briefings by Katrina Woznicki

Sunday school is good for kids.

God’s Thinking

If God thought like today's engineer, our head would be a giant block of steel in order to stabilize our eyeballs. But what does God do? He says,

"I've got a noisy system here. Can I cancel the noise?" That's God. Clever God.

God says,

"Well, sure, I could cancel it by a lot of neurological structures and so forth, but can I use that noise to good avail?"

Lo and behold, our visual system takes these high-frequency vibrations in our eye and does a vernier computation over a random distribution of rods and cones and enables us to resolve distances less than half the diameter of a rod or a cone.

Interview in Wired Magazine, August 2000 with John Seely Brown, Chief Scientist, Xerox Corp, coauthor of 'The Social Life of Information"

Think like God.

Why Am I A Calvinist?

Love God and enjoy Him forever. John Calvin

Click here to see Calvin enjoying the Lord.

http://paraklesis.com/calvindancing.gif

Dick Towner and Gary holding up a photo of them and Gary Penfield graduating with doctorates in August 1975. We are also holding up certificates showing that we were each nominated as "Graduates of the Decade" for our creative counseling work helping hurting people receive free, or Pro Bono, assistance.  

Over the Years The Ministry Grows

Last night was the Celebration of the U. C. Counseling Department 50th Anniversary. I have been thinking about what has happened since that day in August 1975 when Dick Towner, Gary Penfield and I received our Doctorate's in Counselor Education. I ministered at College Hill Presbyterian and I chose to pursue Counseling and Education rather than Clinical Psychology.

Both were options but I preferred to multiply the practical and biblically based insights from counseling to as many people as possible. This meant that I would not pursue a clinical career but rather do everything I could to equip individuals and churches with knowledge and skills that help people live the abundant life I had learned about in Sunday school and church.

Since then I have developed systems of teaching and training pastors and entire congregations in all seven levels of healing and growth.

1. Prevention: Such things as Pre-Marital Preparation, Preparing Parents
2. Personal Growth: Life Skills, Renewed Thinking, Personal Healing
3. Peer Support: Groups of Parents, Chronically Ill, Friendships and Fellowship
4. Para-Professional Counseling: Lay Care and Counsel
5. Professional Counseling-Entry Level: Master's Degree with little experience
6. Professional Counseling-Clinical: Masters or Doctors, advanced experience
7. Professional Counseling-In Patient and/or Residential Level: Medical and intensive training


About 70% to 80% of all helping and healing in society and the church is delivered through the first Three Levels. The greatest need by far is for more Prevention, Personal Growth and Peer Support. This would require many more leaders who can educate and train and less with Clinical skills and knowledge.

I just received CHPC's newsletter and they are still offering the classes today I started in 1976 after learning in my doctorate how to equip lay people. Many thousands of men, women and children there have learned how to listen, think and speak the truth in love. Keep up the good work College Hill.

Contact lcrank@chpc.org for information.

I am very pleased with my decision.

Dick Towner and Karen Sweeten, long time friends and former partners in the apartment rental business. While working at U.C. Dick and Sybil Towner and the Sweeten's bought an old, worn out apartment building on Ohio Avenue. It was just down from the Friar's Club and a good location for getting students from U.C. We had many adventures ripping out walls, rebuilding them and painting the entire place. Having to evict non-paying friends and repairing water damage in the middle of the night made this a challenging task. Without Dick and his two boys we would have been in despair.  

Rick Butts received his Ed.D. from U.C. in 1996. He is one of many current therapists who started his journey into the profession as a "graduate" of the Teleios-Lifeskills program at College Hill Presbyterian.  

Dick Towner and Gary at the U.C. Counseling Program's 50th Anniversary banquet celebration. Dick and I along with Gary Penfield graduated with Ed. D. degrees in 1975. Dick heads the Good Sense Stewardship program for the Willow Creek Association in Naperville, Illinois. He and I worked at U.C. together and then at College Hill Presbyterian.  

Blame Freud for Bill Bennet's Furor

I was surprised but now I am surprised that I was surprised. Dr. Bill Bennet, philosopher, Roman Catholic conservative layman, government secretary and radio host, mentioned that the authors of the book Freakanomics drew large conclusions about social issues, including political conclusions about the results of thirty years of abortion. They indicated that crime and voting trends today can be traced back to the fact that there have been millions of abortions by single mothers so their offspring are not around to vote or commit crimes.

The Dr. Bennet began to wax philosophical and said "If we were to abort all Black babies then crime rates would be lowered." He went on to say such an idea is awful, immoral and reprehensible. Dr. Bennet is strongly prolife and he and his wife are deeply involved in pro-life activities.

The response was immediate and volatile. People called him many bad names but the Cincinnati Enquirer wrote an editorial today calling him a "Racist, and stupid." was momentarily surprised that a major news paper would stoop to such a character assassination through mind reading. The Enquirer must be practicing black magic and reading a crystal ball. How else could they know Dr. Bennet's heart?

