Do you want to know the seven topics every person must master if they are to do truly biblical ministry?

On the first page of my first book, Soul Physicians (http://tinyurl.com/d8grf6), I describe why we need a theological foundation for people ministry. I also outline the seven-part foundation we must understand if we are to have a comprehensive and compassionate approach to the personal ministry of the Word of God.

The Physician’s Desk Reference

Two books are standard in any physician’s office: The Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR) and The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy (Merck). Both are considered “Bibles of medical knowledge and practice.”

With its 3,223 pages of prescription drugs, the annually updated PDR is the most comprehensive, widely used drug reference available. It details the usage, warnings, and precautions for more than 4,000 prescription drugs.

Merck is the most widely used medical text in the world. It provides the latest information on the vast expanse of human diseases, disorders, and injuries, as well as their symptoms and treatments. Intended for physicians, it is still useful for the lay person. As one sage has commented, “a must for everyone in a human body.”

The The Soul Physician’s Desk Reference

If the PDR and Merck are the Old Testament and New Testament for physicians treating the body, then the Bible is God’s final, authoritative word for soul physicians treating the soul. It is the soul physician’s desk reference manual for dispensing grace. It’s “a must for anyone who is a soul.” God’s Word provides not only the latest, but the eternal, lasting information on the soul’s design and disease, as well as its care and cure.

What do we discover as we read the pages of the Soul Physician’s Desk Reference (SPDR)? We learn what makes Christian counseling Christian. We learn our Great Physician’s authoritative truth about:

1. Nourishing the Hunger of the Soul: Preventative Medicine—God’s Word

2. Knowing the Creator of the Soul: The Great Physician—The Trinity

3. Examining the Spiritual Anatomy of the Soul: People—Creation

4. Diagnosing the Fallen Condition of the Soul: Problems—Fall

5. Prescribing God’s Cure for the Soul: Solutions—Redemption

6. Envisioning the Final Healing of the Soul: Home—Glorification

7. Dispensing God’s Care for the Soul: Spiritual Friends—Sanctification

These seven biblical categories are essential for developing a theology of soul care and spiritual direction. In Soul Physicians (http://tinyurl.com/d8grf6), we examine them meticulously, as a physician would the skeletal structure of the human body.

Watered-Down or Nourished with the Spring of Living Water

Christianity today is all-too-often watered-down. You can attend church and not even need to bring a Bible. You can attend seminary and not even be equipped thoroughly in biblical studies and biblical languages. You can go through training in biblical counseling and not even open your Bible!

However, if you want to do truly biblical counseling, then you must have a biblical foundation. The bare minimum includes the seven content areas listed above.

Seven Questions Every Biblical Counselor Must Answer

1. Do I know how to use God’s Word to change lives?

2. Do I comprehend how the Trinity serves as the foundation for how I relate to others?

3. Do I understand people—biblically?

4. Can I diagnose problems—biblically?

5. Can I prescribe God’s solutions—biblically?

6. Do I grasp how our eternal future makes all the difference in how we live today?

7. Am I able to dispense God’s grace and care for others competently?

Truth and Love

If we can’t answer these questions, then we need to go back to “soul school”!

It was the Apostle Paul who prayed that our love would abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight (Philippians 1:9). Society today says, “Let your love abound more and more in more love!”

No. We need truth and love—love grounded in God’s truth.

We have no “love life” if we have no “truth life.” We need both, with our love founded in God’s Word.

Do you need a theological foundation for your people-helping ministry? I do!

Do you want to know the seven topics every person must master if they are to do truly biblical ministry? I do!

*Quick Link to your copy of Soul Physicians on RPM Ministries: http://tinyurl.com/d96hc6

The Plan

My plan, Lord willing, is to blog (www.rpministries.blogspot.com) several days this week about this significant event. Today, I summarize the unique biblical counseling DNA of each speaker.

“But You Didn’t Disagree Enough!”

It was interesting during the Intermission, directly afterwards, and the day after the Symposium, how many times the four speakers plus President Lelek heard comments like, “There wasn’t enough disagreement!” Perhaps some people were expecting a “Biblical Counseling Four Views Debate.”

