GraceConnexion

The Shack Revisited Conference - Video Online

HeartConnexion Seminars presents Paul Young, C. Baxter Kruger and Paul Fitzgerald sharing at The Shack Revisited Conference, May 21, 2011. Special thanks to Brad Hill, Dave Lingenfelter, Vanessa Kersting, Tee Walker, Jennifer Merriner, Dan McNight (pastor of Kaw Prairie Community Church), his staff and amazing volunteers.

All sessions are also available as audio download or to listen online through another post on this blog. You can subscribe to HeartConnexion Seminars on iTunes and get future updates automatically.

Watch live streaming video from heartconnexion at livestream.com

The Shack Revisited Conference Pt. 1- Paul Young:
Paul Young, author of The Shack, opens the conference with his personal story behind the book's storyline. He also shares some of how the book moved from a simple project for his children to selling more than 12 million copies internationally.

Watch live streaming video from heartconnexion at livestream.com

The Shack Revisited Conference Pt. 2- Dr. C. Baxter Kruger:
Dr. C. Baxter Kruger shares the theological understanding of the Early Church (Nicene) Fathers about the Trinity and Incarnation and it's parallel to the portrayal Paul Young built into The Shack. It's more amazing grace then we've appreciated.

Watch live streaming video from heartconnexion at livestream.com

The Shack Revisited Conference Pt. 3- Dr. Paul Fitzgerald:
Dr. Paul shares the how internalized-shame often continues to complicate life even after we've found forgiveness for guilt. He shares a Compass of Shame Defenses that complicate healthy relationships and spirituality and suggests core elements for healing heart-wounds to live loved and love life.

Watch live streaming video from heartconnexion at livestream.com

The Shack Revisited Conference Pt. 4- Q & R:
Paul Young, Baxter Kruger and Paul Fitzgerald give responses (not answers :) to Conference participants questions.

 

 

 

 

The Shack Revisited Conference - Audio Online

HeartConnexion Seminars presents Paul Young, C. Baxter Kruger and Paul Fitzgerald sharing at The Shack Revisited Conference, May 21, 2011. Special thanks to Brad Hill, Dave Lingenfelter, Vanessa Kersting, Tee Walker, Jennifer Merriner, Dan McNight (pastor of Kaw Prairie Community Church), his staff and amazing volunteers.

All sessions are available as audio download or to listen online. You can subscribe to HeartConnexion Seminars on iTunes and get future updates automatically.

The Shack Revisited Conference Pt. 1- Paul Young:

Paul Young, author of The Shack, opens the conference with his personal story behind the book's storyline. He also shares some of how the book moved from a simple project for his children to selling more than 12 million copies internationally.

The Shack Revisited Conference Pt. 2- Dr. C. Baxter Kruger:
Dr. C. Baxter Kruger shares the theological understanding of the Early Church (Nicene) Fathers about the Trinity and Incarnation and it's parallel to the portrayal Paul Young built into The Shack. It's more amazing grace then we've appreciated.

The Shack Revisited Conference Pt. 3- Dr. Paul Fitzgerald:
Dr. Paul shares the how internalized-shame often continues to complicate life even after we've found forgiveness for guilt. He shares a Compass of Shame Defenses that complicate healthy relationships and spirituality and suggests core elements for healing heart-wounds to live loved and love life.

The Shack Revisited Conference Pt. 4- Q & R:
Paul Young, Baxter Kruger and Paul Fitzgerald give responses (not answers :) to Conference participants questions.

HCM Logo Merchandise Store is Open!

Remember the T-shirt Logo design contest a few months back? Well, as of right now you can order t-shirts and various other items with a variety of the winning designs submitted and more are coming.

And, it's just in time for the Gift-giving Season. Take a look at the items and let's see who shows up first with a new HCM logo item to an HCM event.

Thanks to Team Timothy members Michael Renner and Tee Walker and a big thanks to Brent Coonrod for creating the store and many hours of labor in getting it up and running.

Click on the logo or here to explore the store. We're open to suggestions for products as well as additional designs you want to submit.

