Greek, Greek, Greek

I send this out for all those who have listened to me cry and moan about my struggles trying to learn Greek for my degree plan. If you are Dr. Holmes, this a a true tribute to my feelings about the importance of mastering the Greek language. Enjoy.

Christmas Giveaway

Trevin Wax at Kingdom People is planning a great giveaway. On Christmas Day, he will be giving away a copy of his ten favorite books of the year plus a copy of the ESV Study Bible. Now that is a great giveaway. Go here for more information.

Another Office

If you know me, you know one of my favorite television shows is "The Office". It is based on a British program by the same name. If you, like me, enjoy either of these, you will probably like this clip from the Japanese version. Please enjoy. (Please excuse the commercial about half-way through.)

Giving By Searching

I don't know about you, but I am a searcher. When I do not know something, I search for it. Of course, I am talking about internet searches. For a long time, Google has been my search engine of choice. I am changing. I am still loyal to Google. I still use gMail, Google Maps, Google Groups, Blogger, and other services. I am just changing my search engine. I have found something that I like, and I hope you will try it out, too. It is called GoodSearch. You may have already heard about it. For every search, they donate $0.01 (1 cent) to the charity or non-profit of your choice. The money comes from their advertising revenue. They also have GoodShop. When you make a purchase through the GoodShop Mall, the merchant donates a portion of the purchase price back to your cause. There are a few searches which do not generate the donation. They are: 1) image searches; 2) video searches; 3) "search this site" searches; 4) searches for URL's (i.e., search terms ending in .com, .org, .net, .edu); 5) searches to sites for which the URL is well known such as HotMail, ESPN, MySpace, Facebook, GMail, AOL, etc.; 6) searches for stock quotes; 7) searches for word definitions, and 8) any searches generated from fraudulent use of the site. This seems reasonable to me. I have added a GoodSearch button at the top of the left column. When you click on the button, you will be taken to the GoodSearch home page. Just enter your search term. The cause my dontations will go to is already chosen. I have chosen for my searches to benefit my church. Be sure to leave a comment to let me know what you think about this.

The Role of Counseling in the Ministry of the Pastor

If you have about 26 minutes to kill, check out this video of a presentation I made in my psychology and counseling class. It focuses on simple, practical elements of the counseling role in pastoral ministry. I know it is long. Sorry about that. If you do take the time to watch it, please give me some feedback. Thanks.


The Role of Counseling in the Ministry of the Pastor from John Collier on Vimeo.

Counseling Method

A couple of weeks ago, I posted some thoughts about pastoral counseling and referrals and related topics. There are several methods of counseling. The following video illustrates a less common method. Counselors might find this method effective if they practiced it a little more often.