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Walking Free Update - August 15, 2024
62 Plays3 months ago
Vernon shares a quick update. Our prior podcast host shut down and we have been moving over 100 episodes over to a new service. Yikes! Hopefully we did it correctly! Vernon also shares a few opportunities we have brewing at Grace Ministries International that allow us to "help EVEN MORE people walk free."
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Transcript
Transitioning the Podcast Platform
00:00:21
gmint
And welcome back. This is Vernon and it has been a a while, hasn't it? ah We had a issue with our podcast hosting service. And while that was just one of the issues and we have been moving the podcast over, we have now over a hundred, believe it or not,
00:00:45
gmint
ah episodes, and we moved them over, and we're gonna see if we did it right. I don't know, but we will see.
New Episodes and Ministry Updates
00:00:55
gmint
And we're going to pick it back up with some new episodes, and there's so much that God has been doing, I'll tell you, at Grace Ministries. And I'll give you just a snippet of what's going on just to kinda get us back in the groove, and then we'll continue with some more episodes that I hope you find helpful, encouraging, instructive. However, the ah Lord leads us as we move through these podcasts. ah The Lord has opened up
Visits and Speaking Opportunities
00:01:28
gmint
some doors. In fact, Michelle, my wife, who is also the director of counselor training,
00:01:36
gmint
Michelle and I had the opportunity to go to Tallahassee, Florida, right outside of Tallahassee, and speak at a recovery center, sanctuary clinics.
00:01:50
gmint
and just an incredible group of folks over there. And we got to teach on Saturday and also on Sunday, the Sunday service, and meet some really, really great folks. And we just were sharing the message of God's grace, God's truth, ah how we have victory in him, and it just so happened that another opportunity opened up for this next weekend. And our director of discipleship, Hannah Kimbrough, is heading down there and doing a lady ah Ladies Only ah retreat, if you will, and doing the same format, doing some long sessions on Saturday and then another one on Sunday morning.
00:02:44
gmint
So that's gonna be really, really cool. And God's just opened the door. And we're grateful to Frank Friedman, who was down there teaching and has been teaching there and recommended that they connect with us. And we have, and we're just walking and seeing where the Lord's gonna lead as we build that relationship.
00:03:11
gmint
So that was incredible.
L.A. Trip and Networking
00:03:12
gmint
Also, Michelle and I, and this is in the, really in the first part of July, had the opportunity to head up to or over to California. As you know, we're based in Georgia and we went to L.A. and you may or may not know Michelle lived in L.A. for a long time, I think 20 years or so. And she's actually from Canada, moved to Arizona, then up to l LA. And so she was up there and we got to spend some time with some
00:03:51
gmint
awesome folks. Some of the friends she made at a Messianic congregation got to celebrate with Spencer, celebrate his birthday, and he had a costume party that was, you were dressed up as either 1970s funk or 1980s punk.
00:04:15
gmint
and Michelle and I went as 1980s punk. We got third prize out of 100 or so folks there. And no, I'm not showing you the picture, maybe someday, but it was, I think, pretty impressive. ah If you can picture me in a red Mohawk and some tats and some other accessories, it was good. We had a fun time.
Practicing Grace at Work
00:04:40
gmint
But while we were up there, we got to connect with an organization that is just well known on the West Coast and Midwest to West Coast and connect with them and we're praying for them to see what the Lord will do as we continue to just follow him and trust him to lead us in connection to share the grace message and for those in the workplace to help people practice grace at work.
00:05:16
gmint
It can be done. I was in the workplace for 30 years in the corporate world. And I hope ah those who were on my teams, various teams over those years, could see ah me practicing grace at work. Did we do it perfectly? Absolutely not. But we walk in grace. And you can do that in work. And what I find in the workplace, it's Now you could have even a structure that's a quote, Christian company, but it really comes down to that supervisor employee relationship and that supervisor creating that environment and having the freedom to create that environment of grace. And grace doesn't throw out KPIs, key performance indicators, strategic goals. No, but it, it, uh,
00:06:14
gmint
it takes a different approach of achieving those goals. So that's something that we enjoy doing, I enjoy doing because I love the workplace. Most of us spend most of our lives in the workplace, don't we? And wouldn't it be cool if we were in an environment that actually literally practice grace at work. But if you're not in that environment, that's okay. I wasn't necessarily in a workplace. I worked at ah started out with AT and&T and then the spinoff for the equipment side was Lucent Technologies.
