while you're on okay yep so now it's now it now it's recording but it hasn't told me how to save it to the cloud oh when you stop recording that's when oh that's when it asks you how do you want to save it now that i think about it when you stop um recording then um it'll ask you where you want to save it okay yeah All right. I'm always open to learn something new. Yeah. And you know, the, the, uh, this platform keeps coming up with different and new functionalities. So it's always good to know.
Yeah. Yeah. So I'll, I'll try it with the leaders training.
I don't know how we can adapt it for when people are sharing very, you know, uh, intimate kinds of things, but, uh, we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. All right, Dr. Creighton. All right.
Thank you so much. I appreciate it. No problem. I'll see you a little bit later. Okay.
Bye-bye. Bye-bye. All right. Okay. Who's going to offer up the prayer?
I'll offer up the prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for providing us with the space to share our grief. Help us begin to uplift each other as we find our way through this very difficult time. Let us know that you're with us, holding us up, and we will always... lean on you for help and guidance and most importantly, strength.
Thank you for your presence as we go through this difficult time. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.
And the scripture will be from Proverbs 3. Oh, I'm sorry. Did I miss something? doing it. I'm sorry. Did I miss something?
Oh, I thought I was doing it. Oh, maybe I, maybe I missed memo. I thought I was, maybe I misread it too.
I thought I was doing the, the prayer and the scripture. May I ask Sister Helen Jackson Baker to do the scripture and then we'll go in. Thank you for being prepared, Sister Ingram. I appreciate it. I thought that's what the memo said.
Okay. It may have. I'm sorry. It was late.
I was tired. Oh, I don't remember what it said, but I'm going to be reading John 1 verses 1 through 5. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of man. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. The word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
Thanks be to God. Amen. Amen. So it's time for introductions so that everybody knows everyone.
So you can share as much as you care to share about yourself. Nothing required. requires you to say certain things. So it's up to you to share what it is you would like to share.
So I'll start so that everybody can kind of get ready to share what they would like to share. I'm Marion Creighton with the Turner Memorial AME Church. I'm the Minister for Congregational Care. We have had grief support sessions at Turner, formal grief support sessions, using the grief share program.
for about six years now, I think. I think we've gotten that far. Up until the pandemic, though, they were face-to-face, and since the pandemic, we've been virtual. We've had about two 13-week sessions per year since the pandemic. I believe virtual has been very helpful for us because people outside the immediate congregation have come on board to participate, and it's been great.
in terms of being able to lift up more people. And I see we have Reverend Bond from Belize joining us now. So it's good to see her face again with us.
So I'm married. I've been married 48 years. I have two adult children, four grandchildren, and I am an ordained itinerant elder in the AME church. So that's kind of basics about me.
And who would like to go next? I'll go next. Okay.
Okay. I'm Gwen Ingram. And since you said we've been doing this for six years, I've been hanging on your coattail for those six years.
Full disclosure, for the last year, I think I took a serious break with what's much needed in this, the past four years. In fact, it's now five years. My brother passed away five years ago this past Monday and my mom was three weeks later.
So this all began as far as me really wanting to take a break back. So I lost my brother, my mom within three weeks. Three years later, I lost my husband. A year later, I lost my dad. So in four years, I've lost a lot of people.
It's been a lot. And last year, I just had to take a break and said no more because full disclosure, I'm over it. As far as I was concerned, I was, in my mind, I was just kind of left out there. But I'm getting back to normal now. And things are going well.
And of course, my phone, look, Helen Baker is texting me now. Yes, you weren't supposed to do the script. I was supposed to do it.
But anyway, I've been a member of Turner my entire life, which is a long time. I just had a birthday. I'm well into the Medicare year. So that should tell you about how long. Okay, Helen.
So that should tell you how old I am. I have two adult children and four grandchildren. And I'm a pastor's child, so all these things I'm supposed to believe in and all that, I've grown up believing it, and I do.
But you know what? When it hits you hard, it hits you hard, and sometimes you stop believing. But I'm here now.
My name is Helen Baker. That's all I got to say about it. My name is Helen Baker, and I'm a pastor's child.
I've been, I was attending, I started attending six years ago. My husband died six years ago. My son died four years ago.
My parents died in 2020. They were five months apart. And I always come back to Grief Share because I am always struggling. Because it was just difficult for me.
I thought that I was grieving when my husband... passed. But then when my son passed, it was just unbearable for me. My parents, it wasn't as difficult because my father was here with me and my mother was in the nursing home, but my mother was 96 and my father was 91. So they really had a long life and they didn't get sick until the end of their lives.