Nothing is more unfair than name calling and attacking another person's character without facts to back us up. Yet, the Enquirer is doing just that. At one time the worst thing one could be called was a Nazi. Now it is a racist. Who can we blame for bring such fine paper to its knees? We can blame Freud.

I see it all the time in counseling. Betty Boop weeps copiously because her husband Burt does not love her. And how does she know? She reads his thoughts. Never mind that he has pledged his undying love for Betty a thousand times or that he worked hard to bring home the bacon and buys Betty baubles and bubble gum. She "knows" he is not in love with her and has decided that he needs "counseling" from me to show him the error of his ways.

The more he protests the more guilty he looks. The more he asks her to explain exactly what he can do to prove his love the more Betty sees it as insincere. "If he really loved me he would not have to ask me what to do to prove it." His double bind is complete.

Many is the time that I hold up the universal sign for time out and make a whistling noise as I say: "Time out. You are practicing psychology without a license. You are practicing Freudian psychoanalysis and interpreting this man's inner thoughts as if you knew what they meant."

This is the idea many people have about psychology and counseling. Several people have asked me not to look too deeply at me lest I "read their minds" or practice thought control. I cannot read minds or control them. I am still trying to control my own and have no desire to control yours.

A few nights ago I watched a film about Post Traumatic Stress Disorders in WWII. Called "Battle Fatigue" in those days the film showed Gregory Peck as Dr. Newton, I think it was, as a heroic and brilliant diagnostician who read the minds of service men who suffered guilt and pain from the battle field and concocted incredibly insightful interventions to break though the denial and darkness of the feelings trapped within.

No wonder so many frustrated wives and husbands and editorial writers attempt to diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders in public by attacking the client rather than listening to their clear statements and feelings. Freud and Dr. Newton knew that those poor saps did not really know what they thought. They were delusuional and thought they were guilty. Betty's husband thinks he loves her but she knows better.

In the same way, Dr. Bennet is delusional and thinks he has not a racist bone in his body. But, let us read what he REALLY meant. He said that by aborting Black babies the crime rate would drop but I hate all abortions. But, we KNOW in his heart he REALLY meant that all Blacks are criminals. He is delusional. He is in denial.

Now I find it maddening that a man so strongly opposed to killing Black babies will be called a racist by those who strongly promote killing Black babies. The Left Wing of America is in love with abortion. They will destroy any politician who resists their philosophy. Yet, they are winning the PR battle with a man that hates all abortion and that includes aborting Black babies.

The Communists pulled this trick over and over again. They accused many people of violating the Socialist Belief System even though they had never said anything remotely agaisnt the Commie slogans. It was always trumped up by Stalin or his henchmen to test the loyalty of the leaders. The person was tried, found guilty and often confessed his crime. he was assigned to psychiatric treatment to make sure his thoughts were pure and he had been "rehabilitated."

The PC Police or the Thought Police in America are closely following that script. Only in PC State can a peron who abhors abortion be tried and found guilty of wanting to abort Black babies and the people who rabidly promote racial cleansing, the left wing, get off scott free as freedom lovers and diversity promoters.

Government efficiency?

Sometimes I donÂ?t know whether to laugh or cry when I read peopleÂ?s comments about the Federal GovernmentsÂ? response to Katrina. It seems as though many Americans think the government should be almost flawless in its execution after a national tragedy. Just try working with any government agency and see how efficient they are.

My wifeÂ?s mother recently moved into a nursing home so we are trying to work with Medicare and her insurance. After numerous calls to faceless members of the Medicare bureaucracy, we are more confused than ever. No two people ever give us the same answer. Medicare refuses to speak with the insurance company because of Â?privacyÂ? issues. The refuse to send the many, many pages of refused medical bills on to the insurance company. Why? We do not know. So we must redo all the forms and re-mail them. They are agonizingly slow and lose a many of the documents we send in to them. This is normal business as usual in a government agency-.

This summer I misplaced my wallet and I needed the driverÂ?s license to get a visa to Russia. In order to get a new license, the Ohio license bureau said I needed my Social Security card. I had my birth certificate but that was insufficient. I protested that the Social Security card could not be used as an identity card but the state of Ohio knows best.

So, I drove with my friend from Norway to get a new Social Security card. Once there I waited for hours in a dreary building with dozens of other beaten down Americans. The customer service was harcondensationssending. A women clerk scolded me severely for carrying my SS card in my wallet. "Don't you know that is wrong?" she pouted. I attempted weakly to protest that the state of Ohio requires me to carry it but simply nodded and mumbled something about my being her humble servant.

Jens and I were involved for an entire day in this project and all I needed was a new driverÂ?s license. Had I been hungry, thirsty and tired it would have seemed interminable and painful. Perhaps I should have called the White House and put the President on the carpet for not being there when I needed a friend. But this is the norm in every agency in every crisis in every area in every administration.

