The Pastor As Counselor Foreword By Ed Welch

David Powlison Examines the Unique Role of the Pastor as Counselor A pastor inhabits multiple roles—teacher, preacher, youth leader, and counselor. Yet many church leaders feel unprepared to counsel church members who are struggling with difficult, multifaceted problems. David Powlison reminds pastors of their unique role as the shepherds of God's people, equipping them to apply biblical wisdom to the thoughts, values, moods, expectations, and decisions of those under their care.

Everyone needs help from time to time, especially in the midst of painful circumstances and difficult trials. In this short book, a highly respected biblical counselor and successful author offers practical guidance for all Christians—pastors and laypeople alike—who want to develop their “helping skills” when it comes to walking alongside hurting people. Written out of the conviction that friends are the best helpers, this accessible introduction to biblical counseling will equip believers to share their burdens with one another through gentle words of wisdom and kind acts of love. This book is written for those eager to see God use ordinary relationships and conversations between ordinary Christians to work extraordinary miracles in the lives of his people.

If God is All-powerful, Why Doesn’t He Eliminate My Anxiety? Instead of asking this, perhaps we should ask why God is allowing it in the first place. Join pastor and biblical counselor Josh Weidmann on a journey through Scripture and his own vulnerable stories of discovering God’s ultimate purpose in pain. The End of Anxiety is designed for individuals or small groups; each chapter begins with Scripture and finishes with practical steps you can apply for immediate relief. Your anxiety, fear, stress, and panic are not the end of you—but facing them could be the start of something great! “Read this, apply it, and find freedom from fear—forever.” Ray Johnston Senior pastor of Bayside Church in Granite Bay, California

Imagine . . . an interconnected group of people who entrust themselves to each other. You can speak of your pain, and someone responds with compassion and prayer. You can speak of your joys, and someone rejoices with you. You can ask for help with sinful struggles, and someone prays with you. The goal of this book is that these meaningful relationships will become a natural part of daily life in your church. With short chapters and discussion questions meant to be read in a group setting, Ed Welch guides small groups through eight lessons that show what it looks like when ordinary, needy people care for other ordinary, needy people in everyday life.

In Shame Interrupted, bestselling author Edward T. Welch empowers readers to live in light of the gospel of God's grace, which breaks the lingering power of shame. Providing immediate application to every reader's spiritual journey, Welch's book guides men and women to seek freedom from the shame of their own relational and sexual brokenness. Shame controls far too many of us, and the Bible addresses the issue of shame from start to finish. Shame Interrupted reminds readers that God cares for the shamed, and that through Jesus, they are covered, adopted, cleansed, and healed. Shame Interrupted creates a safe place to deal with shame, shining a light on the dynamics of sin and how it is overcome through the power of Christ. By identifying with our shame on the cross, Jesus gives believers freedom from the paralyzing effects of sin and shame. As someone who is familiar with the effects and crushing weight of shame—and the overwhelming freedom found in Christ—Welch invites readers to find confidence in the cleansing work of Christ in this raw and brutally honest book. By examining the depths of the human heart, Welch has made accessible invaluable tools for counseling, soul care, and pastoral work. Shame Interrupted dwells on hope and healing, providing gospel answers to difficult questions.

Real life stories from the counseling and medical field about the sufficiency of God's resources in Scripture to bring help, hope, and healing to difficult psychiatric diagnoses from bipolar and obsessive compulsive disorders to postpartum depression, panic attacks, etc.

Have you ever had the experience of getting angry, upset, or worried about something—only later to discover some crucial fact you hadn’t known? Or have you ever been delighted with something or someone, and later found out you’d been had? Something you had not taken into account explained everything in a different way. You had no reason at all ...

People are complex. There is behavior that we see and motives that we don't. Behind the ?what we do? of our lives is the ?why we do it.' Edward T. Welch challenges us to peer more closely into the ?why.' He insightfully reveals that, according to God's Word, the heart is the source of all human motivation. Our hearts contain motives such as Pleasure, Meaning, Comfort, Success, Freedom, Respect, Happiness, Power, Control, Peace, Reputation, Love/Intimacy Welch encourages us to ask questions to discover some of our deeper motives: ?What do you hope for, want, crave? ?What do you fear? What do you worry about? ?When do you say, ?If only

Lives grind to a halt when people don’t know how to relate to their past. Some believe “the past is nothing” and attempt to suppress the brokenness again and again. Others miss out on renewal and change by making the past more important than their present and future. Neither approach moves people toward healing or hope. Pastor and biblical counselor Stephen Viars introduces a third way to view one’s personal history—by exploring the role of the past as God intended. Using Scripture to lead readers forward, Viars provides practical measures to understand the important place “the past” is given in Scripture replace guilt and despair with forgiveness and hope turn failures into stepping stones for growth This motivating, compassionate resource is for anyone ready to review and release the past so that God can transform their behaviors, relationships, and their ability to hope in a future.

Beginning in the late 1960s, a biblical counseling movement sought to reclaim counseling for the church and provide a Christian alternative to mainstream psychiatry and psychotherapy. The Biblical Counseling Movement: History and Context is an informative and thought-provoking account of that movement. David Powlison's historical account ...