My Visit to Ground Zero

This is the tenth year of the attack by the Usama Bin Laden trained team on the United States of America. I have not been personally to the memorials at the Pentagon or in Pennsylvania. However, I have been to Ground Zero where the most successful attacks took place and killed so man people.

Shortly after the attacks, we at Life Way Counseling Centers were contacted by The Salvation Army about spending a week at Ground Zero ministering and counseling with the First Responders. The cops, fire fighters, emergency workers, steel workers, etc had been working day and night to find and recover the casualties of the attack. Now many of them were "Hitting the wall" and needed some Pastoral Care and Counseling.

Life Way had worked with the Army for many yeas and they knew we combined good counseling with solid Christian values. When the national office asked about who could minister to the body, soul and mind our name came up. So, four of us boarded a Delta flight to Newark that they had donated to this mission. (Thanks Delta!)

We split our four person team into two with twos serving from 1:00 PM until 1:00 Am and the other from 1:00 AM until 1:00 PM. My twosome spend the night at Ground Zero sitting with the Cops and Fire Fighters and listening to their pain at every possible opportunity. It was one of the most nerve wracking experiences of my life yet I had a wonderfully fulfilling spiritual and emotional experience.

More later.

Are Parents Important?

Not if you believe the policies of many insurance companies and government agencies. If you have a child with severe problem, the parents are often ignored by the policies and procedures of the organizations that are presumably assigned with paying for their treatment. This includes Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance agencies.

Let's say you have a child of four that has been diagnosed with a severe behavioral issue such as Autism. (It is now known as the Autism Spectrum or AS.) If you seek out treatment for your child, you may find that the persons doing the assessment or treatment will rarely if ever ask for your insights, ideas or suggestions. Nor will they include you in the treatment meetings.

That is insane but it follows a traditional Medical Model that sees the problem as lying completely within the body of the Identified Patient (IP). Despite the fact that the parents are with the child many hours each day and know his/her behavior quite well, they will rarely be asked for input on the treatment.

The Medical Model is based on the notion that the Doctor or Occupational Therapist, Counselor or Nurse is treating the disease and only the person with the disease is to be included in the treatment. That means that the parents, siblings, grand parents or peer supporters are ignored and no one can be paid for including them in the process.

In our research with families with a child who has a disability we heard over and over again how no one ever asked for their input, opinion or wisdom. This included their hospital, school and church. (Let me add that this is not the case at the Life Way Counseling Centers where we always include the parents when possible.)

Why are parents ignored when both common sense and forty years of research shows how important the are to the successful outcomes? It is a simple answer. Follow the money! Insurance companies and government agencies have rules that forbid it. Rules in Medicare and Medicaid are often senseless, cumbersome and anti healing. yet, whatever the Federal Government requires all insurance companies will follow.

We at Sweeten Life Systems are fully committed to including parents, relatives and friends in the caring process whenever possible and reasonable. We have just launched a program to do that called, The Village Initiative w Parents or VIP. It could stand for Very Important Parents or Very Important People. This initiative values parents and relative and friends as critically important to the health and welfare of persons with a disability.

No one. I repeat NO ONE is more important to the care and health of a sick person than their family. If the family is dysfunctional the child will not get his or her needs met.

I have a Masters and Doctoral Degrees in Counseling. I have forty years of experience but No medical or psychological expert knows more about how to care for a child than the parents. Together we can be a great care and healing team.

If we leave the parents out of the diagnosis and treatment of children costs will rise and outcomes be reduced in effectiveness.

PS. If you are interested in taking part in the VIP process, contact me at gary@sweetenlife.com and go to Sweeten Life web for more information.

Reduce Taxes

Over the past few weeks my posts have been relating how expensive it is to care for people with chronic illnesses. This includes children and youth who have been diagnosed with a chronic disorder like the Autism Spectrum, ADHD, Developmental Delays, Multiple Sclerosis, etc.

I noted that 21% of the children in Ohio ages birth to 18 have some sort of diagnosis. Just think of it. One in every five of your neighbors, friends, fellow church members and colleagues have a child with a serious medical, emotional, mental or physical challenge.

