Sam Ferrina

A man who has seen many problems himself, Sam Ferrina has become a very educated figure in the realm of conflict resolution and how to handle issues between two persons. His position as the Assemblies of God coaching director allows him great opportunity to share that wisdom and knowledge that he has painfully gained through the years. From the start he presented himself to be a very dynamic speaker by handing out cards with quotes on them and having everyone trade cards in search of the their favorite quotation. When everyone had decided and all were read, it became evident of the common theme between all of the fifteen plus quote cards. Each card represented conflict between two separate parties. Throughout the night Sam spoke words of wisdom including making notice of not only the negatives but the positives of conflict including it being a way that we express suppressed feelings, provides an area to grow in skills, communication and relations, learning perspective taking, and conflict moving us out of our comfort area (which can be great, although its not always appropriate). Some questions that he recommended we ask in the midst of conflict in order to help understand the other persons perspective and show them our care for them are questions such as "How do you think the other person in the conflict sees you?” "How do you want the other person to see you in this?” and "How would you allow this to net be an issue any more?”

The wisdom that he shared was absolutely phenomenal and forever impacting in my life. Those skills that he talked about and demonstrated were done so amazingly and inspired me to pursue to be better at working and coaching through conflict.