Biblical Counseling in Action

Pastor Stefan Nitzschke is joined by J David, a police officer and biblical counselor. J shares why he became a police officer, how he got into biblical counseling, and his path through seminary and ACBC certification. J shares how he processes the brokenness that he encounters daily as a police officer as well as his advice for biblical counselors struggling with mire that they encounter. 

Jonathan Smith, Director of Technology at Faith Church and author of #RUHooked, shares insights on technology and parenting. He encourages parents to teach their children responsible technology use and to be a good example themselves. Check out his book and faithlafayette.org/parenttech for more details.

We are joined by Dr. Charles Hodges, practicing physician at St. Vincent Family Medicine in Indianapolis and Executive Director of Vision of Hope in Lafayette. Dr. Hodges has been practicing medicine for 48 years. Dr. Hodges shares his fascinating story of how he became involved with biblical counseling after becoming bored with doctoring. Being both a doctor and biblical counselor, those two often intersect - occasionally he’s able to use his biblical knowledge in the medical room and share the love of Christ with his patients. Other times, he’s able to use his medical knowledge in the counseling room concerning things like depression, OCD, bipolar disorder, anxiety, etc., but in a position to help people with what medicine can’t fix - sharing the sufficient principles of Scripture that give hope and help. Dr. Hodges also explains his involvement in editing the second edition of The Christian Counselor’s Medicine Desk Reference, a resource to help pastors and counselors answer questions and offer solid biblical advice for counseling those with medical issues.

Pastor Rob & Stephanie Green join us to discuss their book “Tying Their Shoes” – a Jesus-focused parenting resource. While other parenting resources exist to help expectant parents prepare for what’s around the corner, the Greens know the gospel is the best resource to ground couples in their relationships with the Lord, with each other, and with their children. They discuss the blessings and challenges of parenting and provide biblically focused training as parents prepare for their new little one. You can purchase “Tying Their Shoes” here.

We’re joined once again by Pastor Rob Green. On our last podcast with Pastor Green we talked about pre-engagement counseling, but this time we are going to discuss pre-marriage counseling. Pastor Green wrote “Tying the Knot” as a resource for pastors and counselors to use for pre-marriage counseling. His goal in this book was to emphasize Jesus on every page – Jesus at the center. You can learn more about this book and purchase it here.

Long-time members of Faith Church, Jerry & Rita Jamison, join the podcast to delve into Faith Church’s history in Biblical Counseling. They recount how Faith got introduced to Biblical counseling and how greatly the church body and ministry was impacted in those early days and still now decades later. You won’t want to miss this peek into the past.

Pastor Rob Green joins us again, this time to discuss pre-engagement counseling. You read that right, pre-engagement counseling, not pre-marriage counseling. This may be a new concept to you and Pastor Green unpacks why it is a beneficial type of counseling to couples. Pre-engagement counseling differs from pre-marriage counseling because there are different goals and questions that need to be addressed. Pre-engagement counseling asks “should we pursue marriage?” It is an intermediate check point – Should we take the next step, or should we end the relationship?

Former seminary intern and missionary in Japan, Isaac Madison, discusses how his counseling training has shaped his ability to apply Scripture meaningfully. The podcast explores the intersection of Biblical Counseling with church ministry and missions, his journey into Biblical Counseling, Faith Bible Seminary training programs, and the importance of Biblical Counseling in cross-cultural missions.

Dr. Dale Johnson, an expert in biblical counseling, discusses the importance of teaching pastors about soul care. They explore the growth of the biblical counseling movement and the significance of integrating soul care into counseling. They emphasize the need for biblical solutions for mental health issues.

We’re joined today by Dr. Charles Ware to discuss the topic of Grace Relations. Dr. Ware explains why he chooses to use the term “grace relations” instead of our culture’s term “race relations.” Dr. Ware believes that the term “grace” gets to the root of the problem. He advocates using the Bible to transform what we say about this topic instead of listening to society. We need to view these issues from God’s Word instead of the lens of the world. For further information on this topic check out his book co-written with Ken Hamm – One Race One Blood.