Author: Dave Deuel

Book Review of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Meeting Challenges with Hope by Michael R. Emlet

Book Review of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Meeting Challenges with Hope by Michael R. Emlet

Posted by | Apr 23, 2024 | |

In growing numbers, I receive calls from families of a child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). They tell me, “We’re leaving our church because we do not feel welcome,” usually provoked by their child disturbing church services. When I try to make reasoned biblical appeals to stay, they respond, “We’ve tried, and we do not feel wanted.” Some tell stories of church members or even leaders asking them to leave the church. This problem is already significant, and it is growing rapidly with the seemingly exponential increase of people diagnosed with ASD. Continue Reading →

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Book Review of Identifying Heart Transformation: Exploring Different Kinds of Human Change by Nate Brooks

Book Review of Identifying Heart Transformation: Exploring Different Kinds of Human Change by Nate Brooks

Posted by | Mar 26, 2024 | |

Identifying Heart Transformation follows David Powlison’s How Does Sanctification Work (Crossway, 2017) and complements it in helpful ways; in particular, its aim to clarify what the heart is in Scripture and how all true heart change occurs. To David Powlison’s factors of sanctification change (truth, suffering and struggle, wise people, and God), Nate Brooks adds a wealth of perspective on details of change. Continue Reading →

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A Book that Helped Change My Thinking about Biblical Weakness

A Book that Helped Change My Thinking about Biblical Weakness

Posted by | Mar 20, 2024 | |

How weak are you? A conclusion we commonly draw about weakness is that God accomplishes his work through us despite our weaknesses. But this is not what Paul teaches us in 2 Corinthians 10-13, his weakness exposé. The apostle argues that God works through us because of our weaknesses, not despite them. It is as different as night and day. The book Paul the Leper by Olive Doke underscores this point on all its 28 pages. What makes this biography most helpful is that from Paul Kasonga’s earliest days, both he and others around him interpret Kasonga’s leprosy and its disabling effects as weakness, like the Apostle Paul describes the Corinthian passage. The biography’s spiritually self-analytical bend is what has made it so helpful to me. Continue Reading →

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Book Review of Presuppositions of Biblical Counseling: What Historical Biblical Counselors Really Believe by Lou Priolo

Book Review of Presuppositions of Biblical Counseling: What Historical Biblical Counselors Really Believe by Lou Priolo

Posted by | Feb 27, 2024 | |

Presuppositions are by definition a priori, “what comes first.” Others render it “before knowledge.” What counselors presuppose will ultimately dictate their philosophy and methodology of counseling. Historical biblical counselors presuppose only that which the Bible affirms. In Presuppositions of Biblical Counseling, Lou Priolo unpacks twelve presuppositions (originally postulated by Jay E. Adams) to help readers understand what sets biblical counseling apart from other theories (really, theologies) of counseling. It will also help those in counseling (or seeking counseling) determine if the counselors from whom they are seeking help are truly biblical. Continue Reading →

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Book Review of Mobilizing Church-Based Counseling: Models for Sustainable Church-Based Care by Brad Hambrick

Book Review of Mobilizing Church-Based Counseling: Models for Sustainable Church-Based Care by Brad Hambrick

Posted by | Jan 23, 2024 | |

We need to concentrate biblically on ministry. Although thinking innovatively about meeting ministry needs is one more demand on a busy Christian leader’s schedule, all will ignore it to their peril. The early New Testament church constantly rebooted existing ministry models with new applications focused on addressing the spiritual needs of God’s people who struggled with sinning and suffering. The Apostle Paul’s letter ministry might be a good example, particularly when a pastoral understudy delivered and read them to the congregation. In the present study, Brad Hambrick calls us to recapture this creative mindset for meeting ministry needs by offering a framework—in pedagogical terms, a curriculum—for churches to start a counseling ministry built around two models: lay-led counseling groups and mentoring.
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