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Northshore Biblical Counseling

and Training Center

Ministry Update for May 2020

 

Dear Friends,

 

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has changed some of our plans for this year, I wanted to give you an update on what’s already happened this year. 

 

 

Woodhaven Baptist Church in Ocean Springs, MS isn’t a large church, but the people there have big hearts.  We had about a dozen people attend the biblical counseling training course there.  I taught the Institute for Biblical Counseling and Discipleship’s (IBCD) Care and Discipleship Course over three weekends in January through March.  Three people said they wanted to pursue ACBC certification, so I’m looking forward to having more biblical counselors in Mississippi!

 

 

In March, just before all the travel restrictions started being implemented, I was able to teach Introduction to Biblical Counseling for Prison Inmates at Taylor Correctional Institution in Perry, FL.  It’s a week-long course and we had 47 inmates attend.  This course is always very enjoyable since the inmates are enthusiastic and on Friday, we get to conduct role play where we spend the day having one inmate counselor another through a given scenario.  They do a pretty good job! 

 

I’m also very grateful for the generosity of IBCD.  After I teach at a prison, IBCD will send the prison chaplain a complete set of their training videos and Observation videos.  There are two chaplains there – one at the main prison and one at the Annex – and they both want to incorporate the biblical counseling material as part of their regular programs. 

 

Our trip to Madagascar, which was scheduled for the end of April, was cancelled due to the pandemic, so we’re hoping to go there in early November to teach Module 1 of Overseas Instruction in Counseling Church Leadership Training program.   

 

Locally, I continue to counsel regularly via Skype and Zoom and I’m very excited to have two people currently in Phase 3 of ACBC’s certification process right here in our area.  Additionally, we have three more people who are completing Phase 2 this month and a fourth person who should be completing Phase 2 soon after.  All four will be starting Phase 3 this summer.  For years, Elizabeth and I have been the only ACBC counselors in our area, and now, within a year to 18 months, we’ll have six more! 

 

So, we continue to press on and we’ll see what the Lord does with our pandemic situation in the future.  In the meantime, we strive to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him (Col 1:10).

 

As always, feel free to give me a shout at any time for any reason! 

·       E-mail: capt.ducks@gmail.com

·       Website: www.northshorebiblicalcounseling.org

·       Facebook: www.Facebook.com/nbctc 

 

For God’s Glory,

Don

Director, Northshore Biblical Counseling and Training Center

 

 

Northshore Biblical Counseling

and Training Center 

Ministry Update for August 2107

 

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It’s been a bit too long since our last update, so here are a number of events that have transpired since our last newsletter in December:

January and February were fairly quiet, spending most of our time at home.  The good thing about that is that I get to counsel more consistently, getting to spend time with people both in our own church and many folks from other churches as well.  

In March, I had the privilege of teaching a two-day seminar on marriage and parenting at Columbia Correctional Institution (CCI) in Lake City, Florida.  We had 25 inmates attend the seminar and they were enthusiastic and appreciative.  It’s always rewarding to get to teach those in prison who have either become believers, or who have renewed their commitment to Christ after falling into grievous sin, and now have a desire to help fellow inmates. 

Prayers would be appreciated regarding future ministry at this prison. During the upcoming ACBC Conference in October, I’ll be meeting with Dr. Ernie Baker who heads the counseling ministry at First Baptist Church Jacksonville.  FBC Jax is only an hour away from CCI while I live seven hours away.  We’ll be discussing the possibility of counselors from their ministry teaching on a regular basis at the prison.  Whenever I go there, the inmates always ask for more. While I still plan to go there annually for an extended seminar (I’m schedule to teach a week-long course in January), my prayer is that teachers from FBC Jax can go there on a regular basis to offer more consistent biblical counseling training.

In April, we headed to Europe to teach with Overseas Instruction in Counseling (OIC).  We completed Module 4 in Syke, Germany during which time we heard some wonderful and encouraging testimonies from many of the students who completed the course (Module 4 is the final Module of the Church Leadership Training program). We were also able to fit in a “Luther Tour,” visiting the major sites where Martin Luther lived, wrote and taught. Given the fact that 2017 is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, this was particularly meaningful.

 

   Students holding their graduation certificates

 

After our time in Germany, we moved on to Montreuil, France, which is just east of Paris. There, we taught Module 3 which addresses specific issues in biblical counseling (depression, anger, sexual sin, anxiety, etc.). 

Once again, we heard some great testimonies of God at work through biblical counseling, since one of the Projects for Growth after Module 2 was for our students to counsel at least five sessions. As with everywhere we go, we enjoyed warm hospitality and rich fellowship with the believers in France.

 

       Our group in Montreuil, France

 

In July, we started a thirteen-week Introduction to Biblical Counseling course at First Baptist Church Slidell.  We’re using the Care and Discipleship Certification course developed by the Institute for Biblical Counseling and Discipleship (IBCD) which meets the academic requirement for certification with ACBC. 

We were very encouraged at the response – we have 35 people in the class and continue to get more inquiries almost weekly.  We were also encouraged by the fact that there are groups from two churches who want to start a biblical counseling ministry at their church, and I’ll soon be speaking with the leadership of one of these churches about how to start this process. 

First night of the IBCD Course at FBC Slidell

 

Throughout the year, I was also supervising three people who are in their “supervised counseling” phase for ACBC certification. This is part of my requirement to become an ACBC Fellow and I will have completed all the requirements in just another week or two.  As more people become interested in becoming certified as biblical counselors, this will allow me to help with that process, particularly for people here on the Gulf Coast.

In October, we travel to Jacksonville, Florida for the annual ACBC conference and for the OIC Missionary Training Conference which will be held immediately following.  We’re seeing quite a bit of interest and are praying for more teachers to bring biblical counseling training to churches around the world.

In November, we return to Montreuil, France to teach Module 4 and OIC’s Executive Director, Wayne Vanderwier has asked me to also help teach Module 3 in Amman, Jordan.  That will most likely be a one-time event, but will be a new location and a new culture for me.

 

Specific prayer requests:

 

1.     A fruitful teaching time at Columbia Correctional Institution in January 2018.

2.     Wisdom as we plan two new Church Leadership Training (CLT) programs in Leipzig and Erlangen, Germany to begin in April 2018.

3.     God’s leading regarding a possible one-day seminar, also in April, as a prelude to a new CLT program in Toulouse, France.

4.     Success in recruiting new associate teachers.  We have more churches who want us to come and teach than we can go to right now. My prayer is that God would provide more biblical counseling teachers to join us in Western Europe.

 

Financial needs:

 

1.     An additional $1,000 for extra airfare and expenses for the trip to Amman, Jordan. 

 

We’re very grateful for your financial support since we can’t do this without it.  Above all, though, we covet your prayers.  It’s God who is at work and I’m thankful that he chooses to use the foolish and the weak (like me!) because we can boast in the Lord! (1 Cor 1:26-31). And God does much through prayer:  “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.” (2 Cor 1:11)

 

Feel free to give me a shout at any time for any reason! 

·       E-mail: capt.ducks@gmail.com

·       Website: www.northshorebiblicalcounseling.org

·       Facebook: www.Facebook.com/nbctc 

 

 

For God’s Glory,

Don

Director,

Northshore Biblical Counseling and Training Center