Glory Ministries: Resources

We offer two courses:

What do the courses consist of?

Our courses consist of 12 half-hour video lessons on DVD, accompanied by a workbook with 60 interactive lessons.

What is in the videos?

These broadcast-quality videos feature:

• Teachings presented by Joan M. Houck and Janice M. Valvano
• Interviews of Catholic Christians sharing their Faith in real life situations

What is in the workbook?

The 240 page workbook:

• Contains five written lessons per video lesson, which build upon the information presented in the 12 video lessons.
• Invites you to interact with specific information, personal examples, Scriptural passages, paragraphs from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and exercises designed to facilitate connecting you with God’s Life in you.

What is the format for the courses?

• Normally, people participate in a small group that meets once a week for 13 weeks.
• You can adjust the schedule, such as meeting two or three times a month.
• Some have taken the courses as individuals when they were unable to participate in a small group.

What are the common Goals and Objectives for the courses?

• Goals
  • Desire to know, love and serve God
  • Participation in the Paschal Mystery: the suffering, dying and rising of Jesus
  • Integration of the head and heart, that is, knowledge and experience
• Objectives
  • To listen to my insides
  • To see myself as God sees me
  • To apply Scripture to my life experience
  • To communicate and pray on a deeper level

Suggestions for Small Groups

• Select a place to meet with comfortable seating, such as around a table, or sofa and chairs facing each other. You also need a TV and DVD player. It seems to work best to meet in the same place each time.

• Select a day and time that most people can meet. You may find that not everyone can attend every session. So you are looking for the time that works for most participants.

• Encourage each person to participate and share thoughts and feelings in response to viewing the videos and doing the homework lessons. Encourage participants to treat each other with respect, acknowledging the right of any to disagree or question.

• Confidentiality is important. Things you hear from others in your small group should not go beyond your small group.

• Recognize the importance of beginning and ending on time. Begin on time, even if some participants have not arrived. The facilitator moves the group from one activity to another, conscious of time, yet in a way that is flexible enough to allow the leading of the Holy Spirit within the group.

• Ideally, the group should be 6 to 10 people. If more than 10 are taking the course, it would be preferable to form two or more groups. This allows an opportunity for everyone to have time to participate in small group discussions.

• If you have multiple small groups meeting at the same time and location, the groups may meet together to view the video, as long as each group can meet for their small group discussion. In order to build continuity and community, members should stay with their same small group each session throughout the course.

• If you miss a session, it is preferable to borrow the video from your facilitator to view the missed lesson before the next session, and before going through the accompanying workbook material. When this is impossible, keep working on your homework and return to your small group meetings as soon as possible.

• Refreshments or snacks are not necessary. However, if they are desired, it is suggested that they be kept to a minimum for the 12 video sessions.

• It is preferable to plan a thirteenth session to review together the homework accompanying the twelfth video and to celebrate together your completion of this course with a brief party.

Schedule Options

The following is a suggested time frame for a two-hour small group meeting. For the purpose of illustration, we have selected 7:00 to 9:00.

• 7:00 (15 Min) - Song and Opening Prayer
  • Introductions at first meeting
• 7:15 (15 Min) - Gratitude Questions
  • What has God done in your life in the last week that you want to thank God for and want to share?
  • What have you come to know about God?
• 7:30 (35 Min) - Discussion
  • Questions and comments about the previous video and homework from prior week
• 8:05 (10 Min) - Break
• 8:15 (30 Min) - Video
• 8:45 (15 Min) - Today's Video Discussion
  • What do you want to remember that you learned from the video?
  • Give an example from your own life.
• 9:00 - End with Brief Prayer

The norm for this course is to meet every week for 12 weeks with an optional 13th session for final review and party. For homework, the norm is to complete five assignments during each week, preferably no more than one assignment per day.

Feel comfortable about adapting the schedule in various ways to meet the group’s specific requirements, such as meeting every other week, every third week, or once a month.