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Showing posts from September, 2009

A GREAT AMERICAN BUT A POOR CHRISTIAN

How our patriotism can hinder our walk with Christ By: Aaron Welch, LMHC, NCC, CSOTS No….I’m not anti-American. Really, I’m not. My father was a WWII and Korea veteran, my oldest brother fought in Vietnam and my other brother has served in Iraq for the most part of four years. I’m proud of each of them and believe in what they did and are doing. Truly, in so many ways, America is the greatest country in the world. Yet….as I review the traits that will lead people to say we are “great Americans” I cannot help but notice that many of them are the opposite of what God wants from us. Let me show you what I mean: -Great Americans are known to be fiercely independent…yet Jesus spoke of being in total submission to the Lord……being a “slave” to Him and dependent on Him to meet our needs. -Great Americans are known to take “pride” in all that they do…yet scripture speaks of pride coming before a fall….and that we are to be humble and put others ahead of ourselves. -Great A

LEADERS: Don't Forget The Hope

by Tim Sanders In my line of work, finding the ultimate definition of leadership is to find the holy grail. I've heard an assortment of good definitions over the years, but during a 2008 interview with USA Today, AMEX CEO Kenneth Chenault came up with the best one I've heard so far. For his definition, he took words from a leader who experienced great success and failure -- Napoleon: "The role of a leader is to define reality and give hope ." That's a GREAT way of thinking about leadership. This simple definition gives you two clear mandates to carefully balance: Reality (the way things are) and Hope (the way things can be). By focusing on both, you are able to be candid, yet inspirational. Leaders who, like Chenault, follow this credo will hit their financial goals, and build an emotionally sustainable business along the way. Without hope, you have follower burn out and revolt. Without reality, you have idealism and no results. So the trick to leadership, then,

Anxiety in Schools

Don’t Let Pressure Squeeze You Out” By Aaron Welch, LMHC, NCC, CSOTS Anxiety comes in many forms…especially in the school system. It lurks around as social phobias, it is ready to pounce in the form of test anxiety, it ambushes us in our fear that we won’t perform like we should. In this day and age, anxiety has become a harbinger of negativity to our kids, from the beginning days of elementary school all the way up to high school and beyond. Students who are charming, intelligent, funny, and totally competent somehow believe that they are ugly, boring, stupid, and incapable. Why? Why would a student who obviously has the ability to do well NOT do well? We can eliminate intellectual ability with most of the students I work with. I find that the students who struggle most with anxiety are kids whose IQ’s are above-average and even up to genius level. If it’s not intellectual functioning, what is it? More often than not, anxiety turns out to be a combination of the