More likely, most people simply wanted to hear how four leaders from four different counseling organizations distinctively nuanced what makes biblical counseling truly biblical. I’d challenged readers to purchase a copy of the DVD (the ABC will have them for sale on their website soon: www.christiancounseling.com). Then…do what good biblical counselors do—listen well. I guarantee that you will hear the distinctive vision and passion of each speaker.

Tertiary, Not Primary Differences

What may surprise many is that the differences you will hear are, as David Powlison noted, tertiary (third level) and not primary. Primary differences would be foundational differences in our beliefs about the sufficiency of Scripture.

We don’t have those! David Powlison (Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation—CCEF), Steve Viars (National Association of Nouthetic Counselors—NANC, Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries—FBCM), Eric Johnson (Society of Christian Psychologists—SCP for the American Association of Christian Counselors—AACC), and Bob Kellemen (Biblical Counseling and Spiritual Formation Network—BCSFN for the AACC, and RPM Ministries) really are “on the same page about primary issues like the sufficiency of Scripture.”

The Unique DNA of Each Speaker

That said, the four speakers were not clones of one another. Again, listen carefully to the DVD and you’ll hear clearly the different perspectives, the unique passions, and the individual emphases of each speaker.

My goal today is to highlight something of the unique thumb print of each speaker. Obviously, I can do a better job remembering my own words and conveying my own passion, than I can those of my three fellow speakers. I’d love to hear each of them summarize what they shared during the Symposium.

Eric Johnson’s Unique DNA

Listen to Dr. Eric Johnson’s (see http://tinyurl.com/pvq3wj for his bio) interactions throughout the Symposium and you’ll hear several messages.

1. A Humble, Gentle Heart and a Brilliant Mind

First, Eric uniquely balances a gentle heart and a brilliant mind. Eric is a theologian/philosopher of biblical Christian counseling. Yet, he is no mere “academic.” His passion for people, his humble heart, and his desire for people to grow in grace all came across loud and clear throughout the Symposium.

2. Reclaiming “Psychology” for the Church

Second, listen to Eric on the DVD and you will pick up his passion for “psychology”—Christian psychology, biblical psychology. Eric, like myself, is a student of Church history. He knows that psychology is native to our faith—not secular psychology, but biblical psychology. Eric wants to build a foundation for soul care from a biblical and historical (Church history) basis. He wants the biblical counseling movement to reclaim what is rightfully theirs—understanding people, diagnosing problems, and prescribing solutions—biblically. Eric spoke consistently about how biblical counseling must mine the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God’s Word to develop a theological grid out of which we then build our counseling approaches.

Steve Viars’ Unique DNA

Listen to Pastor Steve Viars (see http://tinyurl.com/pvq3wj for his bio) interactions throughout the Symposium and you’ll hear several messages.

1. A Passionate Heart and a Love for the Church

Steve got people fired up about biblical counseling in the church—because Steve is fired up about it! And his words are not mere theory. Faith Baptist Church practices what Steve preaches. They are on the cutting edge of equipping people to be biblical counselors. They are not a church with biblical counseling, they are a church of biblical counseling. Principles of progressive sanctification flow through everything they do. How they preach, teach, do small groups, do evangelism, etc.—all flows from their model of biblical counseling.

2. Reclaiming Biblical Counseling for the Community

What may surprise some, because it blows away the false stereotypes about Nouthetic counseling, is Steve’s passionate commitment to community outreach through biblical counseling. Every Monday nearly 50 people from their community receive biblical counseling through Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries. These are not church members (they receive counseling from one another and from the staff throughout the week). Unbelievers are coming to Christ, having their sins forgiven, and their lives healed every week through biblical counseling.

Another example is Faith Baptist’s Vision of Hope Ministries. Vision of Hope Ministries recognizes the worth and sanctity of human life by ministering to young women, children, and families in a Christ-centered environment. They offer a faith-based residential treatment program for girls age 14 to 28 struggling with: unplanned pregnancy, alcohol or drug abuse, eating disorders, and/or self-harm. Steve Viars is convinced that God’s Word has real answers for real people with real problems.

David Powlison’s Unique DNA

Listen to Dr. David Powlison’s (see http://tinyurl.com/pvq3wj for his bio) interactions throughout the Symposium and you’ll hear several messages.

1. A Love for People and a Love for God’s Word

Clearly, David Powlison loves people and loves God’s Word. He uniquely united these twin loves in every interaction during the Symposium. He is a biblical scholar with a pastor’s heart.