Some Americans think George Bush is such an idiot that he can barely tie his shoes. The FEMA bashers who see a conspiracy, have him as the most brilliant but evil man who ever lived. Mr. Bush himself knew exactly where the poor blacks lived and decided to delay FEMA supplies until thousands were killed and died of starvation. Bush made sure all those poor black people got stuck in the Super Dome where they were victimized by thugs, thieves and rapists.

All you need to do is apply for Social Security or Medicare to be disabused of such ideas. No one runs the government agencies. No one. Not even the very brilliant/very stupid George Bush or his evil henchman Karl Rove. Bureaucracies are run by arcane rules that no one will take personal responsibility to interpret.

But Bush learned the irrational message sent by media fear mongers and went to Rita immediately to give us the perception that he was on the job. Do we really want the head of our government doing hands on administration of emergency matters? NO! Good leaders point us in the right direction, choose the right people and get out of the way.

From now on Presidents will be burdened with a public and media expectancy of being on the ground to personally supervise the running of every crisis. That is organizational madness.

Grace at Ground Zero
Written for Faith at Work 2002

I believe that grace overcomes karma. Bono

The man swaggered over to our Salvation Army tents and said in a bold voice, “Whaddaya got to drink tonight? Any beer? Ha, ha, ha! Ahh, I guess you guys are never gonna bring anything strong in to us are ya?”

This was our introduction to Frankie, a small, muscular, bony, Italian ironworker who evidently came every night for food, warm drinks, fellowship and solace. We had just arrived so he kindly came over to welcome us to the edge of Dante’s Inferno. “I just wanted to tell you guys you’re welcome to New York. Whereyafrom?”

Frankie was sensitive to our needs. He knew we were green as gourds and he wisely decided to make us comfortable as we entered into purgatory. Like most of the ironworkers, heavy equipment operators and truck drivers, Frankie had a tough exterior with a tender heart. Tattoos, short sleeves in cold, rainy weather and teary eyes.

“My old man built those towers and now I’m tearing them down. I just can’t believe it. All the years it took to put them up and they came down in a couple of hours.” He went on to proudly say that he still had his dad’s blueprints at home. “Back then they could put up three stories at a time but now they are only allowed to build two stories. That is why it is so hard to pull those long steel girders out.”

Every night on our 1:00 AM until 1:00 PM shift Frankie and his pals came over for food, warm shirts, waterproof parkas and TLC. He taught us about putting up and tearing down structures, building codes and how it felt to find half a body or only one arm. “Some of these guys can’t take it but I’m Ok,” he bragged one morning at about three.

The next morning, Frankie came in with eyes looking like two holes burned in a blanket. He discovered that we were counselors and he wanted to talk. “Hey doc, I need some help. I can’t sleep.” I gave him some hot chocolate to hold back the morning chill of a 45 degree wind and he let it all pour out.

“I’m working twelve hour shifts but I am too tired to work and too stressed to sleep. When I lay down I see things and I just can’t let myself go under. I don’t know what to do.” As he rambled I prayed silently for insight and wisdom. After about an hour of clarifying, nodding and sharing hot drinks, I asked him a question.

“Frankie, you have been talking about how difficult this work is but it doesn’t all make sense to me. May I ask you a couple of questions to help me understand better?”

“Sure,” he replied. “Shoot and see if you hit anything.”

“I am wondering if finding bodies here at Ground Zero brings back any memories of loss in your own life? Did any of your family members die when you were young?”

“Oh yeah. As a matter of fact, I lost both parents to a drunk driver when I was a kid of seven or eight. It was terrible. I never got to say goodbye.”

“How did you make it through that time? Did you have someone to support you?”

“My sister and brother raised me. They were great. I’m the youngest of the family and my married sister took me in. My big brother was a teenager and he was my hero.”

We spoke about that loss for a good while and Frankie teared up several times. Then he said, “Oh yeah. My brother was killed when I was fourteen. He died of a drug overdose.”

Frankie is a gutsy blue-collar guy who would never have thought about “grief counseling” until he met us over drinks and dry socks. He needed permission to admit that he couldn’t go on in the same old way but it took three days of friendship before he opened up to the pain that was there all along.

“Could you take a few days off to be with family?”

“I also lost them to divorce and a move to Georgia. I think about my kids a lot now and really miss them. All those guys just went to work and didn’t come home to see their kids any more. I don’t want to end up like that.”

“Well, do you think it would be a good idea to call them up and see if a trip to Atlanta is possible?” Frankie agreed that he needed to re-connect with the children he had not seen for a couple of years. “Thanks, doc. I’m going to go over to the Red Cross tent and call them on those free phones as soon as it gets daylight. It might be too early right now. At three in the morning they might not be too happy to hear from me.”

Frankie received the grace to overcome his karma of doubt and grief. Without a cup of cold water (or hot chocolate) in the name of Jesus (Matthew 10:42) he could have stayed in denial, depression and despair. However, with the cup came the grace, mercy and love of God sufficient to the task of restoring the soul of a little boy that lives within the heart of a hard-bitten iron-worker.

Ps. For all the ordinary people offering God's mercy to the survivors of the hurricane sisters, remember that it is God's goodness that leads us to repentance.