Caring My Faith to Work

My wife and I are blessed to work with an amazing group of college students at our church. These kids are students at Bethel University in McKenzie Tennessee. They come to us from all over the United States with a wide range of backgrounds. These are not your “average” kids. They are mission-minded Christians who are never afraid to share their faith.

My wife and I had dinner with them this weekend and they shared their ambitious plans for bringing their faith to campus this semester. I found that the challenges that they will face are very similar to the challenges that we face in bringing our faith to our workplace. My wife and I discussed 1 Peter1:13 with them as a great guide. In that verse, we are called to prepare our minds for action. We discussed setting priorities, developing a specific plan, and acting. We came up with a proactive plan for their semester that I think can also be a plan for caring our faith to work:

1. Pray like crazy!! That is the most proactive thing we can do to align ourselves with God’s will for our lives. This time spent with Christ helps us to understand his plans for us and helps us to put on the armor of faith we will need to deal with the opposition we will likely face.

2. Expect to be used – If we pray for God to put someone in our path for us to witness to we had better be prepared because he will. If we pray God send me we should have our bags packed.

3. Model Christ – I may be in places where I may not be able to verbally share my faith, however, I will almost always be in places where I can model Christ in the way I act, the way I respond to difficulty and the way I treat others. Francis of Assisi once said, “preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary”.

4. Focus on a few – we may not be able to reach everyone in our school or workplace, but we might be able to reach one. I believe that we often set ourselves up for failure when we plan to reach everyone. I really do believe in the Butterfly Effect. Everything we do matters.

5. Build relationships – It is much easier for me to share my faith with those I have built relationships with.

6. Pray like crazy – When we start and end our plans in prayer we can never go wrong. Pray without ceasing is not a suggestion, but a command!

There is nothing intensely theological about this plan, but it does offer a practical guide that we can use to bring our faith with us to work every day.

Faith in the Workplace

by Dan Ridley

The struggle of bringing faith into the workplace is real. According to Pew research, roughly 35% of Americans attend church services on a weekly basis. That means a whopping 65% are unchurched. This is a real concern because it clearly proves that statistically speaking most employees are probably not spiritually grounded. As Christians, we should be deeply burdened by this. However, it has always been a delicate balance of incorporating our faith into our workplace.

As a Christian, I have always struggled with how I could effectively share and model Christ, yet still make the tough decisions on my job. As a great basketball coach for years, it was particularly tough to be tough on players, do what was necessary to win and still impact my players for Christ. Honestly, most of the time I feel like I fell short. Since coming to Mid South, for the first time in more than 25 years of work, I am no longer having to fight that internal battle.

For me being able to openly discuss faith at work has been the greatest benefit Mid South could offer. I realized many years ago that my spiritual gift was teaching. Over the years, God has blessed me with opportunities to teach, speak and train. For years I have been able to use those gifts to provide for my family and I. When I came to work at Mid South I was able to use these gifts to serve God. I have found that when we use our gifts to serve God, he will provide for everything else. Matthew 6:33 says “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you”.

According to the Pew research I mentioned earlier there are at least 5 benefits of working for a “Kingdom-minded company”:

1. Lower absenteeism

2. Higher quality services

3. Fewer employee morale issues

4. Safer work environment

5. Better perceptions by our patients

More importantly than all of these is the opportunity to align our lives and our talents with Christ’s will for our lives every day. In his famous sermon on the mount in Matthew 5, Jesus tells his followers to be “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world”. What a blessing/benefit it is to work at a company where that is happening every day.

APTA Credentialed CI Course September 10-11, 2022 Sponsored by UMMC & HCC

The Physical Therapy Program at the University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Health Related Professions and the Physical Therapist Assistant Program at Hinds Community College are co-hosting an APTA Credentialed Clinical Instructor Program (CCIP) course on September 10-11, 2022. Please share with your PT/PTA colleagues. The APTA course fee is $100.00 for members and $200.00 for non-members, and you should expect to receive 16 hours of CEU credit upon completion of the course. For more information about the course, please click on the following link: https://www.apta.org/for-educators/clinical-education-development/ccip-level-1

The course is limited to 16 participants & the deadline to sign-up is Friday, August 12, 2022. To register for the course, please click on the following link: https://ccip.apta.org/Learner/LearningPlan/List

The course will be held at the Clyde Muse Center at Hinds Community College, Pearl, MS. A continental breakfast and light afternoon snack will be provided with lunch on your own. Directions and an agenda will follow upon registration. If you have any questions, please email Sherry Colson (scolson@umc.edu).

Dates: September 10-11, 2022

Location: Pearl, MS (The Clyde Muse Center at Hinds Community College, Pearl, MS)

Course Type: Live Seminar (Continental breakfast and a light afternoon snack provided on both days. Lunch on your own.)

Price: $100/members & $200/nonmembers.

CEU: 1.6 CEUs/CCUs (16 contact hours)*

Course Contact

SHERRY COLSON, PT, DPT, EdD Phone: 601.984.6348 Email: scolson@umc.edu

Registration Deadline: August 12, 2022

*Please note: Licensees should verify with their state licensing board for acceptance of continuing education units by reviewing the relevant state practice act and/or administrative code.

Description: The Credentialed Clinical Instructor Program (CCIP) provides clinicians with the skills and information necessary to provide a structured learning environment and enhanced educational experience for students. Course content reflects an interdisciplinary approach to experiential learning methods, with an emphasis on didactic content related to clinical teaching, supervision, and evaluation. Participants are expected to understand and integrate the behaviors and traits of highly effective educators, role models, and mentors into their performance as a clinical instructor. Successful course participants will return to their clinic with a greater understanding of:

• planning and preparing for physical therapy clinical education experiences

• supportive continuing education through questioning and effective feedback

• acquiring performance evaluation skills

• identifying and managing students with exceptional situations or circumstances

• exploring legal implications for clinical educators, including issues presented by ADA legislation

This course is intended for health care providers in a clinical setting with more than one year of experience serving as a clinician and who intend to provide clinical education in a supervisory role to students, including physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, and health care providers from other professions. Both new and experienced physical therapists and physical therapist assistant educators will benefit from participating in the course. Classroom interaction is emphasized as a means to highlight and discuss different ideas and create a shared learning environment in which each student brings a unique and valuable perspective to the conversation. Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who successfully complete this course will receive a credential which verifies their status as an APTA-Credentialed Clinical Instructor (CI), as well as 1.6 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) which may be used to satisfy licensure renewal requirements.

Limited to 16 participants.