00:06:56
gmint
And then Lucent Technologies ah became merged with Alcatel and it became a France. It became Alcatel Lucent. Alcatel was really the bigger partner, but it was Alcatel Lucent. And if you've been through any mergers and acquisitions, you know that that can be a trying time as you have to get rid of, unfortunately, redundancies and you're trying to really maximize the strengths of each organization. And that always affects people. ah But that Alcatel-Lucent, when I left and early retired, I actually went to a spin-off company, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. It was the enterprise arm of Alcatel-Lucent and they had spun off and were given rights to still use the name Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. And I was there.
00:07:54
gmint
for three years. And so really 30 years at Alcatel-Lucin and then another three years at Alcatel-Lucin Enterprise.
00:08:06
gmint
And I love the workplace. I worked with some incredible people, but it wasn't all it wasn't at all a Christian environment. There were some pockets of really, of strong Christian and Christian leadership and just good people to be honest, just whether they were of the faith or not, just some incredible folks. And I had some doozies as well to work with. I don't know if you have, maybe you're experiencing that now.
00:08:34
gmint
But we can walk in grace at work, even if we don't have the benefit of that environment. We can walk
Responding to Challenges with Grace
00:08:44
gmint
in grace, we can walk in victory, we can walk in power. At work, it can be done. And I did it, again, not perfectly, but I did it, I was there. I know God can do it through you as well. It does take,
00:09:04
gmint
learning humility, often at times, it might mean accepting and dealing with the stress stress and the pressures of people who just don't share your values. How do you operate in that environment? It takes really um excelling and what you do and and doing all in the name of Jesus. Working hard in the name of Jesus. Can you do that? Absolutely. Sometimes it means being looked over in the name of Jesus. So there's so many dynamics and I think that the Lord uses the workplace for us to experience His power, His life, His grace.
00:10:01
gmint
Just like the Lord uses relationships. Boy, does the Lord use relationships, doesn't he? Beginning in our family, ah growing up, in our dating, and r in our marriages, the Lord uses relationships to grow us up in him and to experience his life. Often, in fact, more often than not,
00:10:31
gmint
It's through this idea of, well, I call it the tides of life. The tides of life just come at us. And the tides of life are the trials, the incompatibilities, the difficulties, and the expectations that are smashed. Have you experienced
Mission of Grace Ministries
00:10:50
gmint
those tides of life? They come at you, they can hit hard. And when they come at us, and they will, it's just life.
00:11:01
gmint
How do we respond? How do we respond? Do we respond trusting in Christ who is our life? Or do we go back to maybe some of the old habits, the old patterns, the old ways we've tried to just make it work? Well, that's what Grace Ministries is all about, is helping us to unravel and untangle, right, life untangled.
00:11:29
gmint
to untangle the lies that we've often come to believe as true, and to understand and to receive and believe the truth, and then learn how to walk in that truth. And that's what walking free, that's what our mission is at Grace Ministries, is helping others, helping people walk free. In Christ, we help people walk free, walk free from what?
00:11:59
gmint
Walk free from anxiety, walk free from depression, walk free from life-controlling problems, walk free from addiction. And you know, if you if you didn't know, my very good friend Mike Corals and Julia, Julia Corals just ah passed away ah this week and i went to see her Savior that she trusted in all her life and so grateful for her ministry.
00:12:29
gmint
So grateful for Mike who has taught me much. Mike and I, have you if followed me for over the decades, Mike and I did a Freedom from Addiction webinar. It's based on his book, Freedom from Addiction, also on his other book, Helping um helping Others.
00:12:50
gmint
And those two books have been just used in
Podcast Plans and Team Updates
00:12:55
gmint
so many recovery centers, so many ah impacted so many lives. And Mike and I would do, we did webinars for over 15 years, really before webinars were really the thing. And Mike even before that did seminars in churches and then we switched it to webinars.