The government at every level spends billions of dollars to provide services and support systems for these children. Every school must hire special teachers, buy special buses and build special buildings for these precious children.

Thankfully, we live in the richest nation in the history of the world. Not even Solomon in all his glory lived like us. We are caring for these folks as children and as adults when they grow up. We have a wonderful record of showing compassion to people in need. Unfortunately, we are running out of money.

Taxes are high already. How can we offer great care at lower costs? That is a question I have addressed for several decades. What do you think we can do?

Conflict in Church

Jesus said, "Come unto me all of you who are heavily laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me because my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Mt. 11:25-30.

The promise to sinners is freedom from heavy burdens of guilt, shame and emotional pain. So, why are we surprised when the people who come to faith in Jesus act like people who have been traumatized, hurt, beaten and battered? I was appearing on a TV station near Columbus, Ohio. A Pastor from a large congregation was also appearing and we chatted while waiting to go on.

During the conversation revival and church growth came up and I asked, rather innocently, "Are you seeing the possibility of a revival in the near future?" He looked at me with surprise and said, "Oh! I hope not! My church is filled with a lot of neurotic, emotionally distraught people now and a revival would bring more into my church. I don't think I could handle another revival. Every dysfunctional, wounded Christian in Columbus comes to my church and I do not know why."

"Well" I said,"I see you are talking about healing tonight. Do you offer prayer for healing at your church?"

"We sure do, and hundreds come for prayer and we in the leadership are overwhelmed. Why do I have so many wounded people coming to my church?"

I pointed out that it seemed pretty obvious why to me. He was like a hospital that promised free medical care to the community and so all the sick people showed up. The problem was, his church had no one to provide the care, counsel and prayer for all those who came.

He was shocked because he had never thought that he was advertising free health care to the masses or that he needed to train a corps of Peer Helpers and Counselors to minister to those who showed up at his church. The result was chaos, conflict, complaints and contempt for the Pastoral staff by disgruntled people.

What about your church? Do you preach Jesus saves? Do people come expecting to be saved from childhood wounds and relational hurts left over from home and family life. Do you know how to help angry, difficult people? Have you trained Lay Helpers and Lay Pastors to meet with these folks and bring them them peace?

Many people come to faith and stay stuck in the Baby Stage of spiritual/emotional growth. They are often "Battered Babies who know nothing about the Bible or healing except how to cry, complain and create conflict. They were rejected and abandoned emotionally at home and often find the same kind of harsh treatment at their new church family, thus ripping the childhood scabs off their sores.

In Ohio there are some 12 million people of which about 60% or 7 million are unchurched. Of that number at least 50% have met Christ personally and been in church but have been hurt, bored or abandoned.

They would LOVE to find a caring, welcoming, warm congregation that would help them receive God's healing love. Like children, they may cause conflict just to get some needed attention and test the staff to see if will show them love or judgment.


Will your church put Humpty Dumpty back together again or push him off another wall?

Disability and Government Budgets

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article how the high costs of caring for the seriously disabled are clashing with the budget crises of most states and the Federal Government. The Journal notes that it is easier to cut money that have been budgeted for home care than to cut money budgeted for institutional care. The WSJ does not take sides in the debate but concludes that it is much more expensive to care for the disabled at home than it is to place them in an institution.

Some of the comments by readers disagreed with the WSJ on that point,arguing that many people receive care from each employee and only one receives care per employee at home. That needs to be examined very closely by people who understand these issues well.

We at Sweeten Life Systems are completing the first year of a research study on how to best support families with severely disabled children. The results have been very insightful and somewhat surprising to us. Many of the most pressing issues focus on the needs of parents to receive very practical support. Things like:

House work
Ironing
Painting
Lawn care
Transport to the Doctor, grocery shopping, etc.
Food preparation
Respite care
Spiritual support

Now we need to find churches, schools and individuals willing to volunteer to help these families with those practical and important areas. Are you willing to help? Does your church already have a program of support for shut ins, the elderly, etc?

How Did We Grow So Large?

