A Church Of Biblical Counseling

In yesterday’s post, Twenty-Four Disciple-Making Champions, I introduced you to the two dozen best practice churches that I researched for Equipping Counselors for Your Church. Throughout each chapter of the book, we learn from these Disciple-Making Champions. In chapter one, we learned from two churches about being a church of biblical counseling, not just a church with biblical counseling.

Steve Viars, Sr. Pastor and Rob Green, Counseling Pastor, Faith Baptist Church

Steve Viars and Rob Green are just two of many leaders of the biblical counseling ministry at Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette, Indiana. At Faith, you find no discrepancy between what happens in the pulpit, what occurs in formal biblical counseling sessions, and what transpires in informal spiritual conversations.

“Our goal is to be a church of biblical counseling—we want these truths to permeate everything we do…. Call it counseling; call it specialized discipleship. It doesn’t matter. We want to be a progressive sanctification machine, a discipleship factory. We want people growing and changing where God’s Word and Spirit make each of us more like Jesus Christ through careful attention to the inner person. That is what brings honor to God…. The goal of our biblical counseling training just like the goal of all our ministries is to glorify God by winning people to Jesus Christ (for unsaved counselees) and equipping them to be more faithful disciples (for saved counselees).”

Pastor Bill Goode, the Sr. Pastor who preceded Pastor Viars, and who launched Faith’s Biblical Counseling Ministry, clung to the same vision.

The local church is a counseling ministry. The question is not, “Should Christians counsel each other?” because they already are. Most Christians are ministering to one another on a personal basis. So the question is, “What kind of counseling is offered? How effective is the ministry? Do people have confidence that the Word of God has answers to everyday life problems?”

Pastor Mike Wilkerson, Pastor of Biblical Living, Mars Hill Church 

Mike Wilkerson’s title screams Ephesians 4 vision: Pastor of Biblical Living. Mike pastors at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. He makes plain their biblical philosophy. “When I say we envision being a church of biblical counseling, that’s just to say that one-anothering is normative in our church life.”

Pastor Wilkerson uses several terms to show the synergy between the pulpit ministry of the Word and the personal ministry of the Word. He describes the pulpit ministry of the Word as the “air wars” in which sermons bomb the shores, softening and preparing hearts for the personal ministry of the Word. He calls that the “ground wars” in which biblical counseling, small group ministry, and one-anothering provide the hand-to-hand combat in helping each member of the Body to be disciple-makers.

“When we re-launched the ministry, since our Sr. Pastor initiated the process, and he desired unity, we all agreed on the biblical direction. So we had the Air War covered—the biblical philosophy of ministry embedded in the preaching. The Ground War is an equal priority. We’re committed to building it well—theologically and relationally—and having it unified with the Air War (the pulpit).”

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What is the difference between a church of biblical counseling and a church with biblical counseling?

Five to Live By

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living.

You Have to Read This

Al Mohler has a very sobering post about how “the Obama administration is now ready to use the coercive power of the state to force medical personnel to perform acts they consider to be morally wrong and unhealthy for their patients.” Read the full implications at Conscience Trampled by the Regime.

What Do I Do If People Think Negatively of Me?

A very insightful and relevant (as usual) post by John Piper from Desiring God about What If Your Reputation Is Unjustly Bad?

Why You Should Care about the Biblical Counseling Coalition

Pastor Rob Green shares his personal story of why the newly launched Biblical Counseling Coalition matters: Why I Care.

Praise to Live By

Pastor Scotty Smith has been posting prayers based upon Scripture. This moving post focuses on A Prayer of Praise to Jesus.

Our Hope Is in Christ

Dr. Laura Hendrickson’s candor about her failures raise a question that she biblically answers in Why Do I Talk About My Failures. Her biblical answer brings Christ’s glory and all of us hope.

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Which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

Update on the Biblical Counseling Coalition (Guest Post by Pastor Rob Green)

Last week I posted about the meeting of the Biblical Counseling Coalition.

Today, we have a guest post about the BCC by Pastor Rob Green of Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette, Indiana. Read his original post at the Faith Biblical Counseling Ministry blog.

On December 5-6 a group of people interested in seeing a biblical counseling coalition met in Chicago in order to discuss the vision, goals, and next steps. I was given the privilege of attending and here are the “take-aways” from the weekend meeting.

