I'm wanting to plan a specific 20 session discipleship plan for a couple suffering from PTSD after being excommunicated from a cult. This could last anywhere from 6 months to 3 years. Who knows? How would you go about it? So far I have 5 pillars 1. God as you refuge 2. Grade exchange 3. Church as a hospital 4. Word of God as a feast 5. Forgiveness as release Within each pillar I have 4 weeks planned. My time will be a devotional with 1 to 3 question. Don't want to overwhelm followed by prayer. Any suggestions how to walk with someone. I feel a little out of my depth and feel they may need specialist help as well as me to walk with the spiritually

One of the things that I have noticed since the beginning of using PPGR is that people remember my sermons. When I do shepherding visits or just have coffee with people I hear the things I preached in the sermon quite regularly. Even youth remember. The irony is that when I first started I thought that simplicity of one central idea that you hold and develop was giving the people less of the richness of the word, but I have found over time that people are actually growing more in Christ and are changing. The objections to the sermons being to simple, which were really only from 2 people, have gone away, and I am seeing more and more life. The reality is that if we give too much, people actually remember almost nothing, and if that is the case, they apply almost nothing.

It's SO EASY to tie our identity to how people respond to our sermons. Before Sunday arrives, here's a quick dose of gospel truth to anchor your pastoral heart. ⚓️ YOU ARE A SON BEFORE YOU ARE A SERVANT. Jesus doesn't love you because you preach well. He loves you because you are his. ⚓️ YOUR IDENTITY IS SECURE. Your worth is rooted in the finished work of the cross, not how many stars your sermon gets. ⚓️ THE PRESSURE IS OFF. The Holy Spirit changes hearts. You simply deliver the message. 1. Which of those three truths is the hardest for you to hold onto when Saturday night rolls around? 2. What is a specific practice or reminder you use to tether your identity to Jesus BEFORE AND AFTER you preach? This Sunday, you get to preach from a place of Fatherly approval. The same gospel you're preparing to share with your people is the gospel that covers and sustains you right now. Have a restful Saturday, and preach grace with freedom on Sunday.

There will be a last sermon that someone hears and that you preach. Like so much of life, those may not be planned or in the way we may desire. I think about this a lot, for two reasons: 1) I’m a young cancer survivor (2x). 2) A woman who heard me preach was hit and killed while crossing a road that same evening (there’s a bit of a story here). This motivates me to seek to preach the good news of Jesus through his death and resurrection every time I preach. It could be the last time I get to preach. Or it could be the last sermon someone hears.

What are the 3-5 top areas where you invest the most time during the week? - Sermon prep/devotion/prayer? - Event attendance? - Care and counseling (visitation, hospital, crisis, etc.)? - Meetings/appointments? - Planning/vision (for seasons, series, events)? - Admin & communication (email, social media, testing, phone, etc.)? - Professional development (reading, workshops, coaching)? - Other?