Greetings,
Our endeavor to equip and provide tools and resources that are focused on rising up compassionate, powerful and effective Group Facilitators brings L.I.F.E Ministries into a season full of innovative strategic planning. As our culture becomes more and more complacent on sexual depravity, we as Christian Warriors must also respond.
Recently, in my ponderings of how to better serve sexual addicts who muster up enough courage and humility to walk through the door of a sexual addiction support group meeting, the Lord reminded me of my own experience. This is why I’m excited about our new L.I.F.E. Orientation Guide; “The Beginning Journey”.
Remembering my own beginning journey and what it was like when I found an audio lecture or an article that helped minister hope and healing to me about my sexual sin, I began to compile a library of resources I could reflect on as I progressed in recovery. Those articles, books and CD’s became like priceless gems to me in that they helped me gain courage and humility to defeat my pride and denial, and ultimately helped restore my broken relationship with a compassionate and forgiving God.
As a Group Facilitator, I was passionate about having enough of this kind of information to give to a new person who came off the battle field broken, wounded and confused about what was happening in his life. Reaching back into a now vast and diverse collection of articles, devotionals and booklets, I fashioned “welcome packets” for every new person who decided to come to my meetings. It was important to me that these wounded souls could perhaps take home a small “nugget” of hope.
Through time the packet evolved into an educational asset. Many of these wounded souls had spouses, family or loved ones who had questions about sexual addiction and we added intuitive material that helped to “jump start” their understanding of the many “facets” of our addiction, and how all this came to be and what the road to recovery looked like from our perspective at the “starting line”.
The Beginning Journey is a collection of thoughts, articles and concepts that Group Facilitators will find useful in preparing a new member for the journey into the L.I.F.E. Guide and the format of your meeting. Much of this material has been said in other places by other people, but I think that we can all agree that redundancy in recovery is a good thing.
The intent is to provide an integration or orientation tool that will challenge new group members to answer some basic, honest and realistic questions about themselves, their perspective, and their readiness to begin the journey of recovery. The Beginning Journey is divided into a four week, “101” style format. Each new member will be assigned a mentor or temporary sponsor to help answer questions and elaborate on the material. Basic accountability is established in that at the conclusion of each week a challenge is issued by the Guide to the new member that he or she will need to check-in with to the temporary sponsor. The booklet will also provide the Group Facilitator with the opportunity to encourage and share the inclusion process of new members with mature group attendees. This can allow the Principle work of the L.I.F.E. Guide to continue seamlessly for the mainstream of the group.
Finally, and most importantly, the Orientation Guide offers a “no-risk” trial for a new group member who (as I’ve seen so many times before) reaches a reluctance or resistance stage in the early phases of recovery and may pull back or completely quit of the group. This booklet then becomes great “seed” material which can serve as a L.I.F.E. Saver at another time.
The early days, weeks and months of recovery are a delicate and volatile time for addicts, their spouses and families. This integration process can help to resolve some of the “unknowns” that arise. The booklet uses questions to encourage self-reflection and can act as an “internal motive checker”.
The Orientation Guide has been smartly designed to be a modulated tool in that as new concepts, ideas and strategies come forward from people like you, the Group Facilitators, the booklet can be kept fresh, innovative and current with those strategies. We invite you to be prayerful with us in our vision to provide a new ideas and tools to sexual addicts, their spouses, families and to you. May God bless you in your commitment to the lives and wellness of the members of your group, ministry and life.
With Shields Locked,
Larry G.
Our endeavor to equip and provide tools and resources that are focused on rising up compassionate, powerful and effective Group Facilitators brings L.I.F.E Ministries into a season full of innovative strategic planning. As our culture becomes more and more complacent on sexual depravity, we as Christian Warriors must also respond.
Recently, in my ponderings of how to better serve sexual addicts who muster up enough courage and humility to walk through the door of a sexual addiction support group meeting, the Lord reminded me of my own experience. This is why I’m excited about our new L.I.F.E. Orientation Guide; “The Beginning Journey”.
Remembering my own beginning journey and what it was like when I found an audio lecture or an article that helped minister hope and healing to me about my sexual sin, I began to compile a library of resources I could reflect on as I progressed in recovery. Those articles, books and CD’s became like priceless gems to me in that they helped me gain courage and humility to defeat my pride and denial, and ultimately helped restore my broken relationship with a compassionate and forgiving God.As a Group Facilitator, I was passionate about having enough of this kind of information to give to a new person who came off the battle field broken, wounded and confused about what was happening in his life. Reaching back into a now vast and diverse collection of articles, devotionals and booklets, I fashioned “welcome packets” for every new person who decided to come to my meetings. It was important to me that these wounded souls could perhaps take home a small “nugget” of hope.
Through time the packet evolved into an educational asset. Many of these wounded souls had spouses, family or loved ones who had questions about sexual addiction and we added intuitive material that helped to “jump start” their understanding of the many “facets” of our addiction, and how all this came to be and what the road to recovery looked like from our perspective at the “starting line”.
The Beginning Journey is a collection of thoughts, articles and concepts that Group Facilitators will find useful in preparing a new member for the journey into the L.I.F.E. Guide and the format of your meeting. Much of this material has been said in other places by other people, but I think that we can all agree that redundancy in recovery is a good thing.
The intent is to provide an integration or orientation tool that will challenge new group members to answer some basic, honest and realistic questions about themselves, their perspective, and their readiness to begin the journey of recovery. The Beginning Journey is divided into a four week, “101” style format. Each new member will be assigned a mentor or temporary sponsor to help answer questions and elaborate on the material. Basic accountability is established in that at the conclusion of each week a challenge is issued by the Guide to the new member that he or she will need to check-in with to the temporary sponsor. The booklet will also provide the Group Facilitator with the opportunity to encourage and share the inclusion process of new members with mature group attendees. This can allow the Principle work of the L.I.F.E. Guide to continue seamlessly for the mainstream of the group.
Finally, and most importantly, the Orientation Guide offers a “no-risk” trial for a new group member who (as I’ve seen so many times before) reaches a reluctance or resistance stage in the early phases of recovery and may pull back or completely quit of the group. This booklet then becomes great “seed” material which can serve as a L.I.F.E. Saver at another time.
The early days, weeks and months of recovery are a delicate and volatile time for addicts, their spouses and families. This integration process can help to resolve some of the “unknowns” that arise. The booklet uses questions to encourage self-reflection and can act as an “internal motive checker”.
The Orientation Guide has been smartly designed to be a modulated tool in that as new concepts, ideas and strategies come forward from people like you, the Group Facilitators, the booklet can be kept fresh, innovative and current with those strategies. We invite you to be prayerful with us in our vision to provide a new ideas and tools to sexual addicts, their spouses, families and to you. May God bless you in your commitment to the lives and wellness of the members of your group, ministry and life.
With Shields Locked,
Larry G.
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