# 1: There is a genuine desire to work together

I think it is fair to say that everyone in the room wants to see the groups that do biblical counseling work together so that the cause of Christ is advanced. There was a genuine commitment to the importance of the birth, life, death, burial, resurrection, and coming return of Jesus for all of challenges we face. The more time we spend talking about our agreements the more we will see a desire to work together for something great.

# 2: There is a genuine desire to speak to one another rather than about one another

I will never forget an assignment I was given in my Ph.D. program. I had to describe and critique one scholar’s understanding of how the NT authors use the OT. Here was the catch…we had to send our paper to our given scholar and give them an opportunity to comment on our work. That changed the way I wrote. It changed the amount of effort I gave to understanding his position and representing him fairly. After all, I wanted my given scholar to say that I represented him fairly. I think this same attitude will be found in the BCC as well. We may not all agree about every point, but the way we discuss those differences will be different. We will speak to one another rather than about one another.

# 3: There is a genuine desire to influence others

Several explained that sometimes biblical counseling has a bad name whether that is due to a bad experience or to a stereotype that may or may not be accurate. One thing that the biblical counseling coalition is seeking to do is to win back a voice in the ears of those who have written the whole idea off. It may be that God would use a new organization to help overcome some of the fears and hurts of the past and we would all seek to help people through a robust and comprehensive approach of using Scripture.

There were, of course, other things that happened in those two days. However, I think it is fair to say that the BCC is on the move. By God’s grace it will be a vehicle used to help people who are hurting to find rest, joy, and peace in a growing relationship with God and His people. You could continue to pray that goals and desires like the ones mentioned here would be used by God to help us all grow in the maturity of the faith.

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Of Rob’s three “take-aways,” which one impacts you the most? How?

This Week’s Top 5: The Best of the Best Around the Christian Net

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living.

How to Talk about Sin and Grace

C. J. Mahaney has a very insightful post about our need to talk grace whenever we talk about sin. He explains two extremes that often occur when we talk about The Doctrine of Sin.

Who Is Competent to Counsel?

Rick Thomas at Counseling Solutions addresses the important question of who is able to provide counseling. His answer might surprise you. Read it at Any Christian Can Counsel.

We Are Voice, Not Word

Phil Monroe at Musings of a Christian Psychologist reminds Christian counselors of their calling and of their limitations. Read his challenge at Reminder for Christian Counselors.

Broken Down House

Rob Green reviews Paul Tripp’s book Broken Down House. Learn how Tripp gives hope to the struggling and challenges those who are too satisfied.

Holy Subversion

Kevin Wax is one of the most read Christian bloggers in the world. His Kingdom People keeps readers current from a biblical perspective. He’s also an author who rarely raises the issue of his own book. But in today’s post he outlines 3 Ways People Are Reading Holy Subversion. The book and the post are both worth reading.

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Which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

Not Your Father’s Seminary: Reinventing Pastoral Training

The Gospel Coalition recently asked four well-known seminary professors and presidents, “What one thing would you change about seminary?” After a vigorous exchange of new ideas by Al Mohler, D. A. Carson, Jeff Louie, and Richard Pratt, the Gospel Coalition then posted a follow-up article by Ric Cannada, Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary.

Most of the ideas shared in these two posts pointed to the future. Few seminaries are currently doing the cutting-edge work envisioned by these five seminary leaders.

Faith Bible Seminary provides an intriguing exception. So I sat down with Rob Green, Pastor of Counseling and Seminary Ministries at Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette, Indiana, to learn more. Listen in on our conversation to travel “back to the future” to learn a new way to train pastors.

RPM Ministries: Rob, I know you read the recent blog posts on the GC site about changing seminary education. What were your thoughts and how does Faith Bible Seminary fit into the discussion?

Rob Green: While each scholar offered his own thoughts, many of the answers spoke of the importance of the local church and the practical ministry experience that many seminarians fail to get during their academic pursuit. You will not recognize us. We’re not a well-established seminary with hundreds of students, nor do we have nationally known professors. But we do have a very different way of offering seminary training.  

RPM Ministries: Tell our readers about the paradigm shift you’ve initiated in seminary education.

Rob Green: Our paradigm shift began in 2007 when our Sr. Pastor, Steve Viars, and our congregation began a revised version of seminary training. Our church wanted to minimize three basic challenges with the current seminary structure.

