Have you ever been bullied by a group? Or felt ganged up on? Maybe it wasn’t intended by them, but you felt abused? I have. So have some of the pastors and influencers we help. So has Jesus… Lord Jesus, I see you on your cross journey. A whole gang of soldiers is gathered around…
Have you ever seen something that brought you distress or even traumatized you? Do you have any harmful images you’ve internalized that periodically come back to upset you?
Kristi and I are privileged to pray for pastors and counselors. We are honored to participate with Jesus in their ministry and to do what we can to help them not to burn out, but to remain strong in God’s grace in the difficult work of ministry. Pastor Joe Johnson is one of our friends…
Years ago I was responsible for training volunteer telephone counselors for an international Christian ministry. We were getting 150 calls a day from adults and teenagers who were in crisis, hurting in some other way, or needing prayer. Some of the young people who called were struggling with cutting themselves. This frightened some of our…
Many ministry leaders and servants of Christ that we help have been abused in the past. Some were hit, yelled at, or called bad names. Others were sexually violated. Many suffered with harsh judgments from a parent. Tragically, survivors of abuse tend to perpetuate the pain of how they were mistreated with self-condemnation or destructive…
“I’ve never talked to a ca-counselor before,” Cassandra (not her real name) stuttered. She continued, “I’ve been living with my boyfriend the last couple of months. We’ve been dating almost a year. Well, two months ago my daughter and I moved in with him. Oh, how I regret that decision,” Cassandra started sobbing behind the…
What does the Bible teach about responding to abuse? There’s a lot of confusion on this. God’s wisdom is uncommon today. On the one extreme, some people suffer from depression, fear, and shame because they think that as Christians they should tolerate or even submit to abuse. This is a misunderstanding of the Bible! God does…