Thoughts on School

Right now I am interested in doing some youth ministry which I have some experience in but would probably benefit from conferences more than school.
I also love to see people developed. I love to encourage and equip people. To grow in their relationship with God, to fulfill their potential. But I am not sure where my specific giftings fit in. I love to ask questions. I love to help people to sort through things and to collect resources to help out.

So right now I am thinking about the biblical counseling route. I think it would be very challenging to do that but probably very beneficial. But I don't know how far to go with it. I am probably more interested in coaching people through difficult situations and helping them to maximize their lives than to do long term counseling of thing that are very serous. I think I would probably loose steam or take their burdens home with me. I guess counseling covers a wide range of people and issues but I don't really know the difference between what you'd learn in a biblical counseling degree or what life/spiritual coaching would be like if a program like that existed.
There is also the route of becoming a certified counselor which would be more education but would allow me to be considered a counselor and not just a guy with a counseling masters. I am not sure how much this would help/ hurt in different areas.

There is just a lot to consider and I don't have a ton of experience in this type of stuff but am very interested. I know I want to go to seminary and to be involved in ministry. I may call Biblical soon to hear from the about the programs and the different options after graduating.
Thanks for the questions and let me know if you had any thoughts.
I am excited about learning but I am not sure how important the credentials are to the kind of people you would meet with.

Micro loans (from Leo)

(www.kiva.org

Note of encouragement from Lauren /Teal story time

Wonderful ICCP servants,

I just received a thank you postcard from you guys for a donation I gave hilariously (anyone remember that motto back in Fall 2007?) at the end of 2009. It absolutely made my day. I now have it tucked into my car visor to remind me to pray for the incredible ministry going on over there in Aix everyday even though I left it two years ago. ICCP was certainly a highlight in my experience in France and I have so so much respect for you who continue to run the ministry there that is so unique to any other I know of. Not too many churches have a congregation of locals, foreigners, and students who only typically stay for a number of months that you can count on one hand.

Thank you for sending out an email at the end of last year to remind me that ICCP is still serving Aix as actively as when I left and that is still has financial needs even though I am not present to be reminded of them. It is my privilege to support you and I am joy-filled to be praying and serving with you once again.

Hilariously,
Lauren Watka


The stories below represent French Families, Australian Families, German, Belgian, English, American, Chinese, Japanese, North African and many other nationalities. We are the International Christian Community of Provence!



· Many, many people are processing their deeper questions about God in Alpha.

· Teal is helping him process God’s goodness in the midst of his daughter’s illness.

· She came to have tea and brought her Muslim friends in full head dress.

· She is Chinese and opened her heart during our small group prayer time at church Sunday evening.

· He came into contact with our community, connected with Dom and then came to church the next day. He now wants to meet to talk more about who God is.

· He got interested in Community groups via Bill’s FaceBook and is going to start coming to a group on Monday nights.

· Teal prayed several weeks ago that 5 people would want to be baptized, and they are coming one by one.

· Their neighbor wants to start reading the Bible. He says “If I’m going to criticize something, I want to know what I am criticizing.”

· She is a student in Aix for a year. She feels like she is in Aix for a purpose, and perhaps it is to further explore spirituality. She considers herself a deist but feels tugs toward Christianity.

· Her friend of 30 years died and our community got to grieve and praise God for her friends life.

· So many times she has felt truly blessed by things related to ICCP - from feeling alone when she first arrived, to meeting a group of Christians who felt like family, to being able to lead praise worship with the band.

· Kelsey met her family, and invited them to the Kid’s night out. The daughter came and had such a good time that she asked her mom if she could go to Sunday School. The family came to church this week and the mom said, “It’s been far too long since I’ve been to church. It’s been a hard past few years in Aix but I feel like this is going to be a better year.”

· She wants us to know that, “What you and all the ICCP folks do is making a difference and touching lives, it has certainly touched mine.”

· An au pair shared that she has been a Christian her entire life (gone to Christian High School, Christian University, etc) and ICCP is the first place that she has felt accepted, welcomed without judgment, and clearly seen God moving. She feels changed from this community.

Matt's book on the story for youth group

http://www.echothestory.com/

Youtube videos like me church
http://www.youtube.com/user/IgniterMedia#p/u/7/6ET-bo5CSZk


Also sent
http://www.rethinkingyouthministry.com/

Parable videos
http://www.illuminatingunderstanding.com/?id=5173276

Hello ,

In talking with some of the youth group families I have seen that not every parent has other parents (and especially other multi-cultural families) to walk besides them in their journey as a parent. Many of you are in a unique situation where you are raising your children in a culture that is different from your own or your spouses. This raises a unique set of parenting issues. So I have been looking for ways to connect the families who have children involved in the youth group and to offer tools to equip them. In my search I found that a good friend of mine, Kristen (Blanden) Montigny, was offering a course based on the Faber-Mazlish books and studies called "How to Talk So Your Kids Will Listen and Listen So Your Kids Will Talk." (And who doesn't want that?!) My hope it to get a group of parents to go through the workshop together. Focusing in on this area of life will improve it and lead to growth as you learn new things about yourself and your family. It is also a great chance to meet some new people.