Living An Honest Life - Front Porch Podcast

Brad Hill has been coordinating speakers at HeartConnexion's weekly Front Porch gatherin in the KC area.  Obviously, not every one living in the area can attend the sessions and certainly people you live in other areas can't take advantage of attending. The response to the sharing at Front Porch has been very positive and we wanted a way to expand the opportunity for others to have access to the information.

Last week Brad shared the theme "Living An Honest Life" and Cindo Chapko (who lives in NW Arkansas) prodded us to create a podcast so she and others could hear the information. So, we've done just that.

Christmas Made Easy!

Here's a win-win-win just in time for Christmas. Your friend or family member wins by attending BT, PVL, or YKT at a discount, you win by their growth and HCM wins by helping more people disccover they too can Live Loved and Love Life. Check it out.

 

Don Fitzsimons, New HCM Administrator

Don Fitzsimons has accepted the role of HCM Administrator. Susanna and I have known Don for more years than any of us want to acknowledge. He is a professional counselor (LSCSW) and experienced administrator of a non-profit counseling agency. He attended BT a number of years ago and decided to go through again with new eyes at this stage of his life. That was great to hear; then he wondered if we could use his volunteer service for more hours than I could have imagined. It is an absolute answer to prayer.

I've been praying two prayers recently. As part of the HCM Community, you and Don are both part of Father's answer. The prayers are:

Introducing HCM's Team Timothy

Earlier this year, a group of long-time BT volunteers saw that we were facing some very difficult times with limited resources. Out of their passion for the ministry, they wanted to come along side Susanna and me to assist and create a new volunteer structure - thus the Biblical analogy in it's name.

Team Timothy includes volunteers who lead also lead various committees staffed with passionate volunteers who bring professional experience help HCM. The Team serves in an adviser and collaborative role with the Staff and HCM's Board of Directors.

What a blessing it is to have people who are proactive about keeping HCM and BT going long into the future. Here are current members of the Team, their Committee assignment and something about their passion for HCM. Additional team members may be added as assignments are clarified:

Michael Renner - Committee Facilitator

It was February when I heard that HeartConnexion was struggling. I worried if HeartConnexion ceased to exist, my friends and family members would never have the chance to experience the same kind of freedom I found in a Breakthrough training. Three other friends felt the same sense of urgency and together we began a campaign to keep the ministry alive. Our philosophy was simple, “None of us is as smart as all of us.” This community is full of talent, creativity and skill so we gathered up like-minded people to help. The combined passion, hope and energy of a few has grown into a grass roots campaign supported by resourceful and capable individuals who are investing in HeartConnexion like never before. I am on Team Timothy because I believe in the BT process and this community. I believe God will bless the ministry a special way as we join hearts to create a new and improved HeartConnexion where nobody gets left behind.

Joy Campbell - Finance Committee 

I completed BT in August 1996 and served as a TA. Scott and I  served on the YKT Training team for several years. 

I am serving on Team Timothy to help the ministry gain a new vision so that BreakThrough seminars will continue to thrive.  I believe that this seminar is a crucial life line for who are looking for a safe place to grow and heal personally as well as in improving the significant relationships in their life.

 

Bob Arbuckle - Community Building Co-Chair 

Attending BreakThrough saved my life. I completed BT in early 2001 and volunteered as a TA for the first  time in 2002 and have been a TA for over 30 BT groups. Currently I am doing sound for BT 1 and BT 2 and TA. Not only has BT changed my life, it's positively impacted my children in amazing ways. Soon, all of my children will have attended BT and Megan has now become a TA. What a wonderful experience to TA with your child. I've encouraged many of my children's friends to attend BT and it's been life-transforming for them as well. I am ready to put energy into sustaining BT and HCM so that it is changing lives many years from now.

Lisa Heston - Ministry/Seminars Development 

I completed Breakthrough in March of 1998.  I have been involved in HeartConnexion Ministries in various ways over the last 12 years. Early in 2010 I was approached to serve on Team Timothy with a group of volunteers. Team Timothy gives me the opportunity to help HeartConnexion Ministries grow and become a thriving community.  I am thankful to have a place that I can use my gifts to create community.  I am excited to share with a group of people who have the same passion for HeartConnexion Ministries that I do and that are willing to give what it takes to make HeartConnexion Ministries the best that it can be.