2. Reclaiming the Sufficiency of Scripture for Theory and Practice

Repeatedly I heard David highlight the sufficiency of Scripture in theory-building and for counseling practice. David does not believe in a one-verse-one-problem-one-solution simplistic approach to biblical counseling. Rather, he wisely builds his model on a thorough, theological-biblical understanding. Every life issue, when considered conceptually, is addressed with wisdom in the Bible. Our role is to trace conceptual categories of living throughout the Bible and relate those to modern categories people face today.

No mere theoretician, listen to the DVD and you will hear great practical wisdom from David about how the counselor/pastor can interact in love, insight, creativity, and engagement with a counselee/parishioner. You can tell quickly that David has remained active in the field—as a practitioner. His use of images, humor, stories, biblical vignettes with people bring his counseling to life.

Bob Kellemen’s Unique DNA

Listen to Dr. Bob Kellemen’s (see http://tinyurl.com/pvq3wj for his bio) interactions throughout the Symposium and you’ll hear several messages.

As I noted, obviously I know my own passion for counseling better than the passion of Eric, Steve, or David. And, I remember better what I said—because it is what I would say in any setting. Anyone who knows me will listen to the DVD and say, “That’s Kellemen! I’ve heard him highlight that a million times!”

Since it would seem arrogant for me to attempt to categorize my own “heart” and “mind,” I’ll let others attempt that. Instead, I’ll share two summary areas of theory that I recall highlighting during the Symposium.

1. Reclaiming the Profundity and Relevancy of Scripture for Theory and Practice

If I said it once, I said it half-a-dozen times, “true biblical counseling must be comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed.” The “comprehensiveness” of biblical counseling comes out, in part, when we think of the profound nature of Scripture. I believe 100% in the sufficiency and supremacy of the Word of God. I also happen to believe that if we talk about the Scripture’s sufficiency but ignore how it deeply relates to life, then we’ve missed the point entirely. Our calling is to relate Christ’s changeless truth to our changing times. Our calling is to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth. God’s Word, rightly interpreted and aptly applied, has real answers to real problems of real people. During the Symposium, I shared the example of 2 Samuel 13 and the rape of Tamar by her half-brother Amnon. Carefully exegete that passage in context, and you begin to see the profound wisdom of the Word for the horrors of sexual abuse and sexual sin. You begin to see the amazing timeliness and relevance of God’s Word for life as we live it today.

2. Reclaiming the Necessity of Compassion for Theory and Practice

I also highlighted passages like Romans 12:15; Philippians 1:9-11; Romans 15:14; Ephesians 4:15; and 1 Thessalonians 2:8; all of which insist upon speaking the truth in love. I called upon us as biblical counselors to be like the Apostle Paul who said that he loved the saints so much that he gave them not only the Scripture, but his own soul, because they were dear to him. Do a DNA analysis of Kellemen’s biblical counseling approach, and you will find truth and love. I believe that in modern biblical counseling we have not emphasized enough the relationship of the counselor to the counselee. We have at times been too focus on “information in” (listen to data) and “information out” (read a verse/apply a principle). Instead, when listening—we should be engaging, feeling (that’s not a bad word!), empathizing (another good, biblical word), and climbing in the casket (see 2 Corinthians 1:3-11) as we weep with those who weep. And, when sharing truth, we should be doing it soul-to-soul, in a three-way trialogue relationship—counselor, counselees, and the Divine Counselor—it is a collaborative, relational, even intimate interaction.

Part of that truth-compassion connection that I highlighted at the Symposium also means that we must deal both with the evils people have suffered and with the sins people have committed. Modern biblical counseling has done good work dealing with sin. But it has, at times, not done as much work developing a biblical “Sufferology”—a theology of how to apply God’s Word to suffering parishioners and spiritual friends. It should never be either/or: suffering or sin. Biblical and historically, the Church has always dealt with both. We need to develop biblical approaches to soul care for the suffering through sustaining and healing. And we need to develop biblical approaches to spiritual direction for sin through reconciling and guiding.

The Distinct DNA Was There!

I could go on and on about each of us. The differences were there. God fearfully and wonderfully and uniquely created each of us with individual passion, calling, life experiences, personality. It all came out in numerous ways during the Symposium.

And Tomorrow . . .

