Three Testimonies: The Acknowledgements for Equipping Counselors for Your Church

Who has impacted your life and ministry for Christ? What testimony would you share about them and their impact? What story would you tell?

In the Acknowledgements page for Equipping Counselors for Your Church, I enjoyed telling the story of three men who have impacted my ministry. I hope you enjoy reading their stories.

The year was 1973 and I was fourteen. My older brother, Rick, began dating a Baptist girl, and if you date a Baptist girl you attend a Baptist church. Rick, being the older brother, informed me that if he had to go to church each week, then so did I. That, from the human side of the equation, was how God sovereignly arranged for me to begin attending Grace Baptist Church in Gary, Indiana. Within a year, I surrendered my life to Christ as my Savior.

Pastor Bill Goode

During my high school years at Grace Baptist, my life intertwined with three individuals, without whom, this book would never have been written. The first was Sr. Pastor Bill Goode (who is now home with Christ). Though I didn’t know it at the time, it was during these very years that Pastor Goode was instrumental in the launch and early development of what now has become known as the modern nouthetic biblical counseling movement. Pastor Goode’s commitment to equipping counselors for the local church has stayed with me these forty-years.

Pastor Ron Allchin

It was at Grace Baptist that I also met and was discipled by our Youth Pastor, Ron Allchin. Pastor Ron not only ministered to me, but reached out to my family in many ways. Though the Lord led Pastor Ron to another church during my high school years, we always stayed in contact. Today, Dr. Ron Allchin equips biblical counselors around the nation and the world. He was a model for me as a youth; he remains an example for me now.

Pastor Steve Viars

A third influential person from Grace Baptist was Steve Viars. Steve and I had actually met years earlier in the neighborhood when I was in second grade and he was in first grade. So our paths go way back, to say the least. Steve grew up, just as I did (though some might question that about each of us), and we journeyed together to Baptist Bible College and to Grace Theological Seminary. Steve is now the Sr. Pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette, Indiana—one of the premier churches in the world where you can be equipped as a biblical counselor. Steve’s real-life, best-practice approach to equipping counselors has richly influenced my own ministry.

Who, other than God, would have thought that Rick dating a Baptist girl would lead to Bob writing Equipping Counselors for Your Church? All I know is that this book would not be in your hands without the shaping influence of Bill Goode, Ron Allchin, and Steve Viars. It is with gratefulness to Christ that I dedicate Equipping Counselors for Your Church to Bill, Ron, and Steve.

Join the Conversation

Who do you want to “acknowledge” as having impacted your life and ministry for Christ? What testimony would you shared about how God used them in your life?

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).”

Join the Conversation 

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

Putting Your Past in Its Place

Book Details

• Author: Stephen Viars, D.Min.

• Publisher: Harvest House (February 2011) (248 Pages)

• Category: Biblical Counseling, Christian Living

• ISBN: 978-0-7369-2739-0

• Retail Price: $12.99

• Reviewer: Bob Kellemen

Biblical “Balance”

Christians who attempt to address the crucial topic of the past tend toward extremes. At times, we fall into the trap of “the past is everything” mindset. We blame our past and use it as an excuse. At other times, we careen to the opposite extreme of “the past is nothing.” We rip out of context and misapply Paul’s words about forgetting the things which are behind (Philippians 3:1-15).

In Putting Your Past in Its Place, Pastor Steve Viars avoids both extremes. As he notes:

“Both extremes are problematic for students of Scripture. If the past is nothing, then why did God create us with the ability to remember? Why are we instructed, for example, to not let the sun go down on our wrath (Ephesians 4:26) if today isn’t going to effect tomorrow? But the past is everything view is equally troubling. The Scripture does not encourage us to view ourselves as helpless victims whose choices today are outside our ability to understand or change” (p. 18).

Viars then spends a complete chapter developing a “theology of the past.” With that foundation laid, the rest of Putting Your Past in Its Place is a practical theology of what the Bible teaches about how we deal with our past scripturally.

Suffering and Sin

The modern biblical counseling movement at times has emphasized the confrontation of sin, somewhat to the neglect of comfort for suffering. Viars addresses both by helping readers to organize their past into their innocent past (suffering) and their guilty past (sin). He then delineates between whether we handled our past well or poorly.

The rest of the book treks with readers through the four categories of:

• The “Innocent Past” (suffering) when you Responded Well: You were sinned against, but did not sin in return. Respond now with “Authentic Suffering.”

• The “Innocent Past” (suffering) when you Responded Poorly: You were sinned against, but your response displeased God. Respond now with “Humble Analysis.”

• The “Guilty Past” (sin) when you Responded Well: You blew it, but then acknowledged your failure and handled matters appropriately. Respond now with “Joyful Remembrance.”