But I still struggle with. the death of my son. So I just keep coming back because I just need to be around people who are experiencing grief to help me grow, go through the grief.
Cause I still, I still need help. I just want to say, it was a little overwhelming for me, because I'm both my parents. I'm only child, and I'm probably going to have to take care of your family, and I've done that. And that's why I'm so stuck. You know, like, I'm so bad, it's like, you're tired of it.
It's like, I've had enough. I don't... I don't know who was in the bathroom right now because I don't think it's happening.
But I just try to take the money at the time. It's all about, with the COVID thing last year, and all the stuff, no one can prepare you for, not to mention, just, you know, the time is open to every day in the past. We had a rough time there. Some of these days are hot, and hot, and really fast. And if we can figure out who's there, something else can come up.
So, it's not like we're paying. They just think you really don't have an open world. And I'm trying to do it because you can't stop. I have nothing to give you a chance to stop. And as much as you might want to throw a bag and just put the covers on you, you got to keep going.
Because that's all that I'm going to do. That's it. You know?
Like what happens right now. I want you to appreciate it. My friend reached out to me, and it just so happens she reached out to me this week.
And it's the birthday of my own son. So I'm feeling alive. And I'm glad. I'm not alone.
I have four families. So it's really nice to meet you right now. I'm just looking at hope and finding how I can be of service to anybody as well.
Because I feel like no one will care for me if that makes any sense. And that's what happens when somewhere I'll feel myself. I will have a friend.
But in the end, I'll feel bad myself. And no one can seem to relate to what I'm going through. I'm like, you're like, or someone else out there who can help me. Because I have people on this table. I need guys right now.
It's really bad. It's really bad, guys. So, stay with me.
I'm glad to meet all of you. I hope I can continue to meet all of you. I'm saying that everybody else that I have to make, just to help someone else, I hope it helps them as well.
I'm trying to help myself. Thank you. And thank you for sharing.
I'm just curious. Do you happen to have Cicero? Are you on your telephone and your computer or just your computer? I have to say, the sound is kind of kind of scratchy sounding.
I don't know if you have it up really, really high on volume or I don't know. But we might need to play around with that a bit so that we can hear more clearly. And.
Is it better? No, it's still kind of breaking up a bit. But we'll have to play, don't give up on it, but we'll have to figure it out. It may be that dialing in on your phone and hearing through your phone and then turn off the sound on your computer. That might be another way we can kind of play around with it until it works where we can hear you better.
That's all. But I'm glad your computer is working. So that's wonderful. Another way around it is I found it worked with some people when they turn off their camera, the sound comes through better too. Really?
So if you turn off your camera, just why don't you try to turn off your camera right now and see what happens. I don't know. I don't know, y'all.
What do you think? I don't know. If you just go down to the little camera where it says stop video, just click on that and a little line will come across the little camera. Okay. Now talk to us.
Okay. Keep going. Yeah, that's better. It's still cracking up. It's cracking now, yeah.
Yeah, still cracking. So yeah, that didn't make a big difference, but we'll figure it out. Don't worry about it.
We'll figure it out. All right, Reverend Vaughn, would you mind sharing about you since we have a new member in this particular leaders group? You're on mute. Sister Vaughn, you're on mute. Yeah.
Okay. Sorry about that. Good evening. I came a bit late because so much was going on today.
But my name is Laurie Yvonne. I am a minister with the AME Church. I've lost a lot. I grew up losing because my mom had 19 children.
And today there's only three of us, right? So I grew up in that loss. grief environment.
But when 1999 started, from that year, I lost my baby brother that year. And from that year on, every two years, I was losing a sibling. a cousin, an aunt, you know, and then my husband was brought into that mix.
And I felt at that point, the bottom had fallen out on me. And I was, I grieved so long and so hard. My sister would tell me that I grieved too hard.
But being in this course in the last couple of months has really helped me to let go. still have a lot of hurts and so but I'm hoping that in time I can free myself from the pain of grief. Okay thank you for sharing thank you for sharing and it's good to see you again. Thank you yes it's good to see you and so what's a little different about this session is that this session is about how to be a leader or we you use the term co-lead because generally we have at least two people who are leading each group. And we do it that way because it's easier when you've got someone who's backing you up.
If you have a computer issue, the other person can fill in and keep the discussion going. Or if there's any need to stop for any reason, you've got somebody else who can back you up. So... We've said co-lead, but the grief share program says leaders training. And that's what we're going to do both this Wednesday, next Wednesday, and then the following.
