Happy Birthday!
No, not that kind of twins!
However, it was three years ago today, on September 16, 2020, that Baker Books released my two-book (twins) series on biblical marriage and family counseling.
Here’s the “original birth announcement:” Help and Hope for Biblical Marriage and Family Counselors.
Facebook Reminded Me
Honestly, I would have forgotten that today was the three-year anniversary of the launch of these two equipping books, if not for Facebook. This reminder came up on my Facebook history thread from Pastor Deepak Reju:
“What a good week for biblical counseling books. I got copies of Bob Kellemen’s Marriage and Family Counseling books for our counseling staff to start working through this coming months. I’m excited to see his twin set of family and marriage counseling hit the market. Thank you Robert Kellemen for your example, friendship, your leadership and your encouragement for so many years. Youve been a friend and mentor to many of us in the movement, so I’m very grateful for you!”
The Need for These Twins
As an equipper of pastors and counselors, I hear all the time how intimidating marriage and family counseling are.
Marriage Counseling: “Marriage counseling? I’m clueless. I feel like I’m standing in traffic on an expressway with cars going both ways, half of them the wrong way, most of them swerving out of control. I have no idea how to move from my good theology of marriage, to actually helping the troubled couple sitting in front of me.”
Family Counseling: “Family counseling? Don’t even get me started on that. By the time family members get to me, they’re so angry that they aren’t listening to each other. And half the time, they don’t even want to listen to me! I constantly struggle to move from my good theology of family, to knowing how to help the hurting family I am supposed to be counseling.”
Filling the Gap
Why these books? Here’s how I answer that in the books themselves:
“The contemporary Christian world churns out books—great books—on marriage and family. Theory of marriage? Tons of books. Books for families? Scores of books.
However, even in the biblical counseling world, we have next-to-nothing available about procedures—the “how-to” of counseling hurting families and couples. Pastors and counselors desperately need help in relating their theology to family chaos and marriage crisis.
We need training manuals on the nuts-and-bolts of the procedures and processes of helping the family or couple sitting in front of us. Gospel-Centered Family Counseling and Gospel-Centered Marriage Counseling step into this void.
These how-to training manuals provides practical, user-friendly equipping for folks like you—pastors, counselors, lay leaders, educators, and students. These twin books walk you through a step-by-step training manual for developing your skills and competences in biblical marriage and family counseling.”
44 Marriage and Family Counseling Skills
Read about 22 Biblical Marriage Counseling Skills (Relational Competencies of the Counselor) here: Marriage Counseling Is Not Just Individual Counseling with an Audience.
Read about 22 Biblical Family Counseling Skills (Relational Competences of the Counselor) here: Family Counselors Don’t Replace Parents; They Empower Parents.
Enjoy Over Two Dozen Birthday Presents!
You can visit the Gospel-Centered Marriage Counseling page here and enjoy (and download) 14 free resources for marriage counseling and marriages.
This includes my most read post ever on RPM Ministries: 10 Biblical Principles for Marriages and Marriage Counseling.
You can visit the Gospel-Centered Family Counseling page here and enjoy (and download) 11 free resources for families and family counseling.
Happy birthday!