00:13:17
gmint
And we had such a good time in that season. We even did a little podcast back then called Freedom Focus. Mike and I did that. and we had a good time with that ah season. So I just want to acknowledge that and to just recognize Julia for all that she has done and Mike, of course, who's been such an encouragement to so many. And um so just if you think about Mike, if you'll just pray for Mike and his family, his wonderful family,
00:13:54
gmint
and I know they would appreciate your prayers and your support. So I just wanted to give you just a quick little ah update ah where we have been, where I have been. It has been a bit ah crazy. I am not the best on podcast. on I really want and have my heart's intent to keep them regular and they may be every other week. I may get them out every week.
00:14:24
gmint
but it may be every other
Counselor Training and Partnerships
00:14:25
gmint
week. and I think they kind of go up and down, don't they? I know Michelle and I want to do some more episodes. One day I'm going to get some of my other staff on here, whether it's Mark Elena, director of counseling, who is just a She is a wealth of information. She's going, doing some clinical studies, ah getting her licensure just, and most of our folks are not licensed. She really felt called that way. She's at William and Mary doing school. She's working at a weight loss clinic also and in an internship there as part of um getting her her license and and our director of counseling.
00:15:08
gmint
I mean, she is really going at. Hannah has been ah exploding in her help of keeping our discipleship area going. She runs, whether it's the marketing side, she helps with the marketing with Life Untangled with all of the encounter groups that we do. In fact, we have an encounter group starting out. We have one starting in a week. An encounter is our seven month program.
00:15:34
gmint
that um really takes you on a journey of experiencing Christ in a small group setting. We limit it by design to no more than eight to 10 people. That's it. And we do um generally to a year if we can. We've got another one starting in January. So if you're missing this one, you want to do it, you can go to our website gmint.org, gmint, as we call it, dot org, and look for the encounter. And there'll be a sign-up sheet that you can sign up. The next one, I believe, January is starting. And then
00:16:13
gmint
That goes from, and then of course Hannah, Hannah's worked with other women's groups. She is now speaking over this weekend over at the sanctuary clinics. So would you pray for Hannah, pray for Margalena and my incredible wife, Michelle, who does all of our counselor training, all the supervised training that we do. We just don't, you know, that's the second part, part two, if you will, encounters part one,
00:16:39
gmint
and equipping the discipleship counselors part two. Michelle has developed that and she is ah making it um and redesigning it from a trauma-informed approach. Many of our counselors have now become trauma-informed. ah We have partnered with the um christian um Christian Healing ah Network run by Beth b Broome.
00:17:06
gmint
and ah she has some licensed counselors and that is a trauma um group and they have they have um approved our training.
00:17:20
gmint
our encounter in our EDC as the foundational training, and and we're not, you know, that's just recent. Beth has been doing this for a while, but if you go through our training, you now have the counselor training required to now take their trauma-informed certification. So our counselors have gone through level one and level two, so I've done it as well. I now level two trauma-informed certification, and we are redesigning our counseling approach to be trauma-informed based on what we're learning from Beth. So we're learning and growing. So I think, you know, I don't know of other counselors that are doing that. It's so important because sometimes we can unintentionally re-traumatize someone who has gone through some significant trauma. Now in our a form of counseling,
00:18:21
gmint
It's almost like a more pastoral counseling. Our counselors are ordained, commissioned, and most are not licensed. We do that for, really intentionally, but we value the training. The training is a year and a half, over a year and a half, because you also, we have to, we sit with our ah trainees and they have to actually counsel and observe counseling. So we don't just turn them in you know turn them loose. We wanna make sure that they're comfortable, they're trained and ready so they can go and help in that one-on-one environment. So if that's a calling of yours, so you can check it out, our encounter and our equipping the discipleship counselor is available. So I didn't mean for this to become an infomercial.
Vision for Reaching Millions with Grace Ministries
00:19:17
gmint
It just comes out, because I love i love what we do.