So it'll be three Wednesdays in a row where we're going to talk about how to lead a grief share group. And we'll be using the grief share materials to kind of get us acclimated. Now, what we thought we were going to do was start a discussion, have everybody introduce themselves and tell why you came to.
why you wanted to lead a Greek Share Group. And I think you all kind of went into that anyway, as you were talking and introducing yourselves that you yourself have experienced loss. And I don't want to say significant loss versus not significant, because for each of us, when we lose a loved one is significant.
So each of us has had a significant loss, and we know what it's like. And we know that it's best to not be by yourself and unsupported at that time. If you can be supported through any number of ways, it makes it a little bit more bearable. It doesn't make the pain go away, right? But it makes it a little bit more bearable, more manageable.
Just feeling that someone else understands and cares and is on. alongside you, whether by phone or especially during the pandemic, everybody couldn't physically be together. So as long as you know that someone was out there praying for you and wanting the best for you in that situation, that makes a big difference. I think a good place to start, and Sister Jackson Baker or Ingram or Reverend Vaughn, you've been through a reshare session before. If I've missed something critical, let me know as we go along.
But I thought I would just kind of get us acclimated to some of the pieces that are critical to what we will be using in the grief share sessions. This is the grief share journal workbook. This workbook becomes your book. It costs about $15. And by the time you pay for shipping, depending on where you live in the world.
And it costs about $20. And these can be purchased. I'm sorry?
$65 to ship it to Belize. Yeah, yeah. It was a little bit more than $5 to send it to Belize. But that's why I went ahead and sent you two. I said, in case you have a friend that's interested, you can go ahead and recruit.
You have another book. But the book includes... a lot of good information that causes you to reflect on where you are in your grieving process and it's all scripture based.
There are always scriptures as a part of each week's session. You write in it, you talk about, you may write a prayer, you may write a letter to your loved one, lots of good things in the book, but when you get through it, the book is yours. And even if you decide to go through another 13-week session, you can still use the same book. Because as we found out, some people don't completely fill out their book the first or second time. It's the third or fourth or fifth time that they take the Grease Share sessions that they start to fill in some of the other sections of the book.
So I wanted to mention this. And at some point, we'll go through the book and show you all the components in it. But I wanted you to know that this is one of the primary pieces of the Grease Share sessions.
The other pieces are videos. Each week, people are able to go to the Grief Share site. Once you're registered for our group, you'll be able to go to the Grief Share site, click on a link, and see a 30-minute video for the upcoming session. You get to do it at your convenience, whether it's Saturday morning, Sunday night, whenever it is.
And when we come together, We're having our discussions both about the video, but also about anything you want to talk about from your grief share journaling, whatever you want to bring up or ask about or comment on, we'll have that discussion too. But this is leaders training. There's another book that comes into play.
It's called the leader's guide. That's another book that will, if you're interested in buying the book, you can purchase that on the grief share. website as well. Now, what we've done, because there's a lot in this book for leaders, but what we did to help you have the information you needed to do an individual session, there's a whole outline of discussion for each of the 13-week sessions.
So what we did was to send you the excerpts from this book. So you can at least lead the session discussions each week. That's the way we've worked it so far. But there's a lot more information in the book besides the session discussions.
So this is something you may want to consider purchasing if you'd like to have the entire book. Or you can wait for us to send to you the 13-week session discussion guides. So we can do it that way if you'd like to. But that's up to you. When we finish with the leaders training, we can kind of figure out which tools you think you need.
And there's another piece, it's the journal workbook and leader guide, the videos, and the group discussions. So in a little while, I'm going to share one or two of the videos. I believe we'll have time for them because they're relatively short videos. but the videos will kind of walk through some of the pieces that we just talked about. And I see that Sister Angelisa Howes has joined us.
It's good to see you, my friend. It's been about two years, I think, at this point now. So it's wonderful to see you.
And I'll very quickly introduce the people that you are seeing. We just went through our introductions, Sister Howes. And because you're new to the Grease Share group, as a whole. I'm going to go through and just kind of introduce folks for you.
On my screen, the upper left-hand corner is Sister Helen Jackson-Baker, who is a member of Turner Memorial AME Church, as you know, a steward, and she has worked with the grief support sessions both in person before the pandemic and virtually for about five or six years. So she's very experienced. Below Sister Helen Jackson-Baker is Sister Gwendolyn. Ingram, who, as you know, is all sets a couple of pews ahead of you when you're when we're able to be in the sanctuary. And she has been with the grief share support groups leading these groups, along with Sister Helen Jackson Baker for about five or six years.
