“But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.” —Acts 20:24
I was introduced to biblical counseling in the late 1970’s when our pastor, Bill Goode, started training lay persons. After taking the Biblical Counseling Training Class and getting some experience, Pastor Goode would occasionally ask me and sometimes both my wife, Rita and I together, to take a counseling case. I was not retired then so my time was somewhat limited.
After I retired, I heard that the waiting list of persons seeking counseling was getting quite long. So, I told Doc Smith that I was available if needed. He said there was a need and they would appreciate my help, but they liked to tell counselees that all of our counselors were Certified by the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC)[1] or were working on certification. I told Doc, tongue-in-cheek, that I didn’t want to go back to college. Nevertheless, I began working on certification.
That year I began observing Doc’s cases as he mentored me. After a while he
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