Come to the information day;
Kristen will be doing an information day to share some of the details of the workshops and answer any questions that you might have. Timing will be based on your availability so please let me know what time is best for you; weekday mornings, weekday evenings, or weekends and please respond with a 'yes 'or 'no' to let us know if you are interested.

About the Workshops...
The goal of the How To Talk So Kids Will Listen Workshop is to give you practical, effective methods of communication that will make your relationship with children of all ages less stressful and more rewarding.

You’ll learn how to:
° Handle children’s negative emotions, their anger, frustration, deception, sadness in a way that communicates your understanding and support while maintaining healthy boundaries…
° Encourage their cooperation and motivate them to participate willingly in everyday tasks without the battle of the wills…
° Avoid resorting to punishment and allowing children the opportunity to change their negative behavior and make amends for their mistakes…
° Encourage children to maximize their potential, develop their autonomy and increase their self confidence
° Enable them to stop playing roles and behaving like the bully, the lazy one, the slow learner, the slob….
° Resolve family conflicts in a calm and respectful environment.

How The Workshops Function
In each of the 7 sessions the group explores different communication and relational themes. Each session presents a variety of communication tools and the opportunity to put them into practice through exercises, role-plays, comic strips…etc. The purpose of the exercises is to consider a variety of solutions to the problems we face in our adult/child relations and to see how we can adapt these tools to our individual needs.

About Kristen...
Kristen is both a teacher and personal coach for adults and the mother of two lovely children. Kristen began training adults in France in 1997 at the end of her university studies. She has been using How To Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk since October of 2006. After observing positive improvements in her own family’s relations, she felt compelled to share these methods with other adults. So she attended a Facilitator Training with Roseline Roy and Dr. Sophie Benkemoun in Paris in May 2007 and is currently facilitating the How To Talk Workshops in English and in French in Aix-en-Provence.

I will be attending the workshops and information days along with several parents who have already signed up. So I hope that you take this opportunity too!

Hope to see you there,
Adam

Alix's post :)

Am missing THEM PEOPLE, the snow, the boarding, the cabintimes, the counselors, the evening games, the lasertag, the cold showers, the piano room, the songs, the moose song, DC, Youlim, Andre, Darling Julia, Leo, Kristen, Yohanna, Audrey, Tasha, Adam, Buan, Damien, Allan :( And we've only been back 1 hour. Next Year's winter camp, here we come ♥


Youlim Natalie Jun ="WHAAT?!", "IS NICE!", "MA BICHE! *KISS KISSS* André Lichtle, "I KNOW THINGS YOU DON'T KNOW LIKE THE COLOR OF MY UNDERPANTS - Me :) ", "Erm, Joanna Pearce you've got carrot all over you..", "Darling you don't know :D - Julian :D" Aww missing

resources on jobs occupations career counsel links

1)Occupational Fields Research Handbook-
Botha a book and a website, and maintained by the department of Labor, it gives up to date information on many key professional occupations.
http://www.bls.gov/OCO/

What color is your parachute- job assessment book and website
www.jobhuntersbible.com

2) General

The Riley Guide- Excellent comprehensive site with many linds
www.rileyguide.com

3) Job Searches
-JobBankUSAMetasearch
www.jobbankusa.com

-America's Job Bank
www.ajb.dni.us/

-Intercrisco- jobs in Christian organizations (fee required)
www.jobleads.org

-www.monster.com

-Salary Information in US
www.salary.com

4) Company Research- Hoover's online- info and links to 2000 corporate websites
www.hoovers.com

5) Myers-Briggs Books-
-Type Talk- Kroeger and Thiesen- good professional descriptions
-Life Types- Hirsh, Kummerow- Each type is divided into living, learning, laboring, leading, leisure, loving, and losing out
-Type Talk at Work- Kroeger- 16 personality types function in work place

Alpha videos link

http://www.htb.org.uk/media/media/all/all/Alpha/all

Pie crust recipe from Michele

I got this recipe from my grandmother, who said she got it from an "old Croatian woman."

this recipe makes 1 double-crusted pie, so if you only need the bottom part you half the quantities, obviously.

1 cup shortening or margarine
1/2 cup water
1 pinch salt (1/2 tsp to 1 tsp)
3 cups all-purpose flour

heat water and shortening or margarine over low heat in a saucepan until just melted (do not boil). Dump flour directly into the saucepan all at once and mix into the warm shortening mixture with a wooden spoon until all the flour is moistened. Spoon half of the mixture onto a sheet of wax paper, keeping the other half warm in the saucepan (you cannot work with this dough cold, so you need to keep it warm). Palm the lump on the wax paper into a patty and roll with a rolling pin between two sheets of wax paper (i.e., place a second sheet on top of the dough).

when it's rolled out, you peel off the top sheet, then turn over the dough onto a pie tin and peel off the bottom sheet. If the dough breaks, you can simply press the broken-off pieces back onto the rest of the dough, and you can keep molding it and shaping it as long as it is warm. If it gets too cool to work with, you can heat it back up in the saucepan and start over.

What was the other recipe you wanted -- the zucchini tarte, right? i need to scan it so I will send it later.

Bon appetit !
Michèle

Alpha link

http://www.htb.org.uk/media/media/all/all/Alpha/all

http://www.htb.org.uk/downloads?search=alpha

http://www.htb.org.uk/downloads?search=alpha