Ministry Counseling

Do you get anxious when you have to make a decision? Do you overthink, overtalk, and overanalyze? When anxiety surrounds every decision, the result can be decision-making paralysis. Learning to trust God, even when the path is not clear, will give you courage to move forward one step at a time. Anxious with Decisions will help you see that God offers you something better than certainty and the absence of risk when you’re faced with decisions both big and small.

This is a unique book that contains daily devotionals and sample negative self-talk guides as well as positive self-talk examples. All scriptural based phrases will help you declare life instead of speaking negatively (death) over yourself and the ones you love. Learn what you should say when you talk to yourself as well as what to say about others. Speak powerful faith-filled words. Speak life!

In The Weary Leader's Guide to Burnout, Sean Nemecek takes Christian leaders on a journey from burnout through recovery and on to spiritual transformation. By understanding the causes and symptoms of their burnout, these leaders will be ready to take practical, actionable steps toward wholeness. Then, if they choose, they will be poised to do the inner work of spiritual transformation by the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. In the end, these leaders will emerge from burnout more confident in Christ, more connected with others, and with greater purpose, courage, and grace.

With the story of the painful and life-changing crisis he experienced in the Church that led him to love the Church more intensely, Fr. Berg Along intertwines the stories of other Catholics who have themselves experienced life-changing hurts but who, in Jesus, found healing. Ultimately, this audiobook is about hope for wounded believers: If you have been hurt in the Church, Jesus can take you on a journey through your wounds, a journey of healing that will make you an even better human being, a better Christian, and a better disciple.

What do you do when it feels like God isn’t there―when the state of the world, our own suffering, or the struggles of those we know suggest that God is absent? When you’ve experienced soul-crushing silence from heaven, despite your fervent supplications? Looking at Habakkuk, Job, David, and Jesus, as well as reflecting on his own experience of deep suffering, Adam Mabry examines the art of lament―how to cry out to God in desperation from a place of faith and hope. At the end, there are practical suggestions for what you can do to keep faith even in times of darkness and doubt.

We say we're free in Christ, but many of us are still living in captivity - to fear, anger, shame, isolation, unforgiveness, and control. We're good at faking it around others, but we're exhausted by the ruse. Andi Andrew wants women to break free of their self-imposed prisons and live the lives that are rightly theirs in Christ. Sharing her own intentional journey of finding true freedom by surrendering control of her heart and life to the God who welcomed her with open arms, Andrew encourages women to give their pain and brokenness to Jesus.

As a child, Sheila Wise Rowe was bused across town to a majority white school, and she experienced the racist lie that one group is superior to all others. We experience ongoing racial trauma as this lie is perpetuated by the action or inaction of the government, media, viral videos, churches, and within families of origin. In contrast, scripture declares that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made.

In this life-changing Bible study, John Eldredge distills a lifetime of wisdom into five practical and ready-to-implement practices for putting your life back together. These practices include: (1) the one-minute pause, (2) benevolent detachment, (3) practicing kindness, (4) getting outside, and (5) stepping back from technology. These practices, ready for the taking, will enable you to begin recovery, focus on what matters most, disengage from the tragedies of this broken world, and discover the restorative power of beauty.

Deciding to meet with a professional counselor is a major step for personal mental health. But what comes next? Some people are unsure how the therapy process works, some have had negative experiences, and some simply want to know they're benefiting as much as possible from the time and resources they invest. In this accessible, information-packed guide, Christian psychologist Terri Watson provides an expert's perspective on how to get the most out of your counseling experience.

Scripture reveals a God who meets us where we are, not where we pretend to be. No More Faking Fine is your invitation to get honest with God through the life-giving language of lament.

This book is your first resource when you need to know how God can help someone through life challenges! Scripture Resources for Counseling compiles decades of ministry leadership into an easily accessible reference that can be used by any Christian believer. More than 800 Bible texts support Nora Fozard’s experience-based wisdom for helping people through life challenges. Her godly wisdom is gathered into brief discussions of dozens of contemporary topics, then offers you prayer and conversation guides for Word-based, Spirit-led counsel of people in need.

Questioning our faith and spiritual beliefs, while leaving the familiarity of our religious homeland, can be excruciatingly painful. Loneliness, isolation, and fear of rejection - from God and others - can give rise to shame, guilt, anger, and sadness. In Religious Refugees, therapist and ordained pastor Mark Karris explores this disorienting faith shift through the lens of cutting-edge psychological research, theology, philosophy, and, most importantly, the real world experiences of those who are going through - and have gone through - this arduous and confusing journey.

Accessing mindfulness is a therapeutic touchstone for a range of emotional issues, from mild distress to the treatment of trauma, but the term mindfulness has often left Christians wary. Stripped of Christlike spirituality, it sounds self-focused at best, and at worst like a fusion with modern pop-religions of the day. But the quality of mindfulness - of being fully present, aware of ourselves and our situation so that we can better respond to the chaos around us - is a profoundly biblical concept. And it can be used effectively by Christian counselors and healing practitioners.

Pastor and author Bruce Miller provides practical biblical advice and theological background for difficult ministry decisions regarding complicated and often divisive issues about sexuality.

In Consider Your Counsel, Bob Kellemen comes alongside counselors and shares where he and others have missed the mark. Drawing on more than three decades of counseling supervision experience, he unpacks ten of the most common missteps that he has noticed in his own counseling, as well as those he has mentored.

The Christian counselor or pastor plays an important role in helping people process the trauma they’ve experienced. Too often, a client leaves the counselor’s office with feelings of guilt and shame. They feel the heavy burden of what they did wrong. But somehow, they’ve missed the grace of God that makes things right again.

Many of us believe that in order to please God, we have to be perfect. It’s an easy lie to buy into. In a culture that emphasizes accomplishment and ever-higher goals, we feel driven to do more, achieve more, be more. And we get caught up in the unforgiving treadmill of self-imposed rules, believing that we should, we need to, we must. The result? Anger, frustration, and anxiety that keep us far away from the life of peace that Jesus promised.

It's not just about the money. Arguments about money are by far the top predictor of divorce, says Sonya Britt, a professor at Kansas State University. "It's not children, sex, in-laws, or anything else. It's money - for both men and women." Satan seeks every means possible to destroy marriages, and creating conflict around finances is one of his favorite tactics. But there is more to money problems than not sticking to the budget.

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...

With all the conveniences of the modern world, it seems like people would be happier and more peaceful than ever before. In reality, it is the exact opposite. In fact, many people are struggling to manage depression and anxiety like never before. When chaos hits your life, it is tempting to feel condemnation and shame. But when you see the redeeming fingerprint of God in your life, you can boldly announce that the God—who healed, delivered, and set you free—will do it again!