Tomorrow I take a risk. I’m going to address some stereotypes and the dangers thereof. See you then.

Jeremy Lelek, President of the Association of Biblical Counselors, has organized a Biblical Counseling Symposium to address just that issue. What is the state of biblical counseling? What is the future of biblical counseling? How do we even define the term “biblical counseling.”

On May 14, from 6:30-9:30 PM at Christ Chapel Bible Church in Fort Worth, TX four leaders from four counseling organizations will gather for three hours to discuss from their various perspectives biblical counseling.

1. Dr. David Powlison, Editor of the Journal of Biblical Counseling and leader in the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation.

2. Dr. Steve Viars, Senior Pastor Faith Baptist Church and leader of Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries.

3. Dr. Eric Johnson, Director of the Society for Christian Psychology and Professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

4. Dr. Bob Kellemen, Director of the Biblical Counseling and Spiritual Formation Network and Chairman of the Christian Counseling and Discipleship Department at Capital Bible Seminary.

Over 350 people have already registered.

The purposes of the Symposium include, to provide a platform of conversation that will:

1. Allow discussion from various perspectives in biblical and Christian counseling.

2. Provide panel members an opportunity to model Christian character when discussing areas of disagreement within Christian and biblical counseling.

3. Identify distinctions among panel members.

4. Identify areas of commonality among panel members.

5. Allow panel members to identify areas of potential collaboration in reestablishing Scripture as the basis and lens of all things “Christian counseling.”

6. Allow panel members to consider areas of potential collaboration in restoring “soul care” to the Body of Christ.

To register: http://www.christiancounseling.com/en/cev/157

Learn more about Dr. Kellemen’s model: http://www.rpmministries.org/

We Are Motivated by Religious Affections

The Puritans called our spiritual longings “religious affections.” By “affections” they did not mean emotions, but something deeper. Emotions are reactive; affections are directive. As Jonathan Edwards explains: “Affections are the mainspring of human actions. The Author of human nature not only gave affections to man, but he made them the basis of human actions” (Edwards, Religious Affections, p. 9). Earlier he wrote:

The affections are the spring of men’s actions. All activity ceases unless he is moved by some affection—take away desire and the world would be motionless and dead—there would be no such thing as activity or any earnest pursuit whatsoever. Everywhere the Scriptures place much emphasis on the affections (Edwards, Religious Affections, p. xxviii).

The energy behind life is relational/spiritual. Relationships are fundamentally what move us. As John Owen describes:

Relational affections motivate the soul to cleave to and to seek relationships. The affections are in the soul as the helm is in the ship; if it be laid hold on by a skillful hand, he turneth the whole vessel which way he pleaseth (Owen, Temptation and Sin, p. ix).

We hunger for God while attempting to keep him far from our spiritual diet. When I worked on a psychiatric inpatient unit, I counseled a young man diagnosed as manic-depressive (what is now called bi-polar affective disorder). He experienced intense mood swings. At times he struggled with bouts of crippling depression, at other times he suffered from incapacitating elation. During one of his elevated periods, I asked him what would happen if he slowed down. “When I slow down, when my mind takes a break, then I languish alone in a bottomless, loveless pit.”

As we worked together, I encouraged him to invite God into the pit and onto the mountaintop. “Whatever you are experiencing,” I shared, “God is there and wants to experience it with you.”

In the ensuing days, weeks, months, and even years, he was able to face his spiritual dread. Though I believe that part of his struggle was physical, I believe that another part was spiritual. In his highs and lows, he escaped God, or at least tried to. All non-biological issues are relational issues, and ultimately spiritual ones. Blaise Pascal describes what occurs when we attempt to quench our spiritual thirst in non-God ways.

What is it, then, that this desire and this inability proclaim to us, but that there once was in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present? But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself (Pascal, Pensées, VII, Paragraph 425).

So how’s your spiritual love life? Prayerfully ponder:

*What moves and motivates you to action?
*What desires impel and compel you?
*What are you earnestly pursuing and why?
*What is the energy behind your life?
*What fundamentally moves you?
*What is your soul cleaving to and seeking?
*Who or what is at the helm of your soul?
*What is in the Holy of Holies of your soul?
*What do you fill the God-shaped vacuum of your soul with?
*What do you fill your hungry soul with?
*What is your source of true happiness?
*What are you filling your infinite abyss with?