Please indulge me while I take over our blog today for a personal word. I am leaving this morning to make my way to Lafayette, Indiana to attend the annual conference of the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors which begins next Monday. I will be arriving early so I can visit with my mother and sister who live several blocks from Faith Baptist Church where the conference is to be held.
The annual conference is always a highlight in my schedule each year. It is a joy to see many friends whom I only get to see occasionally, it is an encouragement to see many newly certified counselors receive their certificates, and it is always helpful to attend workshops to hear the fruit of what many good men in our association have been studying in recent days.
I want to appeal to our readers to be in prayer for the conference this year—especially the business meeting that will be held on Tuesday afternoon. Because some important issues will be raised this year the potential exists for divisiveness. Now, while division is not necessarily a bad thing, please pray that God would give wisdom and grace to those who will be speaking at that meeting and that all participants will be as anxious to listen as they are to speak.
Jay and I have not blogged about this before now and I will not go into detail here other than to report that we, and 25 other members, have put forward several amendments to the NANC bylaws in an attempt to clarify several issues for the board. Earlier this year a plurality—not a majority—of the NANC board made, what is in our view, several unwise decisions and did so in violation of the NANC bylaws. We are praying that the amendments that we have put forward will not only prevent these kinds of decisions in the future but will encourage the board in the good work God has entrusted to them. Please pray that God would give each NANC member great wisdom as we debate these issues.