Equipping Ministries International, an organization we started from the Teleios Ministry at College Hill Presbyterian Church in 1978, has spread to over seventy nations. How did they do that?

Sweeten Life Systems, a ministry we started after leaving EMI, has spread to another ten or so nations with our unique equipping ministry that focuses on Discipleship in Building a lifetime of great relationships. How did we do that?

By following the model laid down by Jesus. We teach, train, coach and mentor high quality Christian leaders who wan to learn about building solid relationships with God, themselves and each other. These men and women are sold out to Christ and to a Discipleship Model not just a "Stand up Comedy Routine".

We "Equip Equippers to Equip the Saints to DO Ministry".

Galina Chentsova is a great example of this model. She came to Cincinnati in 1994 and learned our materials and methods of teaching them. She returned home to Moscow and started training her own Russian friends and colleagues. Now, fifteen years later there are dozens of training centers and hundreds of graduates who are multiplying themselves daily.

It is a fairly long and deep process that produces great fruit for God.

Rearing Special Needs Kids

For several months we have been interviewing parents with special needs children about the stresses,strains and pressures of life. They are legion.

That is not surprising. As a father and grand father I know first hand how stressful it is to mom and dad to have the emotional, educational and spiritual responsibility to rear, clothe and feed any kid regardless of their special needs. When a child is born with a serious disability the stresses are multiplied many times over.

That is not surprising but this fact may be. Many of these parents are innovative, creative and resilient to the place where our research team calls them "Heroes!" They are heroic not because it is good thing to do but because they are the best experts their kids have.

Yes, there are fine Doctors, Psychologists, Educators and Physical Therapists but they are usually isolated from the children. Mom, Dad and Siblings as well as family members and friends must come up with practical solutions.

Want to know another secret??? The professionals do not know about the solutions or the problems families face. "Why?" you ask. They ask the parents and do not See the parents as important to the tasks performed by the pros.

We call our project, "It takes a whole village" because rearing a special needs child or caring for a special needs adult requires everybody to pitch in. When I taught school I had special needs kids in my classes. I ignorantly did not even think about the difficulty faced by Mom and Dad. Now I think about it a lot.


Jim Donovan, of Donovan Research, and the Director for our project says, "These families have arrived at solutions to many of the problems they face. However, they are often alone and the solutions have not been well distributed." Sweeten Life Systems is trying to not only discover problems and solutions but discover ways to broadcast those solutions to other families.

One more point. When parents face the fact that their child has special needs they often become increasingly interested in church, religion and spirituality. However, few churches are ready for such a challenge. This leaves the parents isolated and longing for a church that can minister to them.

Pray with us about our next steps in the project "It takes a whole village"(R).

See the web for more information. www.sweetenlife.com

HEALED AND WHOLE

One day I dug a little hole
And put my hurt inside
I thought that I could just forget
I'd put it there to hide.

But that little hurt began to grow
I covered it every day
I couldn't leave it and go on
It seemed the price I had to pay.

My joy was gone, my heart was sad
Pain was all I knew.
My wounded soul enveloped me
Loving seemed too hard to do.

One day, while standing by my hole
I cried to God above
And said, "If you are really there
They say, you're a God of Love!

And just like that -- he was right there
And just put his arms around me
He wiped my tears, his hurting child
There was no safer place to be.

I told him all about my hurt
I opened up my heart
He listened to each and every word
To every sordid part.

I dug down deep and got my hurt
I brushed the dirt away
And placed it in the Master's hand
And healing came that day.

He took the blackness of my soul
And set my spirit FREE!
Something beautiful began to grow
Where the hurt used to be.

And when I look at what has grown
Out of my tears and pain
I remember every day to give my hurts to him
And never bury them again.

By Carol Parrot

On the Radio Sunday Night

You will finally get your opportunity to hear me on the radio discussing mental health and how to treat it. Dr. Kurt Weingand's talk show, Health Today, is broadcast weekly on 550 WKRC in Cincinnati. For the people out of state and even out of the country you can go to Itunes and look up 55krc and download any of Kurt's programs.

He will ask me about my professional background, how I ended in in the ministry as well as what the top diagnoses of mental and emotional health are. (You want to guess?) Send me all of your questions on these topics and I'll try to respond.

