The 2022 Pre-Conference will be held on Thursday, September 29, 2022, from 9:00am to 5:00pm at the Hershey Lodge. Full-day tickets (2 sessions + boxed lunch) and half-day tickets (1 session + boxed lunch) are available. Please note that registration is separate from the National Conference. We hope you'll join us!
Thursday, September 29
8:00am — Pre-Conference Registration
9:00am - 12:00pm — Pre-Conference Session Options:
- Your Kingdom Come: Biblical-Theological Explorations in Genesis 1–2 (Jonathan Gibson)
- A Biblical Counseling Process: Guidance for the Beginning, Middle, & End (Lauren Whitman)
12:00pm - 2:00pm — Complimentary Lunch
12:00pm - 1:30pm — Counseling Center Leaders Lunch (session attendees)
2:00pm - 5:00pm — Pre-Conference Session Options:Â
- Equipping the Church for Reproducing Discipleship & Care (Robert Cheong)
- Counseling Center Leaders (Jonathan Holmes & Cecelia Bernhardt)
5:00pm - 6:30pm — Early Conference Registration
5:00pm - 6:30pm — CCEF Booth, Ministry Expo, & Bookstore Open
Morning Option 1: Your Kingdom Come: Biblical-Theological Explorations in Genesis 1–2
Jonathan Gibson
The Bible is a big book (66 books in fact), written in 3 languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) by 40 different authors over 1,500 years. So how should we read it? Is there a unifying story? And if so, what is it? Join Jonny Gibson as he explores how Genesis 1–2 serves as the foundation for reading the whole Bible as one story.
Morning Option 2: A Biblical Counseling Process: Guidance for the Beginning, Middle, and End
Lauren Whitman
What is biblical counseling and what makes it different from other counseling theories and methodologies? In this pre-conference session, we will walk through an overview of the entire counseling process, focusing on the distinctives of biblical counseling. The session will be a combination of lectures, small group discussions and exercises that will serve to clarify and sharpen your biblical counseling practices.
Afternoon Option 1: Equipping the Church for Reproducing Discipleship and Care
Robert K. Cheong
How can you disciple God’s people so they can live and love with confidence in a broken world? What care can you offer those in your small group when life is overwhelming? How can you develop deep, life-giving relationships in your church? This session will address these questions through the timeless framework of discipleship in God's story, in addition to knowing how abiding in Christ makes all the difference. Pastors and leaders from Salem Chapel will share how God is changing their church culture. You will hear how this church sees the Scriptures and lives with Christ in ways they have not experienced before, from preaching to children's ministry to their care ministry.
This pre-conference is for pastors and counselors passionate about equipping the church for gospel ministry.
Afternoon Option 2: Lessons for Biblical Counseling Leaders
Jonathan Holmes, Jacklyn Tubel, Tim St. John, and hosted by Cecelia Bernhardt
Leading counseling center ministries—both in church and in community—can prove to be a challenging enterprise. This pre-conference will seek to offer practical help in two specific areas: leading a counseling ministry (logistics, structures, and best practices) and leading the counselors in your counseling ministry (bringing on new counselors and interns, evaluating your counselors, and caring for your counselors). Attendees will take part in table discussions with biblical counseling leaders from a variety of contexts to address these issues in specific and relevant detail.
- Part 1: Leading Counseling Center Ministries — Jonathan Holmes, Executive Director, Fieldstone Counseling, OH
- Part 2: Leading the Counselors in Your Counseling Ministry — Jacklyn Tubel, Counselor and Leader, Hope Counseling Services, NC; and Tim St. John, Counseling Pastor, Lighthouse Community Church, CA
Discussion Facilitators and Leadership Team:
- Andrew Dealy, Director of Soul Care and Executive Director, Austin Stone Counseling Center, TX
- Cache Barnes, Executive Director, Cedar Cove, MN
- Cecelia Bernhardt, Director of Counseling and Faculty, CCEF, PA
- Eliza Huie, Director of Counseling, McLean Bible Church, VA
- Laura Andrews, Faculty, CCEF, PA
Rev. Jonathan Gibson (PhD, Cambridge University) is an ordained teaching elder in the International Presbyterian Church (UK) and presently serves as associate professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary. Jonny is a contributor to and co-editor (with David Gibson) of From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective and Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the Past for the Present. His most recent publications include The Moon Is Always Round;Â Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Daily Worship;Â and Isaiah: Good News for the Wayward and Wandering.
