In September 2022 I sat in the hospital two days before heading out for Cape Town for our advance. I made the decision to withdraw from the program and to be with my daughter as she fought to breathe. I thought to myself, what kind of husband would leave his wife and child in this situation. My father had just passed away, I closed down a small church in a logging town, buried a board member, and lost a couple financial supporters from our church. Everything had fallen apart in a matter of months. The Lord spoke to me, to go to Cape Town, to trust Him. I came into the hospital room with my wife where our daughter was struggling to breathe. My wife said to go, if needed, she would keep it together if our daughter passed and we could have the funeral after I got back from Cape Town.<\/p>\n
Cape Town was a struggle for me. I was struggling to stay focused. I could not hear Dr. Clark clearly in the room we were in. I did not pack well. I just wanted to be alone. Often, I would leave the hotel and go to the poor areas and minister and pray for people to be healed and some were. As we went and toured other churches, Dr. Clark came back to the end of the bus and sat with me. He shared with me that he has had some hard seasons in ministry. He shared with me a little about his daughter. I looked at him and said I was kind of hoping he would let me prophecy over each person in the program and heal some people and in return he would give me my doctoral degree and let me go home. He smiled, like only Dr. Clark can smile. Dr. Clark could have had many different responses towards me, but in his smile and gentleness he said “Greg no doubt God has anointed you, but you are going to learn some other things in this program and develop your soul to go along with your anointing (spirit).” I wanted to say to him, I have lost everyone in my circle, I’m hurting, would you be my spiritual father. I still want to ask him to be my spiritual father, but I made a decision to trust Dr. Clark.<\/p>\n
Trusting Dr. Clark<\/strong><\/p>\n In trusting Dr. Clark, I looked for the gold in Lieberman’s book Spellbound.[1]<\/em>\u00a0After spending some time in this book I disagreed with a great deal, especially towards the end of the book and how the Apostle Paul would interpret this book. I believe Paul would use 2nd Corinthians 5:8 “to be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord” as the foundation of his argument. But Dr. Clark mentioned last week with Peterson, he is actually helping a great amount of people return to their faith. Because of Dr. Clark and his example and his constant patience and grace as we come into a deeper knowledge and form, and also learn to defend our thoughts, I think how could I sit with Daniel Lieberman and share about my faith in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n Lieberman’s book, turned into a training manual on how to communicate the gospel, spiritual gifts, anointings, and more to a psychologist. Most of all, how can I be a Dr. Clark and sit with someone and be so gentle and loving. Most of all to be a differentiated leader, to lead (not react) that other person into truth. I have come to believe that Psychology is man’s attempt to help people without the aid of Jesus Christ. In Acts 3 we have the story of Peter and John at the temple gate. Peter does not ask the person about his childhood, but simply says in the name of Jesus be healed.[2] Counseling should lead to the cross and being healed through the cross. I believe many of the problems we face in our society today is because people are not getting healed and spending a lifetime trying to cope with their pain.[3]<\/p>\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n Henri Nouwen said that “true compassion always begins right where we are.”[4] When we see, recognize, and sit with another in their pain compassion emerges. Lord help me be more still and just sit with people, let them truly see you in me. Dr. Clark sat with me, he did not tell me about Friedman and Failure of Nerve and how I was open to sabotage.[5] In the moment, Dr. Clark was a pastor, a man of God. The man I needed at that time.<\/p>\n In my experience as a father, pastor, and construction management, I have come to trust God and his process. To not be so quick to rescue people but allow them to go through the process. To use my prophetic gifting to create a story, a story of self-discovery and eventually a new found identity. In Romans 5 we see the process of growth by going through the process of tribulation, in fact we are to glory in it. We see that tribulation, produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope. We see in the end of this process we are to give hope. I believe most people seek out a psychologist because they just need someone to sit with them and listen. Someone to say I am listening and I care.<\/p>\n [1] Daniel Z. Lieberman, Spellbound: Modern Science, Ancient Magic, and the Hidden Potential of the Unconscious Mind<\/i>, Dallas: Ben Bella Books, 2022.<\/p>\n [2] Acts 3:1-10 NKJV<\/p>\n [3] Shirl, Debay PhD. Crisis Counseling<\/em> Seattle Bible College 2012.<\/p>\n [4] Henri J.M. Nouwen, Donald P. McNeill, Douglas A. Morrison: Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life<\/em>: Darton, Longman and Todd. 2010.<\/p>\n [5] Edwin H. Friedman. A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix<\/em>. Revised Editon, Church Publishing. 2017<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In September 2022 I sat in the hospital two days before heading out for Cape Town for our advance. I made the decision to withdraw from the program and to be with my daughter as she fought to breathe. 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