Now, Sister Howes, above your picture is Reverend Phyllis Vaughn, who happens to be the pastor of the only AME church in Belize. And she's joined us. She.
completed a 13-week virtual session and now she's joining us for leader training. And Sister Allison Roberson is brand new to our group and she's wanting to train to be a leader because everyone kind of agreed we've had significant loss and we want to be there to help someone else to make it through their grief journey. So having said all that, Sister Howes, would you like to introduce yourself and share why you'd like to be a part of the leader training? Hi, everyone.
I attended some of the sessions a while back. I will tell you, I will tell you that my experience. Why I started attending was because I had lost a child a few years ago and just dealing with that grief over the years brought me to that. And I felt that my husband and I were able to overcome and deal with it.
a lot better, I think, than some couples sometimes do when they lose that child. And so I want to be able to help others who go through that pain of losing a child, because it often rips marriages apart. Thank you for sharing that.
And we're glad you've joined us to go through the leader training. And Just to make sure that you know, our next 13-week series of the Grief Share Sessions will start September, I think it's 22nd. It's about the third Wednesday in September and continue on for 13 weeks and end, I think, mid-December.
So that's where we are right about now. So what I'd like to do now that we kind of know each other just a bit is start some of the... leaders training videos, which are pretty short, but then we will have a wonderful time discussing what we saw in those videos. So I'll be sharing my screen. I'm looking forward to that and sharing sound.
Go to the video and share. Oh, is everybody seeing leader training video part one? Yes. I see heads nodding.
Okay. So some things that you're going to look for here is to answer for yourself, what is Grief Share? What kind of program is it?
And what kinds of things should you expect in this particular program and how to lead your group in the best way that you can? So it's only nine minutes long. So here we go.
Hi and welcome. My goal is to get you ready to lead your Grief Share group as quickly as possible. So let's jump right in. We'll start by answering the question, What is Grief Share?
Grief Share is a video based support group program. It's for people who are grieving the death of a loved one, a friend, or a family member. Your group will draw people who are grieving a recent death.
And it's likely that you will also have members who are still struggling with losses that happened quite some time ago. Grief Share is designed to help people at whatever point they find themselves on the grief journey. The next thing you need to know is how we've structured the Grief Share program.
So let's start with the basics. Grief Share is a 13-session course. Now typically, your Grief Share groups will meet weekly. Each weekly Grief Share session is comprised of three essential components. The first component is the video that you will show at each Grief Share meeting.
This video features interviews with leading Christian experts and the powerful personal stories of people who have been through grief. On-location settings, dramatizations, computer graphics, and other elements help keep the video interesting to watch and assist your group members in retaining the information they are viewing. The second key component of the Grief Share program design is group discussion.
After viewing the weekly video as a group, Grief Share facilitators will lead participants in a conversation about the material they've just viewed. This small group time builds community and helps group members realize they're not alone. It also gives them an opportunity to share their feelings and experiences related to the content of the video.
The discussion time, however, should not be seen as an opportunity for you to teach. The group. The teaching is done primarily by the experts on the videos.
The third component of a successful GriefShare program is the workbook that you will provide each group member. Now it's important to remember that every member needs a personal copy of this book for use during the sessions and for study between your weekly meetings. Workbooks contain outlines to help your group members take notes as they watch the videos.
The outlines emphasize the key points discussed on the videos, and they help group members retain information so they can refer to it later. These workbooks also contain daily Bible study and journal... journaling exercises we call From Mourning to Joy.
This material takes your group members deeper into the stories of the people they meet in the videos. Plus, it encourages group members to apply biblical principles to their grief circumstances. So always remember to keep this three component design at the top of your mind.
Videos, group discussion, and the workbook. You need the combination of all three of these distinct tools for a successful group. Make sure that each group member gets the full experience, the instruction found on the videos, the interaction that comes with group discussion, and the introspection that comes as your group members interact with their workbook between sessions.
I'd like to close this part of our leader training video by stretching your vision. Grief Share has the potential to be a very significant ministry offering within your church. You may have already caught the vision I'm about to paint, or you may find these ideas ignite an even deeper passion for this ministry within you. In any case, my goal is to challenge you to think big.
First, I'd like you to think of Grief Share as an always open, always available program. Now don't panic. I don't mean that you have to be on call 24-7. What I'm wanting to stress is that your church becomes known as a place where grieving people can turn to as soon as they learn of your group or at the point they become internally aware of their need for help.
So how does this play out? Well, we'd like to challenge you to think of your group as an ER for the bereaved. Think of it this way.
People who are physically hurt or sick know where to turn for help. The ER is geared to help when the need arises. You don't have to make an appointment or wait for weeks or months to see a doctor. The doors to the ER are always open for the sick and the hurting.
