A healing place
in a hurting
world
Biblical counseling offers hope and promises for healing
BY JESSA MCCLURE
A man and his wife are at an
impasse. They haven’t been communi-cating
for months and the wife has
decided to move out of their home.
The two are heartbroken and can’t
believe that their marriage has disinte-grated
in front of their eyes. As a
last-ditch effort to heal their union, the
couple attends a session with Freedom
Biblical Counseling at Leon Springs
Baptist Church.
Within a few months the couple
reconciles and discovers they are
expecting another child. Not only do
they tell others about their saved
marriage and new baby, but they also
sing the praises of the counselors at
this beloved church who helped make
it possible.
“We’ve seen this so many times —
God has delivered someone and then
they turn around and say, ‘hey, there’s
actually hope,’” says Pastor Dan Allen
of Leon Springs Baptist Church.
Dan says that pastors like him can
preach about how life-changing the
counseling can be, but it takes
someone whose life has been truly
been transformed to push a hurting
person to reach out for help.
And when they do seek help, they
are assigned to one of five counselors
who will see them at no cost.
“The average therapy session is $80
to $200. That means, that over the past
ten years, we’ve provided over $500,000
worth of therapy or counseling at no
cost,” Dan says. “We have helped over
800 people with issues like marriage
struggles, depression and anger. And
60% of those receiving counseling were
not members of our church.”
The idea to start Freedom Biblical
Counseling arose “as a burden” for the
pastor and his wife Amy of 32 years. It
became a reality with the help of
counseling directors like Andrew
Barclay and Barb Shultz who have kept
the program going and thriving.
“We saw people needing help with
mental health issues in the church.
They would often seek out an expen-sive
secular option with very little
results,” he says. “Our vision was born
of this need to offer a healing place in
this hurting world.”
The pastor believes that the Word
of God can be used to address most
root problems and that the church
should shoulder the lion’s share of that
burden. Leon Springs Baptist Church is
willing to do just that with a different
“At Los Verdes, we understand that our abilities and
gifts come from God. This is true for the pastors
and counselors at Leon Springs Baptist as well. This
amazing team is bringing healing to so many
people. Their counseling is filled with love and they
truly care about those they see. If you find yourself
in a season of discouragement,
please set an appointment with
Freedom Biblical Counseling.
They are there for you.”
Edna Posey, Owner and President, Los Verdes Interior Gardens
December 2019 / January 2020 www.saBeacon.com 11
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