Greetings all, we are back in Colorado now, beginning my last year of seminary. It has been awhile since I have posted (about 3 months actually!) . I am going to try and be better about posting to our blog. For those of you who didn’t know, Sarah, Abby and I spent the winter in Springfield, IL. We made some wonderful friends while there and were able to spend some time with Sarah’s parents who have been home from the mission field.
Last week was the first week of classes here at the seminary and we completed our first class, The Doctrine of God. Dr. Lewis Hill, President of Reformed Discipleship Ministries was our lecturer. It was an excellent study of our Scriptural understanding of who God is, and his plan of redemption.
This week’s course is Pastoral Counselling, led by Dr. Andrew Zeller. Primarily we will be reading through Instruments in the Redeemers Hands, by Paul David Tripp. From what I have read thus far, this is an excellent book that is not only helpful for those who “professionally” counsel, but to any Christian, who takes relationships and discipleship seriously. I have only read the first 3 chapters so far (I should be finished by the end of the week), but already I can see that Dr. Tripp is laying a foundation of who we are in Christ Jesus instead of presenting a “system” on how to counsel people. One of the neat things with this course and this book is that the women at the seminary are also going to go through this book as part of their study this summer.
Well, I think that is all for now, we would love to hear from you.
-Paul
hey paul! thanks for the number! i like reading what kind of books you are getting into. i’ve seen “Instruments” in our church library/bookstore and had it recommended a couple times. i wanna know what you think when you are thru- particularly if its applicable to a lay person, such as myself (
not really interested in trying to counsel others, professionally or otherwise!)
I am nearly done with the book, and I would recommend it. As a matter of fact, you counsel people everyday, you just don’t know it. People may tell you about a problem and you may give them advice. . . that is counseling. This book is really written for the lay person and it give you tools to do a better job asking questions and getting to know the person all within the framework of Christ’s Redemption. I think you would benefit greatly from reading it. Probably one of the best books on the subject.
Thanks for the comments, take care.