Well, as you know, grieving people in your community are hurting deeply. They feel lost and alone, and they need your help. Now remember, we're... Speaking metaphorically here, you're not leading an around-the-clock grief ministry. So, with that in mind, what does a grief share ER look like anyway?
Well, it starts by meeting regularly. Does that mean that we're asking you to hold groups 52 weeks a year? No, you'll need to build in breaks to recharge your leaders.
But, if your vision is limited to offering a single 13-week grief share session, in the next year, you're missing a bigger vision and a bigger opportunity. By having a group that offers multiple 13-week cycles throughout the year, your church will become known as a place that offers help and hope for grieving people. We also believe that each session of your GriefShare group should remain open. Now, let me explain what that means.
It means that a person can join at any point during the 13-week cycle. They will get immediate help and encouragement no matter where they start, and they'll be able to pick up the material they missed when your next 13-week cycle begins. It's tempting to close your group when you sense your group is bonding, but doing so locks the door of your ER so that a person wanting help can't get it. And it also denies your group members the opportunity to minister to a newly arrived and perhaps deeply hurting person. Remember, your participants grow as they help others.
So, think of your group as an ER. It's open throughout the year, and it's open at whatever point a person wants to begin attending. The other way that I'd like to stretch your vision is I want you to think of Grief Share as a resource that reaches far beyond your church to connect with grieving people throughout your community. Said another way, this program can become a powerful outreach tool for your church.
Right now, you might be seeing Grief Share as a great tool to help those within your church. And that's okay and a great place to get started. But once you are underway, you can begin to build your group with a bigger vision in mind.
At Grief Share, we've come to understand that people who are hurting Even those with no spiritual foundation or those who have been away from a church for a long time are willing to turn to a church for help when they've reached the end of their internal resources. Now what a wonderful opportunity to meet them in their pain, to offer practical help and encouragement, and the hope that comes through knowing and walking with Jesus Christ. Because of the significant outreach potential of Grief Share, we want you to be sure to share this vision with your pastor and your church leaders.
Ask them to help communicate the potential of your Grief Share program to the rest of the church. Also, become familiar with the many promotional tools we've provided you. They'll help you spread the word throughout your community about your Grief Share group. Well, that's it for part one of the leader training video. If you have a team watching with you, or if you're watching alone, take a few moments to discuss or think through the answers to the leader video discussion questions found in your leader's guide.
In our next video segment, I'll introduce you to the eight success tips every leader needs to know. See you then. Okay, okay.
It was a short video. It covered a lot of information. So let's talk about what we saw.
What are the three components, three essential components to a GreenShare session? Video, group discussion, and workbook. And workbook.
All three. You got it. Kudos to Reverend Vaughn. Okay.
What would you all say is the dream or the vision for the Grace Share ministry? Why are we doing this? Why would we want to do this? If anybody's talking, you're on mute.
I see a hand raised. There you go, Sister Allison. Okay. Helping people when they need it the most.
Yes. Any other thoughts about why we would want to support this kind of ministry? That's kind of what I was going to say.
Okay. Help them through the process. Help them with the process.
We heard something about emergency room. that Grief Share is kind of like an ER for people who are grieving. And there were some points made with that.
Yes, that we would be open throughout the year, metaphorically, that we would always be available and always open, and that our church would become a place for the, for people who are dealing with grief. and that it would also be a great place. It would help us as an outreach tool also. And people also don't have to come at the beginning of the grief session. They can come when it's already started, and then they can come back the next time to pick up on what they missed.
Yeah. They can start anytime. So they can come as they feel the need to come.
And I think that's important. So it's not a closed group. They can always come because each session is pretty much a standalone session.
So it doesn't necessarily build and you don't miss out because you hadn't been to the earlier sessions. So that's good for us to understand. Is anyone, does anyone have any concerns or fears about leading a grief support group? Anybody have any concerns at this point?
Okay. I'm not seeing anybody indicating. Yes.
Okay. Sister Robeson raised her hand. Okay. You have a few concerns.
Okay. This is all new to you. Okay. All right. So that's why we kind of developed the Coley.
concept. Because if someone is brand new starting out, they'll be paired with somebody who's very experienced. So you won't be, you know, just, just learning to get thrown out there by yourself. Yes, Sister Halls. My concern is just the times.
For me, just the schedule and the work piece. I wanted to apologize for being late. But That's the thing. For me, it's the times that we would choose. For the sessions?
Yeah. Okay. And if Wednesdays at 530 is not a good time for you, what I am kind of anticipating, in fact, there's going to be a need to start more than one session.
