Today, in my class, we’ll be talking about the characteristics of good answers in counseling. We’ve pretty much been talking about questions up until now because I’ve seen a huge tendency (in myself and others) to want to “fix” a problem before we know much about it. I’ve been hammering them with good counseling starts with asking the right questions. Today, we focus on good answers.
Good answers do the following seven things: confront the pain; accept the unknown; give time to process; minister with presence; share Biblical principles; show that they are not alone in their struggles; remind how God has worked in the past. I know there are other things, but for me, these characteristics are the things that make an answer a good answer.
Below is the mind map of my notes. Click the image to see it bigger (it’s in Spanish).
My class this quarter is one hour everyday. I prefer that over two hour classes two days a week because I have a chance to hit one topic and leave them thinking about it for the rest of the day.
In a two hour class, I feel like I have to cover more topics in one class period. This is hard for me because I’m not really good at transitioning. I’m working on it, but I’m not very good going from one idea to the next. It’s especially hard if the ideas don’t fit together really well. As far as teaching goes, it’s better for me to have a one hour class everyday. Unfortunately, as far as scheduling is concerned, it really hurts my calendar. I have to be there everyday.
I had a great time teaching the Master’s Level class this week, but I sure am glad it’s over. Teaching all day everyday is really monotonous. The students learned a lot, and I believe that they walked away with a greater understanding of what youth ministry is all about. I’m glad to have taught it. I’m really glad to be finished with is. Now comes the regularly scheduled program.
I’ve been teaching all day all week, which is a huge energy drain. It’s been good, but at the same time, it’s taken me away from many other important things that I have to do. My to do list is piling up, but that’s just going to have to wait until next Monday.
I haven’t had time to breathe this week hardly. We’ve had a lot of good discussion about youth ministry, and I’m glad to have taught the class. We’ll see how well the exam goes today.
This week I’m spending the whole week teaching an intensive Master’s Level course at the seminary. We start this morning at 9:30, and we have to put 30 hours of class time in by the end of the week. Needless to say, I won’t be online much during this week. So much for the week break between quarters.
We went to Ojo de Agua today to give a youth ministry training workshop to the leadership of Jesus the Good Shepherd Church. The pastor really has the vision for youth ministry, and the church would like to have a youth pastor.
We had a great time. Oscar and Huberto did most of the training, and they did a great job. We also had some great conversation with the pastor of the church about what could happen in the future. Click here to see more pictures from today.
