Counseling center a boon to Bluebonnet pastors, churches

Posted: 9/29/06

Counseling center a boon to
Bluebonnet pastors, churches

By George Henson

Staff Writer

NEW BRAUNFELS—Director of Missions J.K. Minton believes pastors shouldn’t be counselors. And unlike most places, pastors in Bluebonnet Baptist Association no longer have to serve in a role for which many feel neither prepared nor called.

“For many years, I have believed and preached that pastors had no business in the counseling business,” he said. “We are not qualified, and that is not our calling. Such pastoral counseling is ineffective and fraught with peril, since the great majority of counselees are women. Enough pastors have slipped into immorality by forming emotional relationships with women during pastoral counseling.

“The more I said that, the more I realized: What’s the alternative? Get fired.”

While he was on a mission trip in Washington, on a ferry crossing the Puget Sound, Minton talked with Ray Still, pastor of Oakwood Baptist Church in New Braunfels, about the need for church-based professional counseling.

Minton describes Still as a man who “doesn’t make impulsive decisions,” but the idea was one he warmed to quickly. Out of that discussion, Oakwood Baptist’s counseling center took shape.

From the start, the ministry has been built on three tenets: That it be biblical in nature, that licensed professionals do the counseling and that it be affordable.

In January 2003, the ministry began seeing clients. And the ministry has far surpassed what anyone dreamed it could be, Minton said.

“I would have thought by now I would have heard from somebody complaining about something, but it just hasn’t happened,” he said.

Earlier this year, the counseling center moved from its facilities at the church to a new building Oakwood bought especially for the counseling center. Its location away from the church provides a greater degree of anonymity to Oakwood members who wish to come for counseling. Celebrate Recovery groups that help people deal with various addictions also meet in the building on Monday evenings and Saturday mornings.

Clients’ problems have run the gamut from marriage and family issues to addictions, grief, depression and mental illness, said Judy Walter, director of the counseling center.

That’s a big reason why the off-site location is important, she noted.

“Confidentiality is such a big thing, and some people don’t want to walk into their church to do counseling,” she pointed out.

The ministry is open to all churches in the association. Counseling is priced at $50 per session.

The person coming for counseling pays $10, and the church that refers them and the association split the remaining cost.

“From the get-go, the effectiveness and response from pastors has been great,” Minton said.

The center also accepts referrals from churches of other denominations and walk-in clients. The need has grown to the degree that eight counselors now serve in the ministry.

Generally, the center is not designed for long-term counseling of clients, Walter said. Most attend sessions for less that six months—some only a couple of sessions.

“Our goal is to walk alongside them, be Jesus to them, until they are emotionally and spiritually strong enough to rely on Jesus on their own,” Walter said.

“All of us have marveled at how many we have seen come to the Lord. The thrust of the program is not evangelism, but it is evangelistic.”

As a pastor, Still has known the benefit of the center first-hand.

“It’s difficult to be doing the ministry you need to be doing in your church and have counseling responsibilities on top of that, especially when you don’t have the training,” he said.

Another benefit is that when pastors counsel a couple or family through a difficult period, the family often soon leaves because they are embarrassed the pastor knows their flaws, Still said. The counseling ministry has alleviated that.

“No one has left the fellowship of the church after coming for counseling,” he said.

While Oakwood has taken the lead in the ministry, Still said it has been a group effort.

“Oakwood had some resources to offer, and to partner those with the other churches in the association has been a good marriage,” he said.

Most importantly, lives are being changed, he said.

“There is a need in many people’s lives for counseling that is not going to be too expensive,” Still said.

Both Minton and Still attributed much of the ministry’s success to Walter’s leadership.

“It’s a wonderful thing when you have a need and God raises up a person to meet that need,” Minton said.

The center saw 57 clients in a recent two-week period. Numbers fluctuate throughout the year, with peak periods even busier.

Still believes the need for this ministry exists in virtually every association. While costs may prevent some associations from starting a counseling ministry, expense hasn’t been a problem in Bluebonnet Association. Once people see lives changed and the marriages of friends reclaimed, they give generously, Still said.

Minton agreed. “God has always covered the gap between what the churches could afford to pay. After it became apparent it was going to happen, the question came up, ‘How are you going to pay for it?’ But it’s never been a question. The money’s always been there.”

If a pastor or a pastor’s family member is the client, the association picks up the share the church would have paid to maintain their privacy.

The center has benefited the entire association, Still said.

“It’s been a huge asset—especially for those on staff. We can direct people to counseling and know they are going to hear what God wants them to hear,” he said.

“It’s been an investment, but it’s a worthy investment into people’s lives. Every association could do this. It might be on a smaller scale, but do this, and it would be a huge benefit.”