Oh Ye With Great Faith

I am on the list of Disabled Christianity . It is all about the need for Christians to reach out to disabled persons in our communities. They recently published an article about a miracle of faith. I hope you will read it.

We received a grant from The Hatton Foundation to do "Ethnographic Research" with families with special needs children. Last Sunday we came together to share our insights about the heroic nature of the people who are opening themselves to our probing questions.

Without exception, these folks are outstanding and hard working people. The reason each one gave for taking the time to be involved with us at least ten hours each month was, "We want to help other people." (And believe me when I say, these parents do not have the time to give ten hours each month.) They want to GIVE!

Gary Sweeten's July Report to The Hatton Foundation

We interviewed each family as a precursor to enrolling them in the project. We also asked each couple to fill out an extensive report on their situation, support systems, stresses and needs. Each family is then interviewed by a team of two persons. Every session is audio or videotaped so we can intensely review the family’s sharing. Emerging insights early in our process:

1. A strong desire not to be victims but victors that rise to meet the daily challenges of disability. This admirable attitude can, however, limit the family’s ability to seek available support.

2. The lack of coordination among treatment professionals. Families are sometimes left to their own devices to find and access assistance that is due them.

3. The immense financial costs of rearing a disabled child and the need for sensitive, well trained professionals in law, insurance, financial planning, etc.

4. The ignorance, avoidance and sometimes anger of professionals about the insights, strengths, pressures or needs of the child’s family. The approach of many professionals comes across as accusatory, punitive and distrustful.

5. The amazing level of resilience that families must possess to deal effectively with the medical, educational, insurance and personal systems while facing the pressures of caring for a family. The families that are responding best to those pressures have a great deal of help from family members, friends and church fellowships.

6. The importance of spiritual resources to the families but their paucity in the community.

7. The uneven availability of educational, medical, spiritual and psychological resources in the Greater Cincinnati area. (And, we assume, other areas as well.)

8. The importance of educating professionals and spiritual leaders about the benefits of understanding what the parents can contribute to the child’s and the medical, educational systems’ welfare.

9. The need for each family to have coaches, mentors and wise support systems in place to walk with them and advise them each step of their journey.

10. This new approach to research which actually asks the clients what they need is desperately needed by medical, educational, financial and religious systems to get the whole picture.

Go to my web page for more information.

Addictions and Interventions

There is raging a huge controversy raging among addiction counselors over the ways we try to help people who drink and do drugs too much. Two things have happened recently to inspire the controversy.

First, the A&E TV Program called Intervention has popularized the Johnson Approach that is based on the notion that family and friends must confront the addict about his problems and threaten him with total withdrawal of support unless he/she goes into treatment immediately. This is admittedly a hard nosed approach to getting a person to get help, but proponents insist it works.

Others say we need a better approach so the addict will not fall into despair. The use what is called a motivational process that speaks to people about their need to at least consider making some changes in their drinking or drugging. These folks are able to point to reams of research that their methods are superior to harsh confrontation.

The second event was Michael Jackson's death. It was well known that Mr. Jackson was overusing prescription drugs for many years. Family and friends had been begging someone to intervene in some way but their concerns fell on deaf ears. The enablers around Jackson were either co-dependent or living on easy street as a result of his habits.

Either type of intervention is better than no intervention. The harsh kind can certainly shock an addict into compliance but it takes a very skilled professional to carry it out. The Motivational Interviewing approach is my preference and I have written about it in my book, Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty.

If someone you love drinks too much or is doing drugs, including marijuana, get help for yourself. see a good counselor who understands family dynamics as well as addictions. Go to

Life Way Centers

to find a great counselor.

Depression Drugs are Not Effective

Antidepressant use doubles in US, study finds 03 Aug 2009 20:00:22 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Use doubles from 13 million to 27 million Americans

* Increase in use not seen among blacks

* More Americans may accept diagnosis of depression

But, drugs will not get to the root cause!

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Use of antidepressant drugs in the United States doubled between 1996 and 2005, probably because of a mix of factors, researchers reported on Monday.

