The Center for Biblical Counseling at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is joining with the Southeastern Indiana Baptist Association (SEIBA) to host the Counseling and Discipleship Conference, a three-weekend event to provide training for pastors, lay ministers, students, parents and believers who are seeking to grow in Christ.

Conference attendees will gather on Fridays from 5-9 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on the weekends of: Feb. 5-6, 19-20, and March 5-6, 2010. Training session will be hosted by SEIBA in their New Albany, Ind., facility.

The three-weekend conference will be led by Charles Hodges, instructor of Biblical counseling for the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC), Heath Lambert, Boyce College faculty member and department coordinator for Biblical Counseling, and Stuart Scott, associate professor of Biblical counseling at Southern Seminary and executive director of the National Center for Biblical Counseling. Hodges, Lambert and Scott developed their conference presentations to equip attendees for real-life ministry and to facilitate the growth of knowledge in how to disciple to others intensively using the Word of God.

“I really think these training times are critically important. I get dozens of emails every week from pastors and church staff members who already have seminary degrees and laypersons who will never pursue seminary degrees wondering how they can receive training to do personal ministry of the Word,” Lambert said. “All over the country there are people in local churches who are hungry to be equipped to do counseling with people in their congregations who are struggling with various sins and sufferings. These conferences are one attempt to meet that need in this region. We want to begin to process of helping God’s people be more faithful in the arena of intensive discipleship.”

Conference topics will include: discipleship, how people grow and change, biblical counseling, marriage, sex, parenting, trials, guilt, anger, depression, repentance, medical issues, the past, chemical imbalance, communication and conflict.

“I am very eager to discuss the issue of the counseling landscape. This one is a more theoretical topic but is a crucial area. There is so much out there right now that passes for biblical counseling but is far from based in Scripture. I hope to be able to clear away some confusion bringing clarity to the issue of what constitutes real biblical counseling versus some popular counterfeits,” Lambert said. “I am also eager to discuss the topic of how to give good counseling instruction. This is where the rubber hits the road in personal ministry of the Word. When someone comes to you with a problem, what do you say? How do you say it? These questions are among the ones that I am asked most frequently. I pray that God will use me to help people answer some of those questions.”

Lambert said the conference was designed to make it relevant to anyone who wants to minister the Word more effectively in one-on-one relationships.
“I have talked with pastors, professors, ministry wives, lay-people, teenagers, and seminary students who are all interested in the conference,” he said. “We pray that the conference is a blessing to anyone who wants to make the truth of God’s Word touch down into the lives and circumstances of real people facing real struggles who need real grace from a real God.”

SEIBA is located at 615 Park East Blvd in New Albany, Ind., and can be reached at (812) 948-8777.