We Still Get Three More Days Of This Stuff!!

Wow. The teaching and passion here are wonderful. Today I found out that it is possible to get excited about going to a church that is not my own. I know too many people who have struggled to find a church in their new hometown which compares to Bethany after spending so much time there. I know that if I had to move here, there would be a great place to go.

Well, starting with breakfast, it was a good day. Joan had everything we could want ready for us. Cereal, milk, OJ, fruit, bagels and snacks to go.

The head Pastor here is Steve Viars (below). The dude is amazing. He has the constant rabbit tail qualities of Mr. Fay, the depth, over-time and real life applications of Pastor Ritch, and the sense of humor of Pastor Daniel. Speaking of Daniel, he better not be getting credit for this after catching him on his laptop during the third session! Pastor Viars shared with us about Why the church should counsel and what makes Biblical counseling Biblical. Definitely my favorite speaker. Just hearing about what the ministries of this church are doing in this community is worth the visit.
The conference provided a wonderful snack break after a couple of sessions. It was at today's session that Josh and I met Beth. Beth is here with her husband from Virginia. She is normally busy setting up college students. So while she's here, she will be trying to set up Josh and I with a couple of lovely ladies. Am I wearing a "hook me up" sign on my forehead or something?

After Pastor Viars, we heard from Dr. Smith, the father of Bethany's very own Pastor Joel Smith. Dr. Smith is not only an elder at this church, but a founding member of NANC. Dr. Smith took us through the first few Key elements in the Counseling process, my favorite one being GETTING INVOLVED!

Just before lunch, it occurred to me that this church has the same light fixtures as ours. I was a little zoned out on Sudafed and caffeine ok! Back off.

Next was boxed lunches. We could definitely use a Lyall touch to the organization of that, but it went well all things considered.

My boss would KILL to have a professional fitted gym floor covering like this at school.

Lunch was all over in the Community Center which is just like what it sounds, built by the church for the community. It has a sweet gym, and I'll get you pictures of the skate ramps later.

We had more speakers and great topics but I'll not spend time explaining because it's stinkin' late.



Back at home, Joan cooked up for us an AWESOME pork roast meal! Oh, I can't tell you how cool our hosts are. Joan was slightly disappointed in my progress on the female front though. I didn't get a single girl's name today.

Hosting couples are only expected to provide a breakfast, but Joan had us over for dinner tonight and has plenty of leftovers for another time. Tomorrow, however, I believe Josh and I will join the Bethany crew for some Chick-fil-A!

JoshF would be proud of me. He uses me as his sous-chef all the time, and so did Joan. JoshG and I did not get out of the house for review time without first browining 15lbs. of meet for a church meal tomorrow night.

With a long and late night review session with the group, it's way past my bed time. Folks in other more advanced sessions had gone through some pretty deep topics like specific situations in counseling divorced parents and medication use, and had some serious questions for Joel. It was great listening in on the discussion...but seriously...I gotta go.

Good Night