• The “Guilty Past” (sin) when you Responded Poorly: You sinned and then took additional steps that displeased God further. Respond now with “Honest Self-Confrontation.”

Viars is anything but naïve. So immediately after introducing these four categories, he explains:

“It is okay if your ‘baloney detector’ is going off right about now. I am not suggesting that the Bible teaches these four categories in some sort of absolute and rigid fashion. Rather, these categories help us to clarify what happened and how we responded. That, in turn, helps us to know what biblical principles to apply” (p. 67).

Viars spends three chapters on “authentic suffering” and dealing with our innocent past. He emphasizes biblical principles of facing it honestly, biblically, hopefully, and missionally. He develops “humble analysis” and dealing with our guilty past in two chapters. Here he encourages readers to ponder six diagnostic questions to discern how to respond today to one’s guilty past.

The three chapters on “joyful remembrance” help readers to respond to their guilty past when they handled their sin biblically. Here Viars focuses on what to do when we do not feel forgiven and when we continually rehearse our failures. The two chapters on “honest self-confrontation” teach how to handle our guilty past when we responded unbiblically. Here Viars helps readers to address heart issues and patterns rather than focusing on symptoms, while also directing readers to their only hope—rejoicing in the forgiveness of our Redeemer.

Real-Life Narratives

At first glance, these four categories might imply something of a mechanical approach. Nothing could be further from the truth. Throughout Putting Your Past in Its Place, what shines through is Viars’ decades of experience as a pastor and biblical counselor working with real people with real issues. His creative illustrations, engaging stories, personal examples, weaving in of Jill’s story, real-life testimonials, and questions for personal reflection and group discussion all result in the most reader-friendly counseling book you’ll ever find.

Viars has devoted his life and ministry to helping others change—biblically. Putting Your Past in Its Place is the result of that lifelong ministry. Whether you’re struggling with the process of change related to past suffering or to past sin, this book provides the seasoned, compassionate, pastoral, hope-filled, biblical wisdom you need.

While I highly recommend Putting Your Past in Its Place for the person in the pew, I’m also convinced that it will be a theory-altering, practice-changing book for pastors and biblical counselors. Viars models the sufficiency of Scripture for everyday life like no one I have read. Pastors and counselors can learn from him not only how to help their parishioners and counselees to deal with the past, but even more, how to view and use the Scriptures to develop a theology and methodology for dealing with any life issue.

In an era when our resources seem at times to bounce between theology unrelated to life and self-help manuals not grounded in God’s truth, Putting Your Past in Its Place is a breath of fresh air. The “sufficiency of Scripture” has become something of a buzz word in biblical counseling—used at times without definition or real-life descriptions. By grounding his practical theology in a biblical theology of the past, Viars models a robust, relational, real-world approach to the sufficiency of Scripture. He shows that God’s Word is relevant to all of life, and offers uniquely profound insights for living.

Note: This review first appeared at the Gospel Coalition Book Review site. Read it there at Putting Your Past in Its Place.

Robust Resources for Changed Lives 

Where do you turn for in-depth, comprehensive, relational resources that equip you to speak the truth in love so we can all grow together in Christ? There are numerous great sources available in the Evangelical world today. Another cutting-edge resource is coming your way.

Save the date. On Monday, May 2, 2011, the Biblical Counseling Coalition (BCC) will launch its Blog Site: Grace & Truth. 

The first week, you can enjoy the following posts from leaders in the biblical counseling movement:

• Monday, May 2: Paul Tripp, The Ultimate Lens on Life

• Tuesday, May 3: Elyse Fitzpatrick, Despising the Shame 

• Wednesday, May 4: Steve Viars, Biblical Counseling as a Community Bridge 

• Thursday, May 5: Bob Kellemen, Our Competence Comes from Christ

• Friday, May 6: BCC Staff, Five to Live By: The Best of the Best on the Net in Biblical Counseling

• Saturday, May 7: The BCC Interview: Pastor Deepak Reju of Capitol Hill Baptist Church

The BCC Blog Site will also include a list of Featured Blogs and a list of Recommended Websites. The BCC is not about the BCC. The BCC is about bc—biblical counseling—linking you to valuable resources, best-practice churches, premier para-church groups, and conferences you won’t want to miss.

Just the First-fruits

And this is just the first of several upcoming BCC “launches.”

In late May to early June, the BCC Book Review site will launch. Every week the BCC will post four biblical counseling book reviews. The site will also provide “The Best of Guides” (such as “The Top Ten Books on Biblical Counseling and Dealing with Anxiety”).

Then throughout the summer and on an ongoing basis, the BCC will launch the Free Resources section of the website. Eventually, the BCC plans to provide 1,000s of free articles, forms, counseling guides, videos, and audio resources.