• The high cost of seminary training resulting in some students graduating with significant debt.

• A lack of practical ministry experience.

• The significant pressures on any wives or children due to the heavy seminary and job workload.

RPM Ministries: Those are significant issues. So what’s your new approach look like in action?

Rob Green: In order to minimize these weaknesses, Faith Bible Seminary created a three-year intern-based M.Div. program. Each student in the program must either be a pastor in full-time vocational ministry or a paid intern in a church. This requirement allows every student to be directly involved in various aspects of pastoral ministry during their entire training. Interns at our church are required to spend about 20 hours per week being part of the ministry (counseling, discipleship, teaching preparation, pastoral staff meeting, deacon meetings, etc.). Our classes meet one day per week with some one-week modules occasionally built into the system to allow students from surrounding communities to participate.

RPM Ministries: And how have you addressed the cost issues?

Rob Green: The cost challenge was minimized by providing the tuition free-of-charge for students involved in an internship at a local church. In our church’s view, since our partnering churches are providing paid internships for three years, it would have been very burdensome to expect them to pay tuition. Our church family covers the overhead costs with contributions and graciously allowing our pastors, who either have terminal degrees or are candidates for terminal degrees, to dedicate their time to training students.

RPM Ministries: How have these changes impacted your course offerings compared to the “traditional” seminary?

Rob Green: This model also allows a very structured curriculum to develop. Instead of students taking classes that most easily fit into their schedules, the entire three-year curriculum, semester-by-semester, is already set by the institution. The advantage to the structured curriculum is that both biblical languages can be taught in the first year allowing for more opportunities to focus on the original languages in both exegesis and biblical theology classes.

RPM Ministries: You’ve been at this a few years now Rob, what are some of the results you’ve experienced?

Rob Green: In 2007, Faith Bible Seminary enrolled 14 men and in 2010, ten of those men graduated. Of the 10 men who received their diplomas this June, 8 are placed in full-time vocational ministry including one serving in as a pastor in England, one in the church planting network with Harvest Bible Chapel, one in pastoral ministry in Brazil, one working for a Christian school, and four others in pastoral ministry in the States. Our 2010 class began this week with 19 students.

RPM Ministries: What final thoughts do you have about seminary education?

Rob Green: FBS does not have a long track record, nor thousands of graduates like the larger schools. Time will tell whether this system is sustainable for the long term. In addition, this model has weaknesses and challenges of its own. Maybe, however, it can be an encouragement to other churches that have been challenged by articles such as the one published by The Gospel Coalition or by their own convictions to help strengthen seminary education. Finally, it may be that in the scope of seminary training there might be several models that can seek to help prepare men to glorify God by serving in the church of Jesus Christ.

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What is your vision for the seminary preparation of pastors?

Note: For Rob’s first-hand thoughts on this issue, visit his post Attempting a Paradigm Shift in Seminary Education.

Pastor Rob Green

How to Steward Life Checkpoints

Note: The following is a second guest post from my good friend and co-worker in biblical counseling, Pastor Rob Green. Check out the original post here. And bookmark Pastor Rob’s excellent blog Counseling with Confidence and Compassion.

From time to time the Lord provides a checkpoint in life. Consider with me some of the many that could be mentioned:

1. The death of a close friend or family member.

2. The reception of some very unwelcome news (e.g. job loss, health diagnosis).

3. When a birthday comes and they begin to think that they have already lived most of their time on earth.

4. When a child gets married, goes to college, or enters a new phase of school (e.g. Jr. High, Sr. High, etc).

5. When they realize that their dreams of the high paying job with all the perks that go with it will not come true.

These checkpoints, like spots on a map, remind us that life on this earth is not all there is. Our destination is ultimately Christlikeness with Him in Heaven. These checkpoints confront us with the reality that fewer things matter and they remind us that the few things that do matter, matter more. So, how do you and I steward opportunities like this and help our counselees do the same?

Certainly we can agree that these opportunities should not be wasted, right? So, how is it that these opportunities can be used for the Glory of God and the progress of the gospel? What follows is far from comprehensive, but Lord willing it will be a help to many of you, like me, who got a few checkpoints this year.