Okay. There are other people who have time constraints on Wednesdays at 530. If we have enough co-leads to actually lead the groups, we can have one session on Wednesdays at 530, maybe one on Saturday mornings at nine or what other time works for the people who are wanting to participate. So Sister Howes, if at some point as you're comfortable, if you'll just email me the days and times that are better for you. And if anybody else has any time constraints, just email me. that information.
Is that okay? In fact, I need you to do it to three people, Sister Ingram and Sister Jackson Baker, because they are the most experienced colleagues. If they will, I'm going to ask them to put their emails in the chat box for you, Sister Halls. Is that okay?
And I'll do my, I'll put mine in there too. I'll do it right now while I'm thinking about it. And yeah, that's it.
So you have our information there so you can reach us. All right. Any other thoughts about this video that just kind of got us off the surface level in terms of what is brief share?
Okay. All right. I think we might have time for the next one. Let me, I'm going to start sharing my screen again and go back where we were.
Yes. 13 minutes. It's going to be cutting it close in terms of discussion.
But we'll go ahead and look at this particular one as well. Are we ready? Okay. Welcome back.
We've boiled the keys to your success as a Grief Share leader down to eight powerful and effective tips. Do each one and your ministry is likely to benefit a lot of grieving people. So, let's get started. Our first success tip is to build a team.
Ideally, you'll have a team of four to start. Two men and two women. At a minimum, you should have at least two people, including yourself on your team.
As your ministry grows, you'll want to add even more leaders and helpers. But whatever you do, please don't start this ministry alone. If you do, you're bound to burn out and you'll give your group members less than an ideal experience. Let me say it another way.
Ultimately, you won't succeed as a solo leader. We work with thousands of leaders from around the world, like you. they had a passion for ministry.
But without help, because they were trying to carry the entire load themselves, many saw their groups fold, explode, or wither and die. One more thing. When you select leaders for your team, be sure to pick people who are spiritually mature, have a passion for grief ministry, and if they've been bereaved themselves, you want to make sure they have also healed from their grief.
You can learn more about building your team and how to recruit mature leaders by reading your leader's guide, which takes us to success tip number two. Read the GriefShare leader's guide. Your leader's guide is the foundation of your team's success. It explains how to recruit a team and how to promote your ministry. Your leader's guide also contains critical information that should be shared with group members.
help them get the most out of Grief Share. Plus, it contains discussion questions you can use to lead your weekly small group session. It's also packed with practical help such as forms, advertising materials, information on group logistics, and tools to train leaders. So be sure to become well acquainted with everything in it. And keep this in mind, each primary grief share leader needs a personal copy of the leaders guide you should also have a library copy on hand so that all of the leaders involved with your program have the opportunity to read it tip three watch the leader training video now actually that's what you're watching right now but don't scratch it off your to-do list why well like the leaders guide this video is also for your entire team to view In fact, it's best to watch the video together with your team so that you can interact using the discussion questions we provide in the Leaders Guide.
We also suggest that you review this video once a year with your leaders to keep these priorities in focus and to help you spot areas where you may have drifted. And here's another good use of the leader training video. Over time, as you bring on new leaders, Make sure you train them using the video training sessions as well. Let's move to success tip four. Sign up for the online GriefShare LeaderZone.
Why is the Leader Zone so important? Well, for starters, it's home to hundreds of practical resources that can make you a better leader. For example, the Leader Zone is home to a robust digital library filled with articles that take the guesswork out of leading a group.
It's even home to our Leaders Forum, an online community of GriefShare leaders from around the world. The Forum is a place where you can ask questions, trade ideas, learn news about new grief share developments, and share prayer requests. It's a powerful way to stay connected with other leaders and sharpen your group leadership skills. And remember, you can access the Forum through the Leader Zone.
There are many other resources and tools on the Leader Zone, and we add more frequently. And we don't have time in this video to tell you about all of the features. The best thing you can do is boot up your computer and pay a visit.
We do want you to understand this about the LeaderZone. It's reserved exclusively for GriefShare team members and other church leaders such as pastors and church staff. In fact, to make sure that the use is limited to people connected with GriefShare programs, it's password protected.
So, how do you get a password? It's easy. Go to griefshare.org slash leaderzone From there, follow the sign up instructions.
That's the first step in accessing all of these powerful tools. And, like other leader tools, the Leader Zone is designed to help every member of your team. So make sure all of your leaders are signed up and active.
Best of all, The Leader Zone is free. There's no cost to you or the other members of your team to have access or to use the many features found there. So, the price is right and there's a lot to do at the Leader Zone.
See you there. Our fifth success tip is something you need to do for every person that becomes a member of your Grief Share group. You need to provide each participant with a copy of the Grief Share Workbook.
