IR Spotlight

Kathleen Willey Peterson

Aaron & Hur International Ministries, Inc

Kathleen Willey Peterson is a Certified Pastoral Member of the Sarasota Academy of Christian Counseling and has been an International Representative since September 5, 2013. She has also been an NCCA Licensed Pastoral Counselor since April, 2016. Kathleen is the Founder and International Director of Aaron & Hur International Ministries, Inc.

At the beginning of 2020, before COVID, the Lord gave me a word during my quiet time. Part of what He said to me was, “I am seated on my throne”. I had a strong sense that something difficult was coming but that God was reminding me that regardless of what we faced, He was and is in control. Then came the world-wide lock down. My head was full of questions. How was I going to do my job and take care of our established teams? How were we going to train and counsel? I am a Choleric in the temperament area of Control and I had NO control of the situation. But the word the Lord had given me became a comfort and a source of strength for me. Despite my limitation, God was not limited! He did a mighty work!

The main purpose of Aaron and Hur International Ministries is to strengthen, equip and restore Christian leaders, including pastors, missionaries, and their families.

Little did I realize all that God had in store for us when I signed up as an International Representative for SACC in 2016! At the time, I was working with a small group of people in Cuba whom I was beginning to train as Christian counselors. As time went on, we added a few students from Panama and a few from Colombia. In total we had about 30 students. When the pandemic hit our teams got together on Zoom and, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, started study groups online.

As part of our efforts to strengthen, equip and restore leaders, I developed a workshop to introduce the concept of temperament entitled Original Design: A Transformational Study on Temperament. Through both in-person events and online platform, this 12-hour workshop has been attended by over 2000 pastors, church leaders, phycologist and Christian corporate leaders in 16 different countries and in 3 different languages. The testimonies of the people impacted have been amazing! Out of those two-day workshops we have had people from 12 different countries enroll in Creation Therapy and continuing on to the NCCA training. They have learned not only about themselves but also how to serve others in their perspective fields. Today, we have had around 160 students complete Creation Therapy and go on to study with the NCCA courses in United States, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Paraguay, Bolivia, Spain, Canada, Venezuela, Holland, Brazil, and Cuba. Beside the pastors, psychologist and missionaries who are taking Creation Therapy, it is also a requirement for all our Aaron & Hur counselors and ministry teams.

Here are a few testimonies from our team members who have taken Creation Therapy…

Reniel – Pastor and Counselor in Cuba ‘The study of Creation Therapy has brought light to my life helping me to understand my design and how it relates to the specific plan of God for my life. It has helped me not only to understand myself, but it has also helped me to be a better husband by understanding how to encourage my wife by satisfying her temperamental needs. It has given me an understanding of the human being, which has helped me understand people and help them accept and understand themselves, which has made me a more effective counselor.

Yobana – Pastor in Colombia: On a personal level, Creation Therapy was the opportunity to get to know myself from what God thought of me is liberating. As a pastor it has helped me not to judge people's weaknesses rather to be compassionate. Creation Therapy has helped me to understand the delicate work and great responsibility of counseling people.

Natali—Pastor and phycologist in Brazil: The Creation Therapy course has, on a personal level, helped me understand the diversity of God's creation. Knowing the concept of strength and weakness, of temperament needs has generated in me a state of empathy and mercy. It helps me to love and a correctly determine what I can and cannot expect of others. Creation Therapy is for me a look at the Kingdom and the multiform grace of God. As a psychologist, the Creation Therapy course together with the APS has become a time-saving tool. The result of the APS gives me information that prior to having these resources took many counseling sessions to assess, saving me time and my client money. Working with couples, I can easily see differences and sources of risk, areas of imbalance and need for adjustments, making the application of psychological techniques in treatment much easier and precise.

Conclusion:

About a month ago the Lord brought to mind Revelation 21:5. The scripture has played over and over in my head for weeks, and I believe it to be true— “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’”

We can trust that though it feels as though everything in this world is out-of-control, God is not! He is sitting on his throne. We can rejoice that, as His children, we have the privilege to participate in his work. His purpose and plan are being fulfilled and God will be glorified!