Celebrate Recovery Lessons and Testimonies in Electronic and Print Media
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 11:14AM The internet is a wonderful tool for communication is so many ways. It has also been recognized as a means of abuse or excess in many ways too.
A couple of concerns I wanted to point out today have to do with Celebrate Recovery lessons, and Celebrate Recovery testimonies appearing in radio/tv/internet/blogs/podcasts and etcetera.
Regarding the lessons of Celebrate Recovery, you need to know that the Celebrate Recovery Leader’s Guide and the Participant Guides are both copyright protected resources of the Zondervan Publishing Company, and have the support of the trademark and copyright laws of our land. If you have, or are planning to post CR lessons in part or the whole, to the web, you have the potential to be violating the copyright laws intended to protect you and others for intellectual or property rights for resources developed.
Another question then surfaces about lessons posted to the web. If you lesson is totally original and does not contain the acrostics of the Celebrate Recovery lessons – what exactly are you doing in your Celebrate Recovery group? Are you running a local experiment under the name of Celebrate Recovery? Have you added outside resource or teaching, which indicates your group, is no longer an authentic representation of the ministry started at Saddleback Church over eighteen years ago?
If you have Celebrate Recovery lessons published to the web, you need to remove them now.
Regarding testimonies – it is great that you have leaders or participants willing to use their story to help others come to recovery. You need to be sure that every person you record is willing for you to record the testimony to use as you may, and that you have a signed release for every individual giving their consent.
Many of those sharing their testimony are comfortable with anyone hearing the great things God has done in their life, but you may have others who are happy to share in the local group, but not have their story broadcast through the internet.
Some of the testimony issues to consider would be with children at home, or those who may have pending issues with a separated or divorced spouse. There may be many other issues that would cause someone who may be perfectly happy sharing within the intimacy of a CR testimony, who may reconsider when told “your story is going out on the web or in the church bulletin”.
Ministry leader – it is key that you keep this ministry safe for all, and that you set the example for others of following trademark and copyright laws of the land.
Internet,
Lessons,
Media,
Testimonies in
Ministry Leader