It’s a Book!

Yesterday I signed a book contract with P&R Publishing for my sixth book. The working title is Equipping Counselors for the Local Church: The 4E Ministry Training Strategy. P&R is known for publishing books that promote biblical understanding and godly living. That certainly summarizes my ministry passion.

I have ten chapters finished and the final two should be to the publisher by the end of the month. We’re working toward publication/release by October 1, 2011. Here’s a bit about Equipping Counselors for the Local Church.

Writing to You: My Audience

I’d like to introduce you to several church leaders for whom I’m currently providing 4E consulting. Each of these leaders represent well the readers I picture as I write this book.

• Pastor Eric is planting a church. He and the eight families ministering with him are passionate about launching a church, from the ground up, where every member is equipped to speak the truth in love. They want biblical counseling to be the DNA of their congregation.

• Jan has been a volunteer women’s ministry director in her church for over a decade. She wants to train a dozen women in biblical counseling. She envisions some of them using their training to be more effective small group leaders—truly relating truth to life. Others she foresees providing biblical counseling to the growing number of women who seek her out for help.

• Randy and Monica serve together on a ministry launch team that’s so new they don’t even have a ministry name yet. Randy is an elder and Youth Pastor and Monica is a volunteer ministry leader. The leadership team in their church of two hundred people wants them to launch a counseling ministry. As Monica put it when she emailed me, “We don’t want another program. We want a ministry that saturates our whole church with equipped one another ministers.”

• John is the Sr. Pastor of a large church; his wife, Rachel, has two degrees in counseling. They called me to ask, “Bob, do you help churches to do course corrections and re-launches? Five years ago we tried to launch a biblical counseling ministry but it was too program-focused. Could you help us figure out how to do it more relationally this time?”

I’ve written this book for people like Eric, Jan, Randy, Monica, John, and Rachel. People like you—pastors, ministry leaders, women’s ministry directors, elders, deacons, church planters. I’ve written this book because I’m convinced that you are passionate about equipping God’s people for every-member-ministry as disciple-makers—as biblical counselors. I want to be part of the process of equipping you to equip others also (2 Timothy 2:2).

Writing on Purpose: My Purpose

My purpose in writing Equipping Counselors for the Local Church is to assist leaders like you to equip people confidently, wisely, lovingly, and biblically. I want this book to be like a personal conversation with your private consultant—coming alongside you, walking step-by-step, hand-in-hand, to equip you to fulfill your Ephesians 4:11-16 calling to empower the Body of Christ to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth.

My purpose in writing is to launch a revolution in every member disciple-making. The book’s 4E Ministry Training Strategy offers a 21st Century best-practices manual for Christ-centered, church-based, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed mobilization of the priesthood of all believers. It assists churches to become places not simply with biblical counseling ministries, but of biblical counseling. My goal is not the production of yet another program or yet another ministry on the sidelines. My goal is the promotion of a congregation-saturated mindset of every member ministry with an entire congregation passionate about and equipped to make disciples.

Writing with a Focus: The Outline

To accomplish these purposes, here’s my working outline.

Introduction: Want to Change Lives?

Section One: Envisioning God’s Ministry

• Chapter 1: More Than Counseling: Catching God’s Vision for the Entire Church
• Chapter 2: Examining Heart Health: Diagnosing Congregational and Community Fitness
• Chapter 3: Dreaming God’s Dream: Becoming an MVP-C Congregation
• Chapter 4: Living God’s Calling: Jointly Crafting Your Biblical Counseling MVP-C Statement

Section Two: Enlisting God’s Ministers for Ministry

• Chapter 5: Shepherding the Transformation: Cultivating a Climate for Ongoing Ownership
• Chapter 6: Mobilizing Ministers: Nurturing a Family and Building a Team

Section Three: Equipping Godly Ministers for Ministry

• Chapter 7: Competent to Counsel: The Résumé of the Biblical Counselor
• Chapter 8: What Makes Biblical Counseling Biblical?: Part One—Biblical Counseling Theology and Methodology
• Chapter 9: What Makes Biblical Counseling Biblical?: Part Two—Biblical Counseling Spiritual Formation and Spiritual Fellowship
• Chapter 10: Equipping Competent Biblical Counselors: Transformational Training Strategies and Methods

Section Four: Empowering/Employing Godly Ministers for Ministry

• Chapter 11: Overseeing Ministries Built to Last: Organizing the Organism
• Chapter 12: Practicing Ethical and Legal Wisdom in Ministry: Protecting Ministries

Conclusion: Changing Lives with Christ’s Changeless Truth

Appendices: Two Dozen Best-Practice Models

Some Samplers

For a few samplers of the focus of the book, check out these past blog posts.

• It Takes a Congregation
• Want to Change Lives?
• What’s a Pastor to Do?
• Leaving a Legacy of Loving Leaders
• Congregational Diagnosis: The SWORD Heart Exam ©