About 6 percent of people were prescribed an antidepressant in 1996 -- 13 million people. This rose to more than 10 percent or 27 million people by 2005, the researchers found.

"Significant increases in antidepressant use were evident across all sociodemographic groups examined, except African Americans," Dr. Mark Olfson of Columbia University in New York and Steven Marcus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia wrote in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

"Not only are more U.S. residents being treated with antidepressants, but also those who are being treated are receiving more antidepressant prescriptions," they added.

More than 164 million prescriptions were written in 2008 for antidepressants, totaling $9.6 billion in U.S. sales, according to IMS Health.

Drugs that affect the brain chemical serotonin like GlaxoSmithKline's Paxil, known generically as paroxetine, and Eli Lilly and Co's Prozac, known generically as fluoxetine, are the most commonly prescribed class of antidepressant. But the study found the effect in all classes of the drugs.

Olfson and Marcus looked at the Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys done by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, involving more than 50,000 people in 1996 and 2005.

"During this period, individuals treated with antidepressants became more likely to also receive treatment with antipsychotic medications and less likely to undergo psychotherapy," they wrote.

SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE

The survey did not look at why, but the researchers made some educated guesses. It may be more socially acceptable to be diagnosed with and treated for depression, they said. The availability of new drugs may also have been a factor.

"Although there was little change in total promotional spending for antidepressants between 1999 ($0.98 billion) and 2005 ($1.02 billion), there was a marked increase in the percentage of this spending that was devoted to direct-to consumer advertising, from 3.3 percent ($32 million) to 12 percent ($122.00 million)," they added.

Dr. Eric Caine of the University of Rochester in New York said he was concerned by the findings. "Antidepressants are only moderately effective on population level," he said in a telephone interview.

Caine, who was not involved in the research, noted that several studies show therapy is as effective as, if not more effective than, drug use alone.

"There are no data to say that the population is healthier. Indeed, the suicide rate in the middle years of life has been climbing," he said.

Olfson and Marcus said out-of-pocket costs for psychotherapy and lower insurance coverage for such visits may have driven patients away from seeing therapists in favor of an easy-to-prescribe pill.

The rise in antidepressant prescriptions also is seen despite a series of public health warnings on use of antidepressant drugs beginning in 2003 after clinical trials showed they increased the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children and teens.

In February 2005, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration added its strongest warning, a so-called black box, on the use of all antidepressants in children and teens.

(Editing by Philip Barbara)


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here is my take on depression: Go talk with a Helper. Find a listening friend or family member. If that does not work find a Counselor.

Counselors are more effective than drugs.

Marriage Mentoring

Almost every day news media cover some terrible and tragic stories about the results of sex outside marriage and babies/children without two parents in the home. For example, today in the Cincinnati Enquirer there is a story about a mother and father who are fighting over the custody of their daughter.

Mom and Dad were never married but had one child, at least.

Mom had another child earlier with another man who is living with a foster family.

Dad got a court order to have visitation rights but Mom disagreed.

Mom is currently living with a man with whom she is not married.

Mom kidnapped the child and hid her from Dad and the police.

Mom was arrested.

Police found the child.

Police took the child into custody and would not allow Dad to have her despite the court order.

This is a mess and is costing our government many thousands of dollars. It will damage all the children involved and very likely result in several generations of damaged, addicted, traumatized adults and cost millions. Few of these kids will get an education, keep a job or make enough money to take care of themselves. Many will be involved in violent crimes and end up in prison.

Almost 40% of all children born in America are to single Mothers who are on welfare. the kids will be on welfare their entire lives. Medicare is broke. Medicaid is broke. But the financial, social and psychological destruction of this epidemic is far worse than either Medicare or Medicaid.

What is the answer? Marriage before sex or at least before children. Husbands and wives staying together and rearing their children, making sure kids get a good education.

These are critically important.

This requires churches and Christians who know how to minister healing and wholeness to their people. Every church needs 12 Step Groups, Peer Care and Healing, Divorce Recovery and Prayer Groups.