# 1: Rather Than Sulk in Self-pity, Commit to “Redeeming the Time”

Psalm 90:12 instructs us to number or days so we may present a heart of wisdom while Ephesians 5:15 says that we must make the most of your time because the days are evil. Sometimes when people are confronted with these checkpoints they run, hide, and go into a shell. The problem with that approach is that is the exact opposite of what we should do.

All human life is short – we are here today and gone tomorrow. So our time, whatever amount we have, must be lived with purpose and meaning. Every believer is a representative of God. Therefore, help your counselees to use the checkpoint to move forward – to be more committed, to be more focused, to be more passionate about the things of the Lord. Neighbors need to hear the gospel, children need to be taught truth, friends need to be discipled and encouraged, and the Lord should be magnified in your speech and actions. Don’t sulk in self pity.

# 2: Rather Than become Bitter and Angry, Confess Your Heart to the Lord and Commit to Trust Him

For those that get shocking checkpoints – the lost job, the cancer diagnosis, the tragedy in the family – be careful. In Ephesians 4:32 we are told to put off all anger and all bitterness. It is easy to get upset at the Lord during these checkpoints. But I want to encourage us to follow the pattern in the Psalms or in Habakkuk where shocking news or challenging circumstances are followed by running to the Lord. Rather than run away from him in anger or bitterness, the biblical authors ran to the Lord and then chose to trust Him (read the prayer in Habakkuk 3). We do not always understand the ways of the Lord and the reasons He chooses to do what He does. However, we can trust in a God who is good and in a God who loves us and in a God who will use whatever trouble may come to bring Him glory and make us like Christ.

# 3: Rather Than Believe You Are Getting the “Raw End of the Deal,” Believe That God Has Already Been Better to You Than You Deserve

These checkpoints in life encourage some folks to believe that they were somehow and in some way mistreated by the Lord. They got the raw end of the deal. If only they were faster, stronger, more coordinated, quicker, smarter, better looking, then their dreams could have come true. But as it is God has not given them those things. That is where Ephesians 1-3 come in. God has poured out on you every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. God’s grace reached down to you and plucked you from the pit. God sent His Spirit to be a seal on His promises. If we get nothing other than the gospel we have gotten far more than we deserve. The checkpoints may remind us that there are some pleasures of life that we might never experience, but they also should push us to remember that a glorious eternity is yet in store.

# 4: Rather Than View This Life as Having the “Best,” Remember That in the Life to Come You Will Be Like Jesus for You Will See Him as He Is

We, like our counselees, can also be tempted to think that our best days and our best memories are in the here and now. If only we had the perfect vacation, if only we had the chance to see ________ (Paris, Tokyo, the Grand Canyon), if only we could see our kids grown up, then our life would be fulfilled. We need to help our counselees remember that the best will come when our current bodies are replaced with heavenly ones, when our sin is forever removed and we are like our savior Jesus, and where we will enjoy the light of His radiance rather than our current sun. We may ask the Lord to grant us the privilege of raising children, walking our daughters down the aisle, or meeting a grandchild, but we are mistaken if we believe these things are the “best.” Checkpoints point us forward to a future with our savior.

# 5: Remember That Sometimes the Lord Asks You to Remember Him When You Have Blessings Overflowing and He Asks You to Trust Him When You Despair Even of Life

While all the checkpoints bring challenges there are others that bring fear. If given the choice many of us would rather drop dead from a heart attack then go through the suffering of a disease that slowly kills us. For some believers, the thought of dying of cancer is far easier to handle than the thought of living with it. Dying at least represents “being absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” The living with cancer means surgery, doctor visits, chemo, radiation, sickness, pain, and hardship. Allow these thoughts to linger and you will despair of life. Paul reminds us that there was a time in his own life where he despaired of his existence. Life was so hard and so bad that death seemed not only imminent but better. Yet in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11, Paul reminds us all that this hardship had a purpose – to trust in God! None of us particularly enjoys the thought of trusting God in the midst of great suffering – we would rather trust God in the midst of blessing! Sometimes, however, God calls us to suffer and with the call to suffering comes the call to trust Him and to demonstrate His great power amidst our great weakness.

There are, of course, many other things that can be said. But Lord willing I hope that this may help us deal with our own checkpoints and help others deal with theirs.

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How have you stewarded your own “checkpoints”?