Three Audiences

Every section of the BCC website will focus on three audiences:

• People seeking biblical care: all of us—people in need of change.

• People providing biblical care: pastors, counselors, spiritual friends.

• People equipping biblical care-givers: educators, equippers, writers.

If you’d like to be placed on the BCC e-mailing list to hear more updates and receive periodic e-blasts and e-newsletters, sign-up on the BCC home page.

Join the Conversation

• What blog post topics would you like to see the BCC address?

• What books would you like the BCC to review?

• What free resource topics would you want the BCC to provide?

Five to Live By: The TGC11 Edition 

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living. Today’s Five to Live By converge around the theme of the 2011 Gospel Coalition Conference.

God’s Holy Love

TGC’s own blog has a boatload of great links and updates, including this one that responds to the “Rob Bell Controversy”: God: Abounding in Love; Punishing the Guilty.

Trevin’s Seven

Trevin Wax also has a TGC Edition this week in his Trevin’s Seven. He includes eight links (it was a special week and he couldn’t stop at seven—I’ve been there; done that) to keynote messages preached at the conference. Find them at The TGC Edition.

TGC and the BCC

Pastor Steve Viars talks about the benefits of coalescing coalitions in Coalitions Working Together.

Sister Coalitions

Maybe once or twice a year, at most, I include one of my own blogs in this list—only when it really fits a theme. This is one of those times. Read The Ministry of the Word—Public and Mutual for my take on how the Gospel Coalition and the Biblical Counseling Coalition mesh.

“Gathering the GC Tribe”

Darryl Dash of the Dash House shares his view of TGC11 in The Real Benefit of TGC11.

Join the Conversation

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

Equipping Counselors for Your Church: What People Are Saying

My sixth book will be released in September, 2011 by P&R Publishing. To view the book video trailer of the book click on this link: Equipping Counselors for Your Church: The 4E Ministry Training Strategy.

Over a dozen leaders in biblical counseling have graciously shared their recommendations. Read what they have to say…and plan to order your book as soon as pre-ordering is “live.”

“Dr. Bob Kellemen knows that God has called all of His children to be active participants in the ministry community that He designed the church to be. Bob also knows that it is not enough to give people a vision and call them to commitment; they must also be biblically trained. Equipping of the Body of Christ for personal ministry has been Bob’s life work. This practical, step-by-step equipping manual is the mature fruit of that life-long commitment.”—Dr. Paul Tripp, D.Min., Founder and President of Paul Tripp Ministries, Author of Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hand

“Bob Kellemen—trainer and coach extraordinaire—has a simple goal: he wants to see your church’s one-to-one ministry transformed. The way he does that is by giving clear, practical instruction along with a huge package of supplies and tools. And when you follow his coaching you’ll be surprised to find that the result is not so much Bob’s system as it is an equipping model that is specific to your church.”—Dr. Ed Welch, Ph.D., Faculty Member CCEF, Author of When People Are Big and God Is Small

“So many of us long to see our churches equipped to minister the blessings of God’s Word to one another…and yet somehow it seems all too easy to get bogged down in the how. Bob Kellemen has given the church a tremendous resource—outlining not only the “how but also the “why” and most importantly the “Who.” This is a resource that will revolutionize the way your church does ministry and will give you the resources you need to offer practical help from a many-membered body serving one another and their community.”—Elyse Fitzpatrick, MA, Author of Counsel from the Cross

“This is a must-read book for every person who longs to see their church be more effective at helping people grow and handle the issues of everyday life. It is intensely biblical with a model that flows right out of the pages of Scripture. Yet it is equally practical. You will be encouraged and equipped to be a person who…encourages and equips. My friend Bob Kellemen has done a masterful job at helping us all think about how to be truly effective in the culture in which Christ has placed us.”—Pastor Steve Viars, D.Min., Sr. Pastor, Faith Baptist Church, Lafayette, IN; Author of Putting Your Past in Its Place

“This is the book we needed years ago at Mars Hill Church to help us re-think our counseling ministries. By God’s grace, we ended up with something like what Dr. Kellemen envisions; but save yourself the trouble we endured and let Bob’s wisdom guide you strategically through the process. In fact, join me: I’ll be using this book to re-think it all over again.”—Mike Wilkerson, Pastor of Biblical Living, Mars Hill Church, Seattle, WA; Author of Redemption: Freed by Jesus from the Idols We Worship and the Wounds We Carry