Brad Hill - Community Building Co-Chair 

We live in a society/world where very few things deliver on what they’ve promised. I tell people there are two things in my experience that are impossible to “over sell” - Hawaii and BreakThrough. I’m alive  because of what I learned in BT and what’s continuing to awaken with in me because of it. You really can be free. You really can know you’re loved. You really are enough. Those are big deals - really big deals.
When asked to be part of a team of volunteers who were committed to helping re-vision and empower BreakThrough, it was a complete no-brainer. I don’t know of anything for anyone that’s as impacting as BreakThrough. I’m excited about where we’ve been, okay with where we are and completely stoked about where we’re going. I’m very, very glad to be on the journey!

Tee Walker - Operations Committee

Attending BreakThrough was very life transforming. It shifted  shifted my perspective from a safe constrained walk with God to a place of really enjoying the freedom of running, skipping and twirling with Him! Participating on Team Timothy is one way I can give back and put energy into HeartConnexion Ministries by using my professional experience in administration and project management. It's a way to "pay-it-forward" with my energy to make sure the HCM is a thriving ministry for many more years to make the freedom I found available to others.

Aaron Smith - Fund Raising/Legacy Funding 

I am hoping to contribute in the realm of fund raising. I have learned through my experience with The Salvation Army that fund raising is a vital part of successful non-profit organizations. In my profession I constantly use relationship tools that
I have learned from Paul, Susanna and many others within the Breakthrough community. I now have a new perspective on life. In the past I lived with fear. I felt that I was one mistake away from losing love from the people around me and even God. Now I am learning to trust in myself and in God’s steadfast love. I am honored to assist the staff and come alongside passionate Team Timothy members. I am an assertive, confident, peace-filled man who inspires love in himself and others and I have medicine for HeartConnexion Ministries!

Is 'No Accidents Without Value' found in Scripture?

Actually, I have found it woven through all of the Old and New Testament. Sometimes it's more obvious, yet even when it's obvious, an unhealthy image of God can obscure it and create doubt in us. Beginning with the story of the Garden of Eden, the essential work of evil has been creating doubt in us about the character of God.

Romans 8:28 "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." is one of those obvious places. Yet even here, lifted out of context, the verse often mis-read and may create doubt.

The common mis-reading is something like this "We know that all the good things that work together for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." This mis-reading is rooted in the mistake in the Garden Story that we really do know what is "good" and what is "bad." When we call something "good" we work hard to get it and hang on to it. When we feel that something is or will be "bad" we try to protect ourselves from it or get rid of it as fast as possible. Yet, most of us have found that what we thought was "good" for us turned out very "bad" and "bad" experiences turned out good beyond our wildest imagination.

The second part of this misreading is reading it conditionally rather than as a description of God's unconditional love. Conditional reading makes the way things seem to be working for good or not so good the indicator of whether we "love God enough" or are among the "really called." A descriptive reading of the verse in context of Romans and Paul's earlier letters makes it certain that God is actively at work in the lives of every single person for their good because He loves them.

For example, Romans 5 includes the Good News that:

"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly….God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us….if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life….Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous."

Doesn't Paul's "all" seem a lot more inclusive than exclusive? Does that mean there are no consequences to poor relationship choices? Not at all. How could a loving God not allow painful consequences to teach us how life works best? Does that mean all painful circumstances are the result of our poor choices? Not at all. Does that mean we are not as blind as were both the Prodigal Son and his Elder Brother and need to "repent" about our mis-judging the character of Father? No, we seem to be one or the other and sometimes both at different times in our lives.

In the first part of Romans 5 Paul assures his readers (and us) that Father's love is the basis of our hope in all of humanity's circumstances:

"Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.; And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." Romans 5:various

The verses just before Romans 8:28 are also an important context for understanding the promise of God's faithfulness when we don't have a clue about what's going on in our life's circumstances. We are not left helpless or alone but the Son continues to be an active intercessory of our heart's "sighs too deep for words." The Son and the Spirit are not passive observers to our challenges but present, inviting our attention to Father's character and, when we can't even hear, actively at work in our souls.

