Many pastors and elders experience discouragement in counseling and even doubt they have the time, training, and resources to do it well. We firmly believe that people should be able to go to their church for help when they are faced with life problems.

However, when it comes to the youth of our church or even the teens in our own household, it can be challenging to instill a strong faith that will withstand the opposing views they will encounter.

For this conversation, I am joined by a couple of guests to help us understand more about teens, faith, and video games. Henry Nightingale and Christian Martin are the co-hosts of a Christian gaming podcast called Courage Wisdom Power. Through this podcast, they encourage listeners to consider how they consume and play video games from a biblical worldview.

In this episode, you’ll hear how parents and pastors can help teens grow in their faith, some of the ways we can engage secular culture, the importance of integrating youth into the church community, and much more.

Listen in!

Show Notes: bcmnational.org/nightingale-martin-55

Where do you send your sheep to get outside help? Who can be trusted? It’s normal to feel nervous and wonder if the advice they receive will be biblically sound. 

In a past episode, we shared some behind-the-scenes of what intensive counseling was like from the perspective of the counselees and their advocate couple. Today, we are going to show you what it’s like from the counselor’s perspective.

I have the privilege of welcoming Mark Schuitema. Mark is the Executive Director of Faithful Shepherds, which specializes in providing coaching, counseling, and care for the people who are pouring their lives out in the service of others. He is also a counselor at Twelve Stones, a non-profit Biblical Counseling Ministry.

In this episode, we discuss what happens in intensive counseling, the value of intensive counseling alongside your church's biblical counseling ministry, some of the characteristics of a biblically based program, and much more.

Show Notes: bcmnational.org/mark-schuitema-54

Does a thriving biblical counseling ministry really need to be championed by the lead pastor? What if they are too busy or have too much on their plate already? These are just some of the questions we are going to be tackling in this conversation.

You might recognize the name of my guest for this conversation, as he’s been around the biblical counseling movement for a long time. Brad Bigney is a speaker, author, leader in the biblical counseling movement, and serves as the Lead Pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Kentucky.

In this episode, you’ll hear some of the best practices for establishing a biblical counseling ministry, how counseling will positively impact your preaching, the importance of getting buy-in from the entire leadership team, and much more.

Show Notes: bcmnational.org/brad-bigney-53

Kari Gross is filling in as the host for this episode, where we are giving you a peek inside the counseling room. A few of our teammates have joined us for this conversation and have graciously agreed to give a glimpse into their counseling relationship. Christi Thach, our process manager, and Kent Kloter, our biblical SoulCare™ coach, also have a counselee and counselor relationship.

Christi and Kent give us a glance into their relationship throughout the years and how utilizing biblical SoulCare™ can lead a person to a place of empowerment and hope. While every counseling relationship will vary, this look at what counseling can look like should provide valuable insight for you and your members providing SoulCare™.

In this episode, you’ll learn a bit more about the counseling relationship, the value of having multiple people in the counseling room, why we should model the discipleship relationship, and much more.

Show Notes: bcmnational.org/thach-kloter-52

The burden to counsel well can lie heavy on our minds and hearts. No one knows that better than Pastor Tim Pasma. 

He understands your world as Tim is the Senior Pastor of about 130 people at LaRue Baptist Church in LaRue, OH. Tim is also an ACBC Fellow and Board Member, author, and speaker.

In this episode, you’ll hear some of the areas counselors are most likely to make mistakes, the key difference between teaching and counseling, encouragement for those worried about making a mistake in counseling, and much more.

Listen in! Show Notes: bcmnational.org/tim-pasma-51

Have you ever wondered what happens when you send your people to a three-day intensive? What did they learn? Was it true to Scripture? How can you build on what they achieved there?

This is the topic we are covering today, along with Ben and Ailey Holman, and Kris and Amanda Mettlemen, who recently attended a retreat at Twelve Stones. These four are close friends, and they also share a counselee and counsel advocate couple relationship.

In this episode, you’ll learn what is involved in a retreat, what an advocate couple is, how churches can effectively use partnership ministries, and much more.

Listen in!

Show Notes: bcmnational.org/advocate-couple-50

As pastors, we recognize our sacred calling to teach and preach God’s Word to our flock. But one of the questions we’ve been pondering is that of our call to counsel and care for them as well.

How does or should the care of souls within the local church impact our preaching? Does the dual focus on counseling and teaching have an impact, positive or negative, on either role? Can you only effectively be one or the other?

I am delighted to introduce you to a guest who has the answers to all these questions and more. Scott Gnuse is the teaching and leadership pastor at New Castle Bible Church in Mackinaw, IL.

In this episode, Scott shares how these two roles affect each other, why we should be careful not to neglect the ministry of prayer, our responsibility to genuinely care for people, and much more.

Listen in!

Show Notes: bcmnational.org/scott-gnuse-49

There has been a biblical counseling movement going on for about 60 years now and it’s still moving! We are so excited to be able to share with you not only what is going on inside our country, but internationally as well.

Joining for this conversation is Dr. Andrew Rogers. He is the Executive Director of Overseas Instruction in Counseling at BCM Worldwide, a ministry devoted to training biblical counseling trainers around the world.

In this episode, Andrew shares what remains consistent across all countries and cultures, some of the issues the international church is facing, encouragement for your church and counseling ministry today, and much more.

Listen in!

Show Notes: bcmnational.org/andrew-rogers-48

Recently, we’ve seen more terms like “clinically-informed” and “trauma-informed” emerge in the counseling world. How are we to tell what is in line with biblical counseling and what isn’t? Many of these movements are more syncretistic in nature.

To help us understand more about the new arguments coming out and how we should respond as biblical counselors is Dr. Heath Lambert. He is the Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida and he previously served as the Executive Director of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC)

In this episode, Heath discusses how some will use biblical truths to smuggle in lies, current issues facing the biblical counseling movement, the importance of firmly establishing the sufficiency of Scripture, and much more.

Listen in!

Show Notes: bcmnational.org/heath-lambert-47

Have you ever felt burnt out? After a long day of vocational ministry, you return home but you can’t stop worrying and thinking about all the people under your care. Perhaps you are wondering how you will manage to keep pastoring in the midst of this crazy world.

These thoughts are quite common among church leadership and burnout is a far more common occurrence than ever before. Barna reported in 2022 that a staggering 42% of pastors said they were considering leaving their jobs, which Barna refers to as a “burnout epidemic.”

This is why I am honored to welcome someone who has spoken on the topic of burnout and stress, Dr. Rob Green. Rob has been a member of the Faith Church staff for 20 years and his responsibilities include oversight of the Faith Biblical Counseling Ministry and teaching New Testament at Faith Bible Seminary.

In this episode, Rob shares the different types of burnout, how to discern when burnout is an issue of rest or obedience, the challenges of vocational ministry, and much more.

Listen in!

Show Notes: bcmnational.org/rob-green-46