Taking It to the Streets

Today in my first hour (I try to keep it to 60 minutes so they get breaks between classes) I taught the importance of a church being a counseling ministry instead of starting one. I explained the biblical examples and commands about how a church must operate as a team. Biblical counseling is just intensive discipleship. I shared how, when I realized several years ago that the Bible is sufficient to address the deepest problems people face, my counseling load increased dramatically. But when others began doing the same thing the number of people being helped increased but my load decreased. The idea is the one you find in Scripture:

Et ce que tu as entendu de moi en présence de beaucoup de témoins, confie-le à des hommes fidèles, qui soient capables de l'enseigner aussi à d'autres.

Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 2 Timothy 2:2

A note about these students: Part of the criteria for admission to the Institute was that they already needed to have a group of men lined up to re-teach the material they learn here. Some of them are already serving a church, but most are training to be pastors and church planters. This insures that we have much more than 16 students. Dr. Bearss is very faithful to the principles of 2 Timothy 2:2 (the mission of On Target Ministry) when he sets up ministries like this.

Today in my first hour (I try to keep it to 60 minutes so they get breaks between classes) I taught the importance of a church being a counseling ministry instead of starting one. I explained the biblical examples and commands about a church operating as a team. Biblical counseling is just intensive discipleship. I shared how, when I realized several years ago that the Bible is sufficient to address the deepest problems people face, my counseling load increased dramatically. But when others began doing the same thing the

Adventure report: Teaching is a challenge here. We are in a walled compound at a busy intersection (I am told nearly every home has a wall around it). The walls do not block the sound of the streets (ringing bells of shoe-shiners, car horns warning traffic at intersections, people selling things, diesel engines, squeaking truck brakes, rattling car parts on the rough streets). Just now I heard a helicopter (probably UN). During one of my classes I heard a lot of people yelling and screaming just on the other side of the wall. I pictured one of many pedestrians being hit by a car or a fight in the street. It turned out to be a soccer game (gotta learn français). One of the most pleasant sounds has been children singing. There must be a school close by.