Lauren Whitman is a counselor and faculty member at CCEF. She holds a Master of Arts in Counseling from Westminster Theological Seminary and a Certificate in Advanced Professional Counseling from Missio Seminary. Lauren started editing for the Journal of Biblical Counseling in 2010 when David Powlison hired her in preparation for the relaunch of the JBC after its years-long hiatus. Currently she works as the Developmental Editor for the JBC and has served as a staff counselor since graduation. She is the author of many JBC articles and two books: A Painful Past: Healing and Moving Forward (31 Day Devotionals For Life series) and A Biblical Counseling Process: Guidance for the Beginning, Middle, and End.
Robert Cheong is the founder and Executive Director of Gospel Care Ministries (www.gospel.care). While serving as Pastor of Care at Sojourn Midtown (Louisville, KY) for 16 years, he developed a passion for equipping God's people to live and love with confidence in a broken world. Robert served in the nuclear-powered Navy after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy. He earned an M.Div. and Ph.D. from the Southern Baptist Theology Seminary. He is the author of Restoration Story: Why Jesus Matters in a Broken World; Restore: Changing How You Live + Love; and God Redeeming His Bride: A Handbook for Church Discipline.
Cecelia Bernhardt is Director of Counseling Ministries and a faculty member at CCEF. She holds a Master of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary and has earned counseling certificates through CCEF. She has worked in various Christian ministries for many years, including women’s ministries at her church.
Jonathan Holmes is the Founder and Executive Director of Fieldstone Counseling. He also serves as the Pastor of Counseling for Parkside Church. Jonathan graduated from The Master’s University with degrees in biblical counseling and history and received an M.A. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author of The Company We Keep and Counsel for Couples and is co-author of Rescue Plan and Rescue Skills. Jonathan has written for a number of sites and organizations, including The Gospel Coalition, Biblical Counseling Coalition, Christianity Today, and the Journal of Biblical Counseling. Jonathan serves on the Board of Trustees for CCEF and the Council Board for the Biblical Counseling Coalition. He speaks frequently at retreats and conferences.
Jacklyn Tubel holds a Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling from Westminster Theological Seminary and an Advanced Certificate in Professional Counseling from Biblical Theological Seminary. She served as a counselor at CCEF from 2011-2016. Prior to her work at CCEF, she spent seven years as a missionary in South Africa, working with university students. She has also served in her local church over the years through children’s ministry, women’s ministry, counseling, and equipping others for ministry. In addition to her current work as a biblical counselor and serving on the Leadership Team at Hope Counseling Services in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Jacklyn is an Online Adjunct Faculty at Westminster Theological Seminary for the Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling program.
Tim St. John holds an M.Div. and a Th.M. from The Master's Seminary and has completed all three levels of the CCEF certificates. He serves as the Counseling Pastor at Lighthouse Community Church in Torrance, CA. Tim regularly writes for the Biblical Counseling Coalition and is the Mental Health Issues Editor at the Sola Network. Tim’s passion is to see the grace of gospel-centered counseling grow and thrive in local churches.
- This event is in-person only. These sessions will not be live-streamed.
- Registration is available until 12:00am PDT, Tuesday, September 27.
- Refunds, minus a $20 administrative fee (per ticket), are available through Friday, September 2nd. To request a refund, please contact customer service at [email protected].
- National Conference registration is not included in Pre-Conference registration. Please register separately for the National Conference.
- Recordings will not be available for purchase or download after the conference.
