Alumni Spotlight

Six key indicators that you need to refer someone to a professional counselor

“Oh, did you hear _____ went to a counselor?” Growing up, I overheard these words spoken at church in a hushed quietness. “Counseling” always had an association with extreme situations—a “crazy aunt” or one of those people locked in the asylum thirty miles from where I lived. Job’s friends have never sat in my living

Marital distress, depression, anger, anxiety, sexual abuse, trauma, grief, alcoholism, substance abuse, conflict, parenting, and relationship problems … life is messy. But all these and the many other expressions of sin and a fallen world never affect Christians and the church. Right? Okay, that’s ridiculous. Brokenness is normal. Jesus’ ability and willingness to enter into

In one Amsterdam church, representatives from sixty countries gather together. Suddenly I felt a bit intimidated by my role as counseling and care director to this multicultural congregation. Granted, I represented my country and some represented the Netherlands, where I lived at the time, leaving only fifty-eight foreign countries about which I knew next to