Ministry Counseling

On November 3, 2020, Tim and Aileen Challies received the shocking news that their son Nick had died. A twenty-year-old student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, he had been participating in a school activity with his fiancée, sister, and friends, when he fell unconscious and collapsed to the ground. Neither students nor a passing doctor nor paramedics were able to revive him. His parents received the news at their home in Toronto and immediately departed for Louisville. While on the plane, Tim began to process his loss through writing.

When someone leaves an abusive marriage, life isn't instantly fixed. Women who have experienced domestic violence feel shattered. Because of the trauma they've been through, a bond with their abuser has formed that keeps them tied together long after they've physically left. Karen DeArmond Gardner understands these difficulties all too well. And she intimately knows what women in this situation need in order to gain freedom from the lies of abuse - to be reborn as the people God longs for them to be.

Fight for Us takes couples on an inspiring journey into the challenges of battling for their marriage - through gut-wrenching times of despair, and then finally to the victory of a renewed relationship grounded in Jesus.

In Take Back Your Joy, Nicole Jacobsmeyer tells how she felt defeated and ill-prepared for a decade of relentless trials, from assault and depression to miscarriage and cancer. With a heart full of questions about the God she was raised to love, Nicole began to doubt. Had God given her more than she could handle? But there is always more to the story with Christ. Through trial after trial, Nicole allowed God to strengthen her faith, and now she shares biblical strategies that carried her through.

For anyone who has lost a career because of chronic pain.... For anyone who has ever felt devastated, confused, or less-than because your health prevents you from working a formal job.... For anyone who have ever said to God, "This doesn't make sense. Wouldn't I be more useful to you if I were healthy?" This book is for you.

"Every attempt to help people must first begin with an effort to understand people," says Dr. Larry Crabb. "And the only fully reliable source of information on that topic is the Bible." In this Gold Medallion Award-winning classic, Dr. Crabb affirms the power of the Scriptures to address the intricacies and deep needs of the human heart. Exploring the inseparable link between spiritual and psychological realities, Understanding People offers a vital lens on how we're put together - who we really are and what makes us tick in our relationships.

People - frustrating, confusing, disappointing, complicated - are the most difficult part of leadership, and they challenge leaders everywhere, from leaders of many to managers of a few. In this book Chuck DeGroat addresses the flawed nature of people and offers wisdom for leaders of all types in dealing with just about anyone who is difficult to lead and to love.

Let’s face it. The trauma of life can crush our souls. Some pain feels like it won’t ever go away. But no matter how devastating it might feel, our pain is never greater than God’s ability to sustain us. Frank Friedmann confronts the issue of pain honestly, without hollow clichés and pat answers that help no one. He writes so that hurting people can find God in a way they never knew him...so they can get through what they can’t get over.. Are you hurting? Finding God in the Gray was written with you in mind.

The church should serve as a refuge for people in pain. And yet, we often end up unintentionally causing more hurt to trauma survivors. Theological platitudes and positive thinking aren't simply dismissive to those who suffer, but they inevitably retraumatize the wounded. Does the Bible have anything practical to offer for church leaders as they engage the pain in their congregations? Biblical scholar Michelle Keener shows us that the book of Job provides embodied and practical answers for the church today.

Brennan Manning has been dazzingly faithful in preaching and writing variations on the ragamuffin theme, Yes, Abba is very fond of you! But today the crowds are gone and the lights are dim, the patches on his knees have faded. If he ever was a ragamuffin, truly it is now. In this his final book, Brennan roves back his past, honoring the lives of the people closest to him, family and friends who've known the saint and the sinner, the boy and the man. Far from some chronological timeline, these memories are witness to the truth of life by one who has lived it.

Many people are struggling with mental-health conditions, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and life in our image-conscious culture. But when it comes to helping, it can be tricky to know where to begin. This wise, compassionate, and practical book is written by Steve Midgley, psychiatrist and Executive Director of Biblical Counselling UK, and Helen Thorne, Director of Training and Resources at Biblical Counselling UK. It will help listeners understand and respond with biblical wisdom to people who are struggling with their mental health.

What is trauma? How can we recognize it, and how do we offer help that is biblically faithful and empathetic? Licensed and trauma-trained counselor Eliza Huie equips you with biblical foundations and clinical insights to help you better understand trauma and offer care to those suffering from its debilitating effects. Trauma can entangle the soul, freeze the body, and cloud the mind. In the face of this struggle, Trauma Aware emerges as an essential resource.

Unbound is a Biblical counseling and discipleship tool to help people discover and live out true freedom in Christ. No matter the struggle, from simple to complex, God's word provides the only dependable guidance and help. Twelve Steps not working? Try the Biblical answer that has helped thousands. Struggling to grow in your faith? We hear every day. Every believer needs to do this program.

Our desire to grow runs deep. Yet the issues in our lives and relationships that we wish would change often stay the same, even with our best efforts at spiritual growth. Unpacking the practical and passionate theology that forms the backbone of their counseling, Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend shatter popular misconceptions about how God operates to reveal how growth really happens.

Have you noticed that most of the people coming into our churches these days are terribly wounded and hurting? You can see the pain in their faces. As a pastor, my heart goes out to these people. But I have found that it takes more than a born again experience to free them from their pain. The new birth is not the end; it is only the beginning. I have also found that psychological counseling in not the answer, Christian or otherwise. What people need is the love and care of the body of Christ, a group of anointed people I call "the sons of oil." This book is based on the Word of God plus my...

If you're longing to become more attentive to God - to listen to him, know his voice and experience his love, spiritual direction can point the way. In Seeking God Together, experienced spiritual director Alice Fryling offers a unique introduction specifically for group spiritual direction: a place where individuals can experience what it means to be listened to and loved by others, so that they can learn to listen more attentively to God in their daily lives and be used by God.

Transformative Friendships shares seven simple questions that will help you be intentional with your relationships and offers a springboard to deepening and strengthening friendships that will enrich your life.

Walking through Psalm 23 phrase by phrase, therapist and author K.J. Ramsey explores the landscape of our fear, trauma, and faith. When she stepped through her own wilderness of spiritual abuse and religious trauma, K.J. discovered that courage is not the absence of anxiety but the practice of trusting we will be held and loved no matter what. The Lord is My Courage is for the deconstructing and the dreamers, the afraid and the amazed, for those whose fear has not been fully shepherded but who can't seem to stop listening for their Good Shepherd's Voice.

Tammy Schultz, Hannah Estabrook, and Adam David Dell have written a go-to resource for faith-based practitioners caring for survivors of sexual abuse. Drawing from their personal experiences and work with survivors, the authors discuss the integration of theology and mental health practices and the healing pathways of the counseling journey.

Anyone who experiences a traumatic event feels confused, lost, out of control, unsure, and unsteady—disoriented. This kind of suffering leaves marks, sometimes on the body, always on the soul, and sometimes both. In I Have PTSD, Curtis Solomon helps both those who have suffered trauma, as well as their loved ones, to understand the physical, emotional, and spiritual effects of trauma, while offering gospel hope and practical ways to make that hope real in their lives.