Fall campaign takes Celebrate Recovery churchwide

Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-centered recovery ministry program that helps people find freedom from hurts, habits, and hang-ups. Since its start in 1991 by Saddleback Church member John Baker, the program has been completed by 500,000 individuals in 10,000 churches.

Celebrate Recovery leaders often look for ways to convince church members that the program is not only for those with serious addictions but also for any believer who struggles with a hurt, habit, or hang-up.

This fall, Celebrate Recovery is going churchwide with a new, 8-week campaign called “Life’s Healing Choices.” From a promotional email:

Life’s Healing Choices is a church-wide weekly study of 8 principles from the Beatitudes taught by Jesus for finding the path to spiritual renewal, true godly happiness, and healing. This eight-week journey, led by Rick Warren, will encourage spiritual growth in every member of your church.

Your people will be changed in dramatic ways as they learn to
find hope from their hurts, help from their hang-ups, and
healing from their habits by allowing God to renew and
transform their lives.

Here’s how your church will benefit:

• People will discover how to find freedom from their hurts, hang-ups, & habits
• Evangelism opportunity
• A strong opportunity for your church to grow
• Small groups will expand
• Participants will mature in their faith
• A great way to serve your community

Rockbridge Seminary students who completed the online course Recovery Ministry may find the campaign useful in their churches.

Go to Life’s Healing Choices website for more information

Celebrate Recovery Summit 2009

We know that the only true and lasting answer for those feeling hopeless is to turn to Jesus Christ! But how does your church reach out and care for those who are struggling? Over 12,000 churches have found a way to help individuals with any kind of hurt, hang-up, or habit. They started a Celebrate Recovery – a Christ-centered Recovery program based on God’s Word.

Celebrate Recovery uses the Christ-centered 12 Steps and the 8 Recovery Principles, based on the Beatitudes, to help people find freedom from their hurts, hang-ups, and habits through the power of Jesus Christ!

Every community has people who are hurting, people who have hang-ups, and people who have destructive habits. Every church has many people that are struggling in at least one of the above areas.

How is your church prepared to help them? Celebrate Recovery provides your church with the tools to reach out and care for your church members and those in your community that are struggling. This is so important during theses hard economic times. Celebrate Recovery is time tested! It is currently active in over 12,000 churches nationwide and has been translated into 19 languages. Celebrate Recovery is found in churches, prisons, rescue missions, and even military bases.

By attending the Celebrate Recovery Summit you will learn how to start and grow this essential ministry in your church. The Summit is a powerful three day conference. You’ll hear from some people that are doing Celebrate Recovery in churches just like yours and from the leading experts on Christ-centered recovery. In addition we are offering over 20 workshops for you to choose from.

Conference will be held August 12-14, 2009. Visit Rockbridge Seminary’s information table and talk with Dr. Daryl Eldridge, who will be at the CR Summit representing Rockbridge Seminary. We especially recommend attendance for students who may be launching a recovery ministry program or wanting to strengthen a Celebrate Recovery ministry already underway. 

REGISTER for the Celebrate Recovery Summit 2009

 

 

Anne Jackson on porn addiction

(Hat tip Christianity Today blog Out of Ur)

Rockbridge Seminary students who have completed the online course “Recovery Ministry” may be interested in viewing Anne Jackson and Mike Foster’s interview on “Porn Wednesday” by Community Christian Church’s Student Community (Naperville, IL).

You’ll Still Be a JAR of CLAY

God uses messed-up people to do his work.

Seminary will not magically change you from a jar of clay into something else. On the day you graduate, you will still be a jar of clay in need of a Savior’s grace just as much as the people you serve. Even so, God may choose to use you.

Here’s what Internet Monk writes this Holy Week: 

Evangelicals love a testimony of how screwed up I USED to be. They aren’t interested in how screwed up I am NOW. But the fact is, that we are screwed up. Then. Now. All the time in between and, it’s a safe bet to assume, the rest of the time we’re alive. But we will pay $400 to go hear a “Bible teacher” tell us how we are only a few verses, prayers and cds away from being a lot better. And we will sit quietly, or applaud loudly, when the story is retold. I’m really better now. I’m a good Christian. I’m not a mess anymore. I’m different from other people.

Please. Call this off. It’s making me sick. I mean that. It’s affecting me. I’m seeing, in my life and the lives of others, a commitment to lying about our condition that is absolutely pathological. Evangelicals called Bill Clinton a big-time liar about sex? Come on. How many nodding “good Christians” have so much garbage sitting in the middle of their lives that the odor makes it impossible to breathe without gagging? How many of us are addicted to food, porn and shopping? How many of us are depressed, angry, unforgiving and just plain mean? How many of us are a walking, talking course on basic hypocrisy, because we just can’t look at ourselves in the mirror and admit what we a collection of brokenness we’ve become WHILE we called ourselves “good Christians” who want to “witness” to others. I’m choking just writing this.

Rockbridge Seminary students who have completed the online seminary courses “Recovery Ministry” and “Personal Counseling Skills” may be helped by reading the entire blog: iMonk 101: When I Am Weak: Why we must embrace our brokenness and never be good Christians.