You Must Be Some Kind of Therapist 193. Father God Gives Good Gifts: Healing Through Faith with Pastor and Therapist, Chris Legg
In the spirit of celebrating my first Christmas as a Christian, this week is the perfect time to share a delightful conversation I had with Chris Legg. As both a licensed professional counselor and the lead pastor of a church, Chris has a rare combination of expertise he describes as being "a bit of a unicorn." Chris is also the founding owner and clinical director of Alethia Family Counseling Center, which now operates six locations across Texas with thirty therapists on staff.
We explore the intersection of faith and psychology, discussing how secular therapy approaches to self-esteem fall short without a spiritual foundation. Chris challenges the contemporary affirmation-based therapy model, arguing that true humility comes from an accurate understanding of who we are in light of who God says we are. We discuss the persistent human tendency toward self-deception, examining why building identity solely on ourselves is fundamentally delusional—and what happens when we recognize ourselves as treasure through God's eyes instead.
Our conversation ventures into controversial territory, including the relationship between Christianity and psychedelics, where Chris explains his measured "five out of ten" stance. He shares clinical examples of clients whose severe addictions were transformed through professional psychedelic-assisted treatment, while also emphasizing the need for Christian voices to remain engaged in this conversation rather than retreating into reflexive rejection.
We discuss the theology of the Father, father wounds, and how childhood experiences shape our intuition of God. We examine prayer through the lens of the persistent widow and the friend at midnight, exploring what it means to approach God boldly as his children rather than with practiced piety. Chris shares insights on marriage, sacrifice, and how his son co-authored their book "Sex and Marriage" after witnessing the congruence between his father's theology and his treatment of his mother. Finally, we touch on near-death experiences, spiritual integration, and the beautiful, ongoing process of faith deconstruction and reconstruction that characterizes a lifetime of spiritual growth.
Pastor Chris Legg, LPCs, and his wife Ginger have been living out the parable of God’s love for His people since 1993 and have been blessed with five great kids. He is the Lead Pastor at South Spring Baptist Church in Tyler, TX and is also the founding owner and clinical director of Alethia Family Counseling Center, which offers training, counseling, speaking and business consulting in several locations in Texas. He and his son, Mark, are the authors of the book Sex and Marriage, which is intended to restore to marriages the power God intended. He also writes on Substack and hosts the Reconstructed Faith podcast.
Books Mentioned in This Episode:
- Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning
- Abba's Child by Brennan Manning
- Lion and Lamb by Brennan Manning
- Imagine Heaven by John Burke
- Imagine the God of Heaven by John Burke
- The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
- Narnia Series by C.S. Lewis
- Sex and Marriage by Chris Legg and Mark Legg
- Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Joe Dispenza
[00:00:00] Start
[00:01:09] Meet Chris Legg: Pastor and Therapist
[00:11:54] The Father Wound and Our Intuition of God
[00:18:45] Bold Prayer: Keep Hounding God
[00:32:35] The Problem with Self-Esteem
[00:40:00] Affirmation-Only Therapy Will Be Replaced by AI
[00:43:15] Psychedelics and Christianity
[01:05:00] Paul on Intention and What's Truly Forbidden
[01:16:10] Chris's Vulnerability on Lifelong Addiction
[01:32:30] Chris's Book: Sex and Marriage
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Show notes & transcript provided with the help of SwellAI.
Special thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our theme song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude and permission.
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