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." Romans 5:1-5

Lastly, the verses following Romans 8:28 are an important context. It is as though Paul is building up his teaching about the love of God for humanity like an composer of music might build to a to a rousing crescendo:

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?  He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:31-39.

All that to say, "There Are No Accidents Without Value" and at the same time to acknowledge finding value in some of deepest pain may be a lifetime of exploring and may await the healing of eternity to see what we can't see here and now.

 

Who Are You, Really?

Do you ever feel like the circumstances of your life are pressing in and squeezing you into it’s mold of who others want you to be? It can feel like it's squeezing our “real life” out of us back into the "false-self life." We begin to feel like we've lost ourselves in the middle of all the busyness of doing. At those times we really need to have people in our life who can ask us the simple but profound question:“Who Are You, Really?” Having those people in our life is part of creating a winning environment where living authentically is easier than not.

BT friends can do that with us, if we are real with them and allow them to be real with us. Hopefully we have other healthy friends with whom we can be real.  Isolation from people who have medicine for us can have as negative an impact on us as being around unhealthy people.

“Who are you?” is an opportunity to step out of the swirl of all the feelings and pressure to be reminded of the truth about yourself.  Amazingly, it can come at just the right time from some of the strangest sources. Recently, Adrienne Merit (BT June 2008) had just such an occasion and shared it with me. She created a desktop reminder of who she is really as a reminder but it also served as a way to Live Out Loud since everyone in her office could see it displayed. Thank you Adrienne for sharing your story.

Dr. Paul,

I was really going through a rough time at work in January. Between the horrendous workload and not getting along with my new manager, each day was overwhelming.

My boss came by my desk one day to see how things were going. I told her how frustrated I was and all the complications I was facing.

She paused a moment after I vented and pointed to my contract I have on my desk (pic below) and simply asked "What happened to that person?"

Ouch! She nailed me - and she doesn't know anything about BT!

It's amazing how God continues to use people in Omaha to keep my accountable.

Miss you and the HC community!!
Adrienne Merrit

So, I'll be the one to ask you: “Who are you, really?” If you’re off contract, ask for help to get back on it.  Ask for help. Call some of your group members or a healthy friend. Losing your authentic-self is too high a price to pay.   Are you ready take living your contract and your life to the next level? Are you ready to step out of some of life’s “unwinnable games” that keep us stuck? If so, then you are ready for Life Coaching with Dr. Paul. For information call 913-829-8810 extension 1.

Staying Connected to Your Heart?

What are you doing to stay connected to your heart? We all need the support and encouragement of other people in creating the life we want. Unless we are intentional about creating and participating in a supportive environment we will find ourselves being “squeezed into the mold” of the comfort zones of other people and the “authentic-life” being squeeze out of us.

If you are in the KC area, the Tuesday night Front Porch is one of those supportive environments. It meets every Tuesday evening at the Crowne Plaza hotel [where BT is held] at 7:00 pm. The Arkansas BT group have started meeting the first Thursday of the month. There are ways to create your own support connections if you can't participate in one of these groups.

Shari Flanagan sent a note about how important she has found attending Front Porch has been for her in keeping connected and supported:

Hey, Dr. Paul. I just wanted to tell you that I've been attending Front Porch almost every week for the last 5-6 months and it has been an awesome way to stay connected and get connected with fellow BTers.

They have loved me, shown me grace and given me a platform to live out my contract. I'm discovering that living out my contract is my specific and personal way to live life loved.

Big Hugs and Loves to you and Susanna!
Shari Flanagan

Can’t attend an existing meeting? Don’t let that stop you from staying connected. Meet with several of your BT group for coffee on some basis that works for your schedules. If there are 3 or more who want to create your own “virtual Front Porch” you can use a free conference call service like www.freeconferencecall.com [that’s right it’s free.]  Someone who will be on the call has to create an account (no fees) and then the group agrees on a time to call. You can set the meeting time anytime, there's no travel required and you can even meet in the comfort of your pajamas.

It’s your life! Be intentional and be creative but don't skip on staying connected to your heart.

Dr. Paul and Susanna