Think of the workbook as the glue that holds your ministry together. Each workbook contains note-taking outlines to help group members jot down the ideas from the video that stick out to them. Plus, each workbook contains daily exercises we call From Morning to Joy.
This material is designed to keep group members connected with the GriefShare concepts between weekly sessions and to help them grow closer to God. and his comfort. When your group members use the workbooks, they will get more out of their Grief Share experience than if they just watched and discussed the videos. And long after they've finished going through the Grief Share program, they can look back in their workbooks to reflect on what they've learned and how they've grown. Also, be sure to equip each leader with a copy of the workbook.
Leaders need to complete the Bible study and journaling exercises themselves so they can effectively lead discussion about that material. Your leaders can also model usage of the workbook by following the note-taking outline while your group views the video. And if you're worried about budget, keep this in mind.
Most of the groups GriefShare works with charge a small fee for people to attend the 13-week cycle. This fee covers the cost of the workbook. In addition, your church may wish to establish a small scholarship fund to subsidize the cost of a book if you encounter a group member that cannot afford it. So remember, success tip number five is to equip each group member with a personal copy of the Grief Share Workbook. I think it's safe to assume that you'd like to have people actually show up for your group.
Well, success tip number six provides an easy and effective way to attract them. In fact, many groups tell us this tool is the single most effective promotion resource they have. Better yet, it's free. I'm talking about our online find a group search engine located at the GriefShare website. Griefshare.org.
The Find a Group search engine allows people around the world to use the Griefshare website to find your group. Now just think about it, a hurting person in your town visits the Griefshare website looking for group. All she has to do is type in her zip code, postal code, or use one of our other search methods and she'll find out when and where your group meets and how to contact you or your church for more information.
All you have to do to get your group listed in this powerful database is to go online and submit your group's meeting information. And where do you do that? Well hopefully you guessed it by now.
It's The LeaderZone. Once you sign up for the LeaderZone, you can customize your find-a-group online listing. How do you do it? Log on to griefshare.org slash LeaderZone and click on the My Church tab in the navigation menu. Then follow the instructions.
Entering your information is fast and it's easy to do. And if you have trouble figuring out how to enter your information, We've prepared a simple video as well as print instructions that show you exactly how to do it. You can find them on the Leader Zone as well. Now here's one important point. You've got to keep your information current in order to maintain your Find a Group search engine listing.
We've trained our computers to spot stale information or groups that don't operate in the way Griefshare was designed. And when they do, your listing will be removed. You don't want that.
We don't want that to happen. So please create a system to keep your listing current. Next up is success tip number seven. Connect with a GriefShare consultant. A team of GriefShare consultants is available to help you weekdays from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. And, once again, there is... No charge to access these consultants.
They are available to you free of charge. Call or email them anytime you have a question about your GriefShare group. Our GriefShare consultants can help you troubleshoot problems you face, help you with ideas for promoting your group, and even give you a word of encouragement. The consultant assigned to your church will attempt to make contact with your church staff and primary volunteer leaders soon after your Grief Share Kit is purchased. They simply want to introduce themselves.
We will also email you a welcome letter. So, if that information didn't get to you, then call or email and let us know that you're there and we'll get a welcome letter on its way to you. You can find the contact information in the front of your leader's guide and we'll display it on screen at the end of this segment. of our video training. And now it's time for our eighth and final success tip.
This may sound simple, but it's probably the most important thing you can do to help your group prosper. Our tip? Make sure there is lots of prayer for you, your team, and your group. You are embarking on an important ministry.
We know there are potential obstacles ahead. We also know, however, that God wants you to succeed and that He wants you to ask Him for help. So make a personal commitment to pray regularly for your group and ask each leader to make the same commitment. In addition, in your leader's guide, you'll see that we suggest that you assemble your leader team for a short time of prayer before each weekly session. We'd like to also encourage you to recruit a prayer team from within your church, committed to regular prayer for your group.
We know that prayer works, so don't overlook this vital ministry tool. Well, those are the eight success tips. Each tip is action-oriented, and some take more time than others. So, get started soon.
But ultimately... They are all designed to help your ministry run more smoothly and effectively, so they are worth the effort and the investment. That wraps up this segment of our leader training video.
After you review the discussion questions for this section, I'll be back to share vital messages you'll want to share with the members of your group and why you'll be kicking yourself if you don't. As you're interested, you can write down this 800 number or the email address if you'd like to contact one of the consultants at GriefShare. Let me pull that back. Let's see if I can get that back up there. The eight success tips.
