Anniversary years give us opportunity to “Remember the Past” and looking back reminds and motivates us to get “Ready for the Future.”  We are so thankful for God’s goodness in the many ways He has led the development and expansion of this ministry. Giving thanks and glory to Him helps us realize that everything is by Him­­­­ and through Him and for Him.

 

          We thank God that in 1989, two MD’s had the vision to fund the establishment of Biblical Counseling Center in the Chicago land area.  Since those early days we are thankful to God for gathering many others with the growing vision to pray for and financially support BCC.

          Counselees past and present, many who have become alumni of our training seminars, now counsel others in their own churches.  We are also thankful that many of these are financial partners with this ministry because they know firsthand about changed lives through ministry of the Word at BCC.

          Staff – nothing would be accomplished at BCC if it weren’t for our committed staff and their dedication to God and the sufficiency of His Word.  We are so thankful for those who faithfully serve week after week to counsel hurting people.  We also appreciate the staff who incredibly support this ministry by managing the office and mailings, connecting on the phone to new and existing counselees, supporters, table hosts, and the myriad of questioners.  

          We also look back over the years to those who served with us for a season and have moved on to expand the goals of this ministry in new locations.   Dr. Craig Rowe now directs the Clear Horizons Biblical Counseling Ministry of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Statesboro GA.  Dr. Jeff Forrey moved to Trinity Bible College and Seminary in Newburg IN to chair the Biblical Counseling Department.  Jim and Marie Phillips moved to North Hills Community Church, Taylors SC, where Jim is now the Pastor of Community Care and Marie continues on as his support staff and mentoring women.

          What a blessing those pastors and churches who trusted us in the early stages of development continue to be even today.  Without those early referrals and partnerships we would not have made it to who we are now.  We are thankful for the growing number of Partner churches and the Pastors who get training and refer their people for counseling and for training.  The Pastor’s Round Table is a forum for those pastors who desire fellowship and training in issues to enhance their local church ministries.

          As we reflect back upon the years of training others to counsel using Scripture alone, we stand in awe at the fruit God has and continues to ripen.  One of our current counselors, Karen Coulter, began as a trainee in that first class back in 1991.  Later as an alumnus, Karen began to counsel and train others in Minnesota.  After moving back to this area she joined the staff of BCC first as a receptionist, then as a counselor and as the producer of the Alumni Fellowship and manager of our bookstore.  We see other alumni heading discipleship ministries in various local churches across the area, many states, and even other countries.  How exciting to see that ripened fruit now producing their own fruit!

          Internationally, we have impacted churches and seminaries in Ethiopia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Romania, Guatemala, and Canada.  We oversaw the certification of over 100 counseling students trained in all four of our courses ready to minister in their own local churches across Cuba.  A national is now trained to continue that work. Ethiopian Theological College now has a Biblical Counseling major with an Ethiopian professor trained by BCC.  

          The Board of BCC has blessed and supported this ministry with wise leadership over the years.  They have overseen the steady expansion from one location to three as we began counseling and training in Lynwood in 2007 and now in Fox Lake in 2009. The board has kept us focused on fulfilling our mission of establishing lay counseling ministries in local churches rather than just counseling their people for them.  The mission is also to establish tools to help churches accomplish that goal of counseling their own people.

 

          We have continued to record our training seminars and produce CD’s and DVD’s that greatly multiply this ministry, as our resources can be found around the globe!  We provide counseling related books on our online bookstore and in each of our locations and a variety of Bible studies for counselees.  Bulletin and Newsletter articles assist local churches and counselees on varied counseling related issues.  These are also on our website that is becoming more and more functional as a resource to help others.

          So saying “Thank you!” to all of you who have been a part of the “20 Years of Thankfulness” doesn’t seem adequate to express our hearts appreciation for what has been accomplished through your faithful partnership.  We expect to thank a growing number of ministry partners over the coming years.   Let’s end where we began, giving thanks and glory to Him Who helps us realize that everything is ultimately by Him and through Him and for Him.  To God be the Glory!