Bob Kellemen’s Equipping Counselors for Your Church is a desperately needed gift to pastors and church leaders for helping the church to envision, enlist, equip, and empower the saints for the work of ministry. Bob’s seasoned, insightful, and humble experience emerges in each chapter and is also reflected in his detailed appendices. I highly recommend this work whether you are just starting out or you have been in the trenches for years. I was personally encouraged and challenged in addition to coming away with many ideas that I will use to assess my own ministry.—Pastor Robert K. Cheong, Ph.D., Pastor of Care and Counseling, Sojourn Community Church, Louisville, Kentucky

“Bob Kellemen knows equipping biblical counselors from A-to-Z. He has done a tremendous job of structuring a step-wise strategy to develop the lay counselors in your church. In his humble style, Bob has gathered the best leaders of local church counseling ministries and done the work of bench-marking for you. This is a book that you will reference often as you help the hurting, and equip the saints for the work of soul care in your church.”—Pastor Garrett Higbee, Psy.D., Executive Director of Biblical Soul Care Ministries, Harvest Bible Chapel, Elgin, Illinois

“Dr. Kellemen has produced a landmark book that fills a significant vacuum in the biblical counseling literature: a comprehensive work that not only offers an exceptional overview of biblical counseling, but also provides a wise, strategic, and thoughtful guide outlining the essentials of developing a robust counseling ministry within the local church. Equipping Counselors for Your Church has the potential to influence a massive paradigm shift in how ministry is exercised in the Body of Christ both now and in future generations.”—Jeremy Lelek, M.A., L.P.C., President, Association of Biblical Counselors

“Dr. Bob Kellemen is a born encourager, coach, and equipper. His vision and enthusiasm are contagious! Bob has thought carefully about how to foster effective counseling of those struggling with sin and suffering in the context of the local church, and encourage informal disciple-making among all members. The result is this comprehensive resource, which will take your congregation through envisioning your unique counseling ministry, enlisting, equipping, and leading counselors, and administering your program. Whether you are a pastor, ministry leader, or a church member who’s already caught the biblical counseling vision, there’s something in this manual for you. Read it and dare to dream.”—Dr. Laura Hendrickson, Psychiatrist, Biblical Counselor, Author of Will Medicine Stop the Pain?

“Dr. Kellemen’s book fills a long-standing gap in Christian counseling and church-based ministry literature. It is an excellent resource for church leaders or counselors who are looking for practical biblical guidance, including instructions and all the necessary nuts-and-bolts, in developing the one-to-one, personal ministry component in their church’s spectrum of care. It is marvelously comprehensive and systematic, while at the same time flexible enough to apply to a variety of church personalities.”—Dr. Sam R. Williams, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Counseling, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

“This is a remarkable book. Bob Kellemen has accomplished the seemingly impossible task of combining sound Christian theology, informed biblical counseling principles, and practical training procedures into a guidebook for developing a counseling ministry in the local church. While some books focus on counseling models, the structure of training programs, or on counseling techniques, Dr. Kellemen has demonstrated the importance of addressing a comprehensive biblical approach to counseling in the church. Bob gives you the information necessary to build a complete biblical counseling ministry. He walks you through each step and shows you how to make counseling ministry unique to your church, not borrowed and artificially applied, but intrinsic to the God-given vision and biblical mission of the local body of believers. The result is a thoroughly biblical book that provides rich material for ministers, seminary students, and people interested in developing care-giving ministries. This is a ‘must’ book for anyone interested in counseling and the church.”—Ian F. Jones, Ph.D., Ph.D., Baptist Community Ministries’ Chair of Pastoral Counseling, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

“I am alarmed in our ever-increasing multiethnic urban society at how many people faithfully attend Bible believing churches with a successful external appearance while living in unbelievable personal and family dysfunction! Bob Kellemen’s call for and guidance towards a revolution of humble growing biblical counselors within the church is a timely resource for an urgent need.”—Dr. A. Charles Ware, President, Crossroads Bible College, Indianapolis, IN; Author of Darwin’s Plantation: Evolution’s Racist Roots

“Do you ever wish someone would help you better envision, understand, organize and implement personal ministry in your local church? If so, this book is for you. Who wouldn’t value an opportunity to sit with twenty-five leaders in biblical counseling—just to hear the conversation, listen to the interaction, learn from the dialogue, and benefit from the exchange of ideas in order to capture the challenges, commitments, struggles, vision, discernment, strategy and passion of these experienced and skilled counselors? After interacting with twenty-four ministry leaders, Dr. Bob Kellemen serves as your personal coach, giving you insight on how to better serve the Body of Christ. As you seek to serve those God has called you to help grow and maneuver through the challenges of life, this book will help you understand, plan, develop and implement authentic and lasting personal ministry in your church.”—Pastor Kevin Carson, D.Min., Pastor, Sonrise Baptist Church, Ozark, Missouri