The Christian Counseling Center Celebration
On October 2, please plan to linger after the evening worship service to rejoice with the staff and board members of The Christian Counseling Center which marked its 25th anniversary on April 1. The Women of the Church have kindly organized a reception for the Counseling Center in Jackson Hall, and your presence will be an encouragement to the counselors who have faithfully done the Lord’s work on our behalf for so many years.
A public recitation of a special resolution, passed by the Session this summer to commemorate the Center’s 25 years of dedication to spiritual, mental, and emotional health, will be part of the evening’s celebration.
The Session of First Presbyterian Church voiced a need for a counseling ministry in 1991 as pastoral staff were overwhelmed in their efforts to meet counseling needs. By 1997, the church hired Tom Barbian, Ph.D., as the executive director and sole counselor for The Christian Counseling Center. Now, 20 clinical staff members provide services at the Counseling Center’s office on the church campus as well as three satellite locations.
In a quarter of a century, the Counseling Center has assisted more than 25,000 individuals and families, and the need for Biblically-based counseling continues to grow. Because of your generous monetary support, this non-profit organization is able to serve clients regardless of their financial standing.
Countless lives have been changed because of the compassionate work of The Christian Counseling Center, as people who find themselves psychologically or spiritually adrift can find sanctuary behind its doors. Highly trained Christian counselors stand ready to listen, to provide godly advice, and to pray with their clients.
Though Dr. Barbian never imagined that the Lord would increase the Counseling Center’s mission to its current size, he draws our attention to Ephesians 3:20, which says, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
I hope to see you on the evening of October 2 in Jackson Hall so that we might collectively show our appreciation to the extraordinary staff of The Christian Counseling Center.
M. Bond Nickles, III
Chairman of the Board
The Christian Counseling Center of First Presbyterian Church
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