Okay, if you have any questions about the Grease Share site, about putting a password in, getting to your videos. anything at all, you can contact them through the email or through the 800 number. They're very helpful. I've called them several times. Does everybody have the information now?
Yes. Okay. I'll stop sharing.
And there we all are again. So I see a lot of smiling faces. And Sister Howes, I know you were late joining us.
I appreciate that you did join us. But the leaders training times are already set. But the grief share, the actual sessions, we can potentially start a different group at a different time once we get through the training.
So I don't want you to think I'm not responding to your concern because we do need your leadership in the brief support program. We'll just have to try to get through the leader training piece of it. And then when we set up another session at a different day and time, we'll do that. But you're going to email me the best days and times. Myself, sister Helen, sister Gwen, let us know your better days and times and we'll start to conceptualize what.
what a secondary group could be. And once we get the date and time figured out, then I'll talk with you some more about maybe a slightly different format as well that might be useful to some people who are reaching out to us now. So any questions, concerns?
Is everybody, except for the two people that I know that have to leave and go out of town next week, will everybody else be with us next week? Yes. Okay.
So Reverend Vaughn will be there. Sister Howes, go ahead. I see her finger up going, no. That was my other thing.
I'm supposed to be hitting the road to drive overnight to get to Michigan. Okay. I actually had planned to leave that evening at 530, pick up the rental car five, hit the road at 530, drive to eight hours, get there 4 a.m. Yeah.
But I'm going to see if... It's possible for me to tune in on the road. I'm going to see.
Oh, okay. Just listen in. Yeah.
Okay. I had thought about that, but yeah, that could be a possibility too. So three of you will be away next week and I'll have Sister Vaughn and Sister Roberson with me. Okay.
So it'll be three of us still here and we'll probably listen to Leader Guide three, the video three and four. So that's certainly something you all can do on your own by just going into the Griefshare site and clicking on the link and you can look at it that way and we can discuss it more. So I hope that you felt that these videos were helpful in terms of explaining what Griefshare is, the format, generally how to facilitate when not teaching anything.
The experts that are in the videos are trained counselors and what have you. They'll share the information. that way.
And we follow up with the discussion and we'll have a guide for it. And the more and more I'm listening to this, it may be simpler for me to get the books and get them to you. That might be the simpler thing to do by the time we figure out all the components. So and if at the end of the training, if you commit to be being one of the leaders for the upcoming sessions. then we'll see to it that you get a leader's guide as well.
But we have to know for sure you're going to do it and that kind of thing before we go ahead and get the leader's guide too. But you definitely need the journal books, the workbooks, because that's where you do your discussions every week. Are there any questions or concerns right now? Okay. So three of us won't be here next week, but you'll be here for the following week, which will be day three, which will be great.
My plan. for day three is to show a few short videos that tells you as a leader how to do good self-care because after you go through 13 weeks of a grief journey with participants, you need to do some things to keep yourself balanced and healthy in the process. And so they're going to talk about some things we can do for good self-care.
And do I have a commitment from everyone to pray for us as a group of leaders who will be supporting people who will be grieving? That is a critical piece, and we're going to have to focus on that even more so now with the impact of coming through the pandemic. So we all need to keep each other prayed up so that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide us and keep us safe, and that we'll understand the balance of hearing some very heart-wrenching situations, and they're very real.
But when we are finished with the grief share session, we're going to have to step away from that so that we can lead whole and healthy lives also. And be refreshed and replenished so that we can step back in the next week and continue to serve. Okay, so we need to keep everyone in this group prayed up.
In fact, let me close out in prayer right now. Gracious God, we thank you for those that you have sent our way, God. And we ask that if there's anything in us or around us that is not of you, that you will remove it right now in the name of Jesus.
God, we ask that you would fill us up with your Holy Spirit and that you will give us vision and divine revelation of how we can better serve your people, God. And at the same time, keeping us. healthy and whole so that we can function fully in our personal lives with our family and friends and our church families. God, we thank you for those who will move forward in ministry with supporting those who are grieving God. And we thank you in advance for those participants that you will send to be in the upcoming grief support sessions that they may be supported at the time that they...
need someone the most. So let our hands be your hands. Let our heart be your heart. Let our mind be your mind as we minister to your people. All these things we ask in the mighty name of Jesus the Christ, we pray.
Amen and amen. Amen. God bless you. Virtual hugs.
Virtual hugs. Stay cool down there in Belize, Reverend Vaughn. And for the ladies, I'm sorry.
Will do. Will do. And for those of you all who are going south next week, stay cool.
And those of you all going to the Midwest, just stay safe on the roads. All right. God bless you.
Bye bye. Bye bye.