Contact

Sweeten Life Systems

to learn how to be a healthy church. On August 29 I will teach a seminar on Mentoring Marriages. Sign up at the web site.

Empathy versus Enabling

Drug and alcohol addictions are rampant and seemingly growing in America and the rest of the world. One bad way to try to help an addict is to feel sorry for them and bail them out when they get into trouble.

Several years ago during the time I was still doing Clinical Counseling I was called by a Pastor who asked me to contact a family whose thirty year old son was a chronic addict. The parents had spent all their money and even mortgaged their family home to chronically bail the kid out of trouble.

My discussion with her unfolded why the parents were broke and the son was still addicted.

Mother: Dr. Sweeten, what can I do? My son is in jail and they are insisting that he go to a treatment center.
Gary: How many times has this happened?
Mother: Many times.
Gary: What have you done before?
Mother: We have paid his fine and got him an apartment.
Gary: Did it work to help him change his behavior?
Mother: Well, his life has been difficult. His ex wife left him and took the kids. So, he started doing drugs again.
Gary: So, it did not work to stop him from drinking and doping again.
Mother: The poor boy hasn't had a chance.
Gary: So, you feel sorry for him?
Mother: I feel so badly when he is in trouble.
Gary: Mrs. Johnson, you had better stop feeling so sorry for you son unless you kill him. What you are doing is called "Enabling or Co-Dependence". In order for a person to be an addict there must be an enabler.
Mother: (Crying) But I can't be so cruel and let him stay in jail with all those criminals. I love him too much.
Gary: What you are doing the Bible calls hate not love. It will eventually kill him unless you stop. You and your husband need to attend Al Anon, a group for families with an addicted relative. Al Anon teaches relatives how to understand their loved ones but stop enabling them. Mrs. Johnson, you need treatment more than your son. Call me after you go to Al Anon.

Gary Sweeten

Building a Representative Democracy

In the last post I spoke about the fact that a representative democracy requires its citizens to learn a high level of interpersonal skills. Interacting with others on issues of great importance push our emotional buttons and tempt us to lose our cool. But, as the Bible says, "Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger for human anger does not achieve the righteousness of God". James 1:19-20

For a long time I have tried to train Christians to listen to one another and learn how to quell their angry emotions as well as successfully deal with conflict. It is not easy to do this but the work is worth the patience it takes to accomplish the goal.

In fact, the scripture clearly calls us to allow the Holy Spirit to develop dynamic crop of healthy interpersonal fruit. In Galatians 5 is a list of intra-personal and inter-personal fruit that St. Paul sees as the core of the mature Christian life. They are:

Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self Control

Part of my doctoral dissertation focused on relating this list with the positive interpersonal skills found in most counseling and management training manuals. St. Paul's list is remarkably similar to the aspects and attitudes found by psychologists in the most effective influencers.

As we Christians grow in God's grace and mercy toward one another and let go of anger, bitterness and judgmentalism the Spirit's positive aspects will be able to thrive in our relationships. This will inevitably lead to better discussions and happier solutions to family and political problems.

The classes we teach in the USA and around the world enables Christians to speak the truth in love and make better decisions. Our American way of life came out of a Christian background that was soaked in free church dialogue. Authoritarian and state church systems were unsuccessful in the Colonies because the early pioneers were looking for freedom from dictators.

As our ministries grow around the world and touch people unused to healthy decision making we will see increasingly large numbers of believers rise up the ladders of politics, business and education. We promote "A lifetime of great relationships".

Sowing Seeds of Life

There are many benefits of growing older. Our families grow as do our friendships. We get to see children grow up and change from children to friends. Life in the love of God grows sweeter and sweeter each day.

All those things are true but the one grace gift I want to emphasize today has to do with ministry. After teaching about developing great relationships with God, self and others for decades I can see so much good fruit coming up all over the world.

Hardly a day passes that I do not hear from someone whose life has been touched by Teleios training and Lifeway ministry. I recently received a note on Face book telling me how God had used our training to help them be a better husband and parent. Why does it take so long to see fruit from our teaching?

Think of planting a tree. All of us are enjoying shade from trees that are older than we. It takes decades to grow a tree and years to see people's growth and healing. Then growth becomes so evident that the glow is noticeable to all who know them.