00:19:20
gmint
over here, but we're also, we also have some grace talks that we've done. You might've gone to the codependency one that Michelle recently did that workshop. We're developing some brand new workshops for you. And we have some that we've done in the past. We didn't want them sitting on the server. So we put them into our life untangled app, which is free. You can download the life untangled app and on iOS or Android.
00:19:50
gmint
And there is a minimum iOS and Android OS um version that you have to have. But um you can download it free. Once you register with your email through in the app, it opens up all the free content. And um you can just have at it. You can have at it. We've got Scott Britton, who is our president emeritus.
00:20:15
gmint
um Pam O'Gwen, who was with us, she's now got her own life coaching that she does, and counseling. ah They've done some things, some workshops on there, and they're incredible, and so we have them there for free. We're just developing some new ones now. So our goal is to help you, and we wanna encourage you in your walk, and to help you walk free. That's what we're about. If we can help your church,
00:20:46
gmint
Send me an email, Vernon at gment dot.org. That's my email, I don't hide it. There it is, Vernon at gment.org. Send me an email, or you can send one to our general web, web at gment dot.org. Doesn't matter, but if you wanna have me get in touch with your pastor, and you wanna talk about doing a workshop, or maybe your your church wants to develop a lay counseling or mentoring ministry. We're happy to talk about that. Did you know we started First Baptist Atlanta, their counseling ministry. Now they've had to close it down and they'll refer to us or other folks ah for their counseling needs. We started theirs, North Point Ministries with Andy Stanley. We started there, back then it was the Hope Ministry. They used our material and developed their now renew,
00:21:40
gmint
um ministry, all based on our material, our training. And they're thriving in that mentoring ah ministry. Maybe you want to do something do something similar. We're happy to talk about that. So our goal is to reach people. My vision is millions of men, women, and families here and around the world walking free, letting goes of the lies that hold them back.
00:22:10
gmint
and embracing the truth that gives them hope. That's the vision.
Fundraising and Listener Involvement
00:22:15
gmint
Millions. We've helped thousands. We wanna start looking way out there, helping millions. We have another vision. We want counselors, influencers, mentors in every state and other countries. That's a vision. We see that.
00:22:36
gmint
That's where we wanna be. Help us get there. Help us scale. If you feel led to help us financially, help us financially. We've got a golf tournament coming up. We've never done one. I don't know if we're gonna do this one right, but it's gonna be November 4th, it's the day before the election. Right here in the coming Georgia area, Windermere Golf Club. If you're a golfer,
00:22:58
gmint
Go to our website, gment.org, you'll see it on there. Golf, help us find golfers. Get a team together. Maybe you wanna sponsor. Ah, that would be, we're we're yeah we're a little nervous. We don't know what we're doing, but the staff at Windermere does. And they're gonna do a lot of the, ah of course, on the groundwork. But we would love to have golfers ah out there.
00:23:26
gmint
And it's 150 per golfer. And there's some other sponsorships if you feel led to do that. We would really like to do that because we want to raise more money so we can expand out. There's things I can't even tell you about right now that are so huge. I don't know how we're gonna do it. We have an idea how we're gonna scale, but it really takes all of us coming together so we can get the grace message out, out into the workplace, out into churches,
00:23:55
gmint
and individuals who are hurting. So enough of the infomercial. infomercial
00:24:03
gmint
more podcasts are coming. Pray for me that I can really ah get those lined up, get the speakers lined up and those that we wanna introduce and just let you hear their stories. If you know somebody that would you think would be a great um podcast guest, send me a note, send it to web at gmet, send it to my email. ah We'd love to have that. So right now, wherever you are, I just want you to pray for me Pray for Grace Ministries. Pray for our fundraising. Yeah, we're a non-profit. We depend on fundraising. We charge for counseling, but over 75% of our counselees receive some level, maybe if it's only $10, it may be a lot more depending on where they are. 75% receive financial assistance. And that that's because of your help. And I'm very grateful for that. So,
00:25:02
gmint
I'll leave you with what I always, not always, but most of the time I do. I don't know where God is leading you right now, but I want you to not just think about it, not just dream about it, but whatever God is prompting you to do, would you just take that first step and don't talk about it.
00:25:28
gmint
stop talking about it and start walking.