{"id":6705,"date":"2019-03-17T23:43:54","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T04:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/family.pep.org\/cleveland\/?p=6705"},"modified":"2019-03-17T23:43:54","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T04:43:54","slug":"week-3-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/2019\/03\/17\/week-3-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t\n

Week 3<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Week in Review<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday January 14, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today marked the first day for all of us in Spring \u201919 to give\na speech in our Toastmasters class. Many people were nervous prior to giving\ntheir speeches. Being nervous is part of what we are seeking to overcome. Many\nof us have not been in a scenario like that in a long time. In fact, some of us\nhave never have done any public speaking, especially giving a speech about our\nown life stories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking is such a powerful tool; it can captivate an\naudience once it is mastered. I can already imagine the brothers in my group\ngetting better and better as they practice their public speaking every week.\nToastmasters has a system in place to evaluate one\u2019s public speaking skills, so\nthe public speaker can get feedback. Common things that are mentioned include\neye contact, speech organization, body movement, body language and volume. This\nfeedback will help the participant get progressively better at public speaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is easy to see how a system like this can be used to\none\u2019s benefit. Hearing everyone\u2019s story was fun and interesting. Saying our\nbusiness pitches in front of the executives will be less nerve-racking now. I\nhave already seen major changes in some people, and we are still far from\ngraduation. I am totally excited to be a part of the PEP revolution!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua\nB. (a.k.a. \u201cMcLovin\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday January 15, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spent the morning in the computer lab learning critical\nskills in Microsoft Office.  During this\ntime, we were also provided the opportunity to conduct some market research for\nour business plans. There is no time for fun and games on these computers\u2014it\u2019s\nall about business and empowering ourselves to become better employee\ncandidates with marketable skills and experience.  Our distant horizons are beginning to\nbrighten as we prepare to join the workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spent the afternoon in the PEP classroom praying out our\nbrothers who are going home.  This is a\nvery special and sacred time for us as we encourage those who will soon be going\nhome, covering them in prayer for the road ahead.  After the pray-outs, we discussed our\nproduct\/service offering(s) assignment which will be added to our business\nplans. Additionally, we prepared for our Venture Capital Panel (VCP) presentations.\nPhase Two is in full swing for our Spring \u201919 class, and it looks like it\u2019s\ngoing to be an exciting journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timothy\nB. (a.k.a. \u201cWater Boy\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday January 16, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow! Another great day in PEP! It gets more and more\nexciting as we dive deeper into this course. Absolutely amazing! We are blessed\nto be a part of such a productive, rewarding evolution. We have been given a\nshot at redemption, reconciliation and overall recognition as better men. We\nare also being provided the opportunity, tools and resources to be the best men\nwe can be, which is to become true servant-leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we do every day, immediately upon entering the classroom,\nwe began to turn up the brotherly love, embracing one another with hugs, handshakes\nand small talk. This is a very meaningful moment for each of us. Allowing\nenough time for all the brothers to assemble, we then followed up with our\ndaily pray-in (mandatory), which is an even more meaningful moment. Pray-in\nconsists of us linking arms until we are all connected like a chain, and\nletting the praise and prayer flow to the one who makes it all possible: God Almighty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After prayer and a brief moment of silence, we turned it up\nto some groovy music and got jiggy with it. That\u2019s right \u2013 in this PEP family,\nyou have to dance. It is very fun, and it often gets crazy, but we love it!\nThen came the serious part of the session: the lesson. Following a brief review\nof last week\u2019s lesson, our excellent and fun-loving teacher\/instructor\nintroduced us to our next lesson: Business Mission and Strategy. As he taught,\nwe all sat attentively in our seats. His wealth of knowledge gives us goose\nbumps every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know that PEP is a tremendous blessing. We eagerly and\nearnestly look forward to all that it has to offer, putting forth all that is\nnecessary or required on our parts. We will see success in our lives and the\nlives of all with whom we come in contact. This is more than a national\nrevolution \u2013 it is a worldly solution. We are on a mission. We are PEP,\nstanding to make a significant difference by humbly serving and leading\ncourageously for the greater good. Let\u2019s go, PEP! Whoop! Whoop!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald\nB. (a.k.a. \u201cDon Cornelius\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday January 17, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waking\nup, we breathe in God\u2019s grace and breathe out thanks and praise for Him\nblessing us here at PEP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At\n6:30 am, we started the wake-up routine of prayer, Bible reading and coffee\nbefore heading out the door to the PEP classroom. We participated in pray-outs\nfor our fellow PEP brothers who will soon be going home. This brought great joy\nto our hearts, knowing we have paid this debt for our wrongs to the State of\nTexas. The rainbow after this storm in our lives has most definitely been this\nPEP experience! We are now authentic men, equipped and ready, with due\ndiligence, to right the wrongs we have caused to our families for not being\nthere for them. So yes, praying out our brothers for encouragement is a must.\nThis is our point of contact, where the rubber meets the road, as we take off back\ninto the lives of our families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nwill make an impact on the lives of our family members with the Driving Values\nPEP has instilled in each of us. Yes, I am talking about fresh-start outlook, accountability,\nintegrity, love and servant-leader mentality; and with wise stewardship, we\nwill proceed to execute with excellence. From the ashes we rise as Conquerors\nof Spring \u201919! God Bless PEP!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gregg\nC. (a.k.a. \u201cMantana\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday January 18, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\nwas our first day of Living in the\nVillage<\/em>, a financial literacy class. We expected to become CPAs with\nperfect credit scores overnight, but we\u2019re quickly learning that everything has\nits own little process. Success will soon be ours. With the knowledge we\nacquire from this course, we\u2019ll be able to not only build a future for\nourselves but our families, friends and respective \u201cVillages\u201d at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nstyle and format of the presentation is a breath of fresh air that keeps us all\nlocked on the facilitators \u2013 these are not your everyday lecturers. They are\nour servant-leader peers. They bring the topic to us in a real-world, relatable\nmatter that we can retain and apply to a form of life that the average college-level\nprofessors never experienced. We are looking forward to doing great things with\nthese skills and tools upon release.         <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lance\nC. (a.k.a. \u201cFire Marshall Bell\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expressions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Christian ideal has\nnot been tried and found wanting. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has been found\ndifficult; and left untried.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

~ G.K. Chesterton<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being\nincarcerated and separated from my wife and children has forced me to trust\nJesus Christ more than ever before. I was the main breadwinner in our family\nand paid most of the bills. Now that I am gone, my wife has had to meet the\nneeds of our kids. She works so hard! Unfortunately, there are just more bills\nthan money. All I can do is pray and have faith that God will meet their needs\nevery month. It has not been easy for my wife and kids, but Jesus has met their\nneeds. He has taught me that He is the one who has all the resources. He is the\none who blesses us with the talent to make a living. We have to be the ones who\ntrust Him and believe. It first starts in the Christian ideal, or the belief\nthat Jesus Christ paid for our sins on the cross at Calvary, and that he rose\nagain and lives in the hearts of His believers. I am learning day by day to\ntrust Him and live by faith. Faith in Jesus Christ works, of this I am certain.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dale R. (a.k.a. \u201cSweet Breeches\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Week 3 Week in Review Monday January 14, 2019 Today marked the first day for all of us in Spring \u201919 to give a speech in our Toastmasters class. Many people were nervous prior to giving their speeches. Being nervous is part of what we are seeking to overcome. Many of us have not been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clsp19"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6705\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}