Implementing a Pastoral Care/Counseling Ministry into the Local Church Preconference, November 12, 2009 from 2:00pm-6:00pm --Tim Lane

Additional Speakers

Mike Wilkerson, Mars Hill Church—Seattle, Washington
Mike Wilkerson leads the counseling and Redemption Group ministries at the Ballard campus of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA as Pastor of Biblical Living. He is the author of a forthcoming book from Crossway entitled Redemption that serves as the content platform for these ministries across all Mars Hill campuses, and is co-architect of Mars Hill’s discipleship strategy, which aligns Community Groups, Redemption Groups, and Biblical Counseling together under the leadership of Mars Hill’s preaching ministry. Before joining Mars Hill’s staff as a pastor, he worked as a software engineer in Seattle’s tech industry. Mike and his wife Trisha have four young children.

Judy Cha, Redeemer Presbyterian Church—New York City
Judy is the Director of the Redeemer Counseling Center. She holds a M.A.R. in counseling from Westminster Theological Seminary and has received additional training at the Philadelphia Child and Family Therapy Training Center. She is a bi-lingual counselor (Korean) who is licensed in marriage and family therapy by NY State and is certified for the Prepare/Enrich inventories to conduct pre-marital and marital counseling. Judy's practice includes individual, couples' and family counseling. She sees clients with a wide variety of issues and specializes in issues relating to relationships, identity, self-image and multi-cultural issues. She has taught seminars on self-image as well as marriage enrichment. Judy has been at Redeemer since 1998 and is married to Peter Cha. She enjoys playing cello and piano, and spending time with her two daughters.

Greg Norfleet, Christ Community Church—Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Greg is co-pastor of Christ Community Church, a newly planted congregation in Chapel Hill, NC.  Prior to this post, Greg served ten years with Campus Crusade for Christ, then eight years as an associate minister at The Church of the Good Shepherd in Durham, NC.  Faced with growing challenges in pastoral ministry, Greg sought and received practical training from the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation, then began to dream of leading a local church that incarnates biblically wise, transformative counsel.  Christ Community Church is emerging as God’s answer to that dream.  From the church’s inception, biblical counseling has been a key component of its vision and mission.  In addition to preaching and counseling regularly, Greg is leading and training an expanding circle of elders, deacons, staff, and laypeople to counsel biblically, in the hope that, speaking the truth in love, this young congregation will grow up to maturity in Christ, as each part does its work (Ephesians 4:15-16).

Bill Smith, Chelten Baptist Church—Dresher, Pennsylvania
Bill currently serves as Pastor of Counseling at Chelten Baptist Church in Dresher, Pennsylvania (a Philadelphia suburb). The Counseling Center serves: 1) to extend the shepherding arm of the pastors and elders; 2) to serve the broader Christian and non-Christian communities; and 3) to help equip people in the congregation to meet the counseling-related needs around them.  Whether through private or public ministry, Bill is passionate to help people see how a gracious Jesus connects to their lives on a day-to-day basis.  This desire coupled with his love for the diversity of the larger body of Christ, has led him to value writing and speaking as well as caring for his local community.  In addition to directing the staff of the Counseling Center at Chelten, he has enjoyed serving as Interim Pastor for Bethel Baptist Church in Delaware, Counselor Mentor and Speaker for Hindsight Biblical Counseling and as Adjunct Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary. Bill and his wife, Sally, have two young sons and a daughter who keep him delightfully busy!