When a person learns to open his or her life to the truth of God's word for mind renewal it make take a year or two of weekly application to see the results. But after a while the peace and security of knowing how to apply God's truth to my life will burst forth into bigger smiles and more pleasant personalities. When one person grows and heals it touches all around them and the cycle of health breaks the cycle of sickness. The healthy body of Christ we call a Christian community grows as an entire group when any member grows.

Christ in YOU!
The hope of GLORY!

Gary Sweeten

New Web Site to Visit

Let the little children come to me.

My dear friend Dorothy Faye Geverdt has put up a nice web describing their ministry to disabled kids in Romania. The ministry is Romanian Handicapped Ministry and is led by several local men and women.

The way Communist countries treated persons with handicaps was brutal, callous and heartless. Despite often saying that they were supportive of the rights of minorities, women and poor the track records of places like Russia and Romania were awful. The Eastern Bloc fell because of their cruelty to all persons but the terrible ways they treated the handicapped was especially egregious.

The Romanian Handicapped Ministry is trying to make up for all those years of neglect and downright persecution. Please pray for the ministry and support them as you can.

As a footnote, I am amazed and saddened to see the United States of America moving backward into treating handicapped persons like the Romanians did under their Communist dictators. President Obama is taking aggressive actions to remove their rights and make sure they are discriminated against in the worst way: abortion.

About 85% of all Down Syndrome babies are already killed in the womb. If Obama has his way that percent will rise to 100%. Moving toward Romania in ethics and morals is not my idea of an enlightened nation.

I am an Expert

Do we need experts to help us make decisions about life? Not usually. This is why I tray to train Peers how to be more effective as Helpers. First, they are more likely to really understand your issues.

Second, they won't usually over think things and give philosophical ideas but real practical ones. Third, they are far less expensive. Fourth, they are readily available.

Listen to me. I am an expert on these matters.

Read Nicholas Kristof's insights in the New York Times.

Go Into all the World

The Vicar of Vincennes, or Vicksburg or Vernon, made a great comment on my last post. I agree with it whole heartedly.

Today, Jens-Petter, Peder Paulsen and I did a short seminar of this topic, "The Church as an Equipping, Healing Community. We gathered with fifty or so saints at Karlslunde Lutheran Church just outside Copenhagen where I have been many times before. It is the "Mother Church" for the Holy Spirit Renewal" in Denmark and many great things have been birthed there that have touched thousands around the world.

Teleios Denmark is centered at Karlslunde Church and hundreds of leaderds have taken my training in Listening, Renewed Thinking, Breaking Free from the Past, etc. Jens-Petter and I stayed wikth Gina, a lady whose spiritual journey and growth has touched so many, including her son and daughter who are key leaders in taking God's love, truth and power to others.

Kirsten Callensen, Gina's daughter, has taken Listening and RCT into her professional work as a Psychologist that works with families touched by Autism and Aspergers. Kirsten is doing some extremely creative and significant work by bringing a combination of Psychological, Medical, Theological and Spiritual wisdom and knowledge together.

Kirsten's work is in the Government's clinics and private clinics. It is not openely "Christian" but she is using her time, talents and gifts to bring healing to these stressed out families. Read Luke 10 and see if you can find room for Kirsten's "Secular" ministry in the charge of Jesus to the disciples.

Helping Special Children Grow

We recently received a grant from the Hatton Foundation to research the needs of families with special needs children and develop models for meeting those needs. This is a huge and exciting venture.

One of our dear friends and former students in Denmark is Kirsten Callesen. She left her former position to get a Masters and Doctorate with specialties in Special Education. Kirsten took the materials she had learned in the

Apples and RCT classes and developed her unique approach for helping kids with Aspergers.

You can see her work at the CAT Kit web site.

It is very exciting to see Seasoned Believers take on such large challenges, especially when they are doing a great job.

Take a lool at this video on how they are working with kids.

Pray that we will be able to develop ministries that are as great as my friends in Denmark. I will visit with Kirsten in March when I go there to teach.

Gary Sweeten