Faye Sasser and Open Hearts Ministry on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations and leaders who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations and leaders embody "Be the change you want to see in the world". Hear from Greek organizations and their national presidents who are global change agents. We will also hear from CEOs of social enterprise businesses who are changing communities and college and university presidents and educators who are taking their students out of the classroom and into surrounding neighborhoods for real world life lessons to serve others. We will also hear from spiritual leaders who help others live out their faith while addressing real world issues that challenge the body of Christ and the community.

On Saturday, September 22, 2012, we will hear from Faye Sasser, a trained leader in the Open Hearts Ministry. Faye has led small groups, often called Journey Groups, for over twenty years. After seeing her passion to help others spread from one church to the next, Faye begun training small group leaders to be better equipped to help Christians unload the burden of unpacked baggage from life experiences that prevents us from being the men and women that God called us to be.

On this show you hear Faye and Genma discuss Genma's participation in a small group and how it helped her learn to address challenges in her life that seem to overwhelm her spiritually, mentally, and even physically at that time. The Open Hearts Ministry's small journey group that Faye's led was at Woodmont Hills. Genma initially signed up for Grace for the Wounded (class title at Woodmont Hills) to address events that occurred in her life in 2005. But 2006 made previous spiritual struggles seem pale by comparison.

This show is very personal, honest, and transparent. With Faye Sasser's guidance, we will hear how transformation and redemption can start where wounded people fear to go...with others.

Living Your Best Life, a radio show that empowers, inspires and motivates one to live their BEST life, can be heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST.

 More About Open Hearts Ministry
 Open Hearts grew out of a response to the pain of sexual abuse that surfaced in 1988 after the presentation of Dr. Dan Allender's "Wounded Heart Seminar" in Kalamazoo, MI. Groups formed and stories of abuse, long hidden, were brought to light. The learning curve was high in those early years as a Biblically based curriculum was developed and group leaders gained experience. Soon others were asking for training so that they could take this ministry to their communities. The Journey was birthed in response to this need in 1993. Originally focusing on women, the men's program was added in 1997. By 1998 organizational needs had grown to a point that a charitable 501 (c) 3 was established and Open Hearts Ministry grew rapidly to include men and women with a focus on recovery and restoration from all kinds of soul harming experiences. Today a network of leaders scattered around the world offer Journey Groups to their communities. Training and curriculum resources are offered for starting groups, continuing groups and for couples who want to extend what they are learning as individuals to their marriages and families.  

More About Journey Groups
We recognize that wounds occur in relationships and trust is damaged. For healing to occur something must happen to reverse the damage. The aim of a Journey Group is to rebuild trust in the context of relationships. We believe in a group process that actively builds up one another in love. For this to occur, three things must be experienced: grace, truth and time together. A Journey Group provides an opportunity for participants (usually 4-7) to share experiences that have been damaging in an environment that is safely guided by two trained facilitators. Biblical core concepts are taught at the beginning of each session, illustrated by the presenters own life experiences. Personal homework and group exercises frame the small group sharing time. Participants learn how to respond to one another in ways that balance grace and truth and lead to emotional and spiritual growth. Groups may meet weekly for 12 sessions or in a more intensive format that covers more than one session a week. Groups are often under the supervision of local churches, counseling offices, or community organizations that have participated in Open Hearts The Journey training seminar.

Faye Sasser teaches and trains Journey Group leaders. Every leader participates in a small group first, before they lead a Journey Group. For more about leadership qualifications click here.

To contact Faye Sasser for more information about future classes, email her at phaes@bellsouth.net.

Faye is married to Pete Sasser. The mother of two daughters. And has two beautiful grandchildren. Pete and Faye attend the Family of God at Woodmont Hills.

This is a two part show.
Photo credits: Genma Holmes