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A Final Conversation with ACBC’s New Executive Director

Truth in Love 152

Heath Lambert concludes our series of interviews with ACBC's new Executive Director Elect, Dale Johnson.

Apr 30, 2018

Heath Lambert: You’ve been hearing me talk on the podcast that ACBC has made a very exciting announcement that in October, we will install a new executive director, Dr. Dale Johnson. When I went to the ACBC board last year and told them I needed out and that we needed to find a replacement so that I could devote my full attention to First Baptist Church here in Jacksonville, Florida. I could not have imagined then that we would find a candidate who I believe is as well suited for this role as Dr. Johnson is. In fact, during the time of the board’s deliberation on his potential as the next executive director, I said to them at one point, “Guys, this is the best guy there is. In fact, he is so well suited for this role. I think you should hire him for the job even if I didn’t want to leave.” And so I am really, really thankful that this is something that the board wanted to do, and I’m really, really thankful that this is something that Dr. Johnson wanted to do. I think we are well suited to move into the future with strength and with faithfulness, and Dr. Johnson, we’re really glad that you are here with us again this week to continue to talk about your life, your ministry, and the new involvement that you’re going to have at ACBC.

You mentioned a couple of weeks ago about your interest in biblical counseling first being awakened. Why don’t you explain to us a little bit more about how you came to be interested in biblical counseling?

Dr. Dale Johnson: So, when I was in college playing baseball, all the guys wanted to make money, and so they wanted to do a business degree. I jumped into business and hated every minute of it. I actually didn’t do very well in an economics course, and so that pushed me in the direction of wanting to pursue psychology. And the reason I wanted to pursue psychology was because I grew up in the church, and I really had a compassionate heart to want to help people, being at that point quite ignorant of what I would learn when I stepped into those courses. As a sophomore in college, I remember sitting in an introduction to psychology course and just being very confused at hearing the history of psychology and the way that the psychology was—in the modern sense—was brought about. And having some of those questions, I didn’t know really who to ask, and having a background in the church and having an understanding of the way God describes a person, the two worlds seemed to be very different. But at that point, I couldn’t articulate exactly why. Through a conversation with a local pastor through a previous relationship that I had with him, he begins to describe to me and offer to let me borrow one of his books because what he heard me articulating was actually in the vein of Jay Adams and a concern that he had brought up many decades before. And so I began to read. Actually, the first book I read by Dr. Adams was The Christian Counselor’s Manual, and in reading that particular book, I began to see a distinct view of man that I wasn’t seeing in those courses in Psychology. And so that was a part of the beginning of seeing that there was a different way that was distinct from the Scriptures to understand man, to appropriate his problems, and that the Scriptures were sufficient to minister to the problems of folks.

Heath Lambert: As your interest in biblical counseling has moved beyond interest in a movement to involvement in the movement, you have found out what many of us found out, which is that the biblical counseling movement is a very dynamic thing. It is not today what it was in the late 1960s and the early 1970s when it was founded. The decades have seen a lot of development, they’ve seen a lot of change, they’ve seen a lot of offshoots, and creations of different sub-movements within the larger movement. As you think about the biblical counseling movement that we’re looking at today, what do you see that really encourages you that’s out there?

Dr. Dale Johnson: Man, I’m encouraged by several things, to be honest with you, relative to the biblical counseling movement in total. The progress that’s been made where pastors now in theological education have an opportunity to hear a paradigm that’s very different, that really impacts and invigorates and edifies the ministry of the local church, and calls him back to his responsibilities of shepherding. And so we see a movement that is growing and people are becoming more interested. I think one of the things that we see today that maybe we didn’t see 30 or 40 years ago is, people are certainly less hostile in so many ways to hearing about biblical counseling and having an interest in biblical counseling. And so those are things that excite me as we see the progress of these ideas moving forward and churches beginning to embrace some of these ideas and becoming very effective in their ministry to the people that God has entrusted to them.

Heath Lambert: That’s great. Well, so then, the flip side of the question is, if there is a dynamic movement with a lot to observe, and a lot to appreciate, you can explain the things that encourage you, but that also means there’s got to be things that caused you concern. So, as you look at the biblical counseling movement today, what do you see out there that is some cause for concern?

Dr. Dale Johnson: Yes, as believers generally, and then as ministers of the Gospel particularly, God calls us to be a watchman. And in so many ways, it’s a part of our responsibility to pay attention to what goes on in the world at large in the spirit of the age and so on. I think, particularly in the biblical counseling movement. However, we see a couple of issues that might be of concern. And this is not new to the modern era. We see this kind of thing happening historically when a movement begins to gain ground, where it becomes much more inclusive. And I think in that inclusivity, at times, there can be quite a bit of danger because you can see a dilution in the primary orthodoxy or the primary belief system and practice of a particular movement. And so the danger always happens as an organization grows or as a movement grows. That’s a good thing because it means that the arguments that you’re making and the beliefs that you have are gaining popularity. But by the same token, you always have to be very, very cautious and careful as to the reach of those ideas and how some people may adopt different aspects of what you believe, but not the sum total. And in that, I think we have to be very cautious that we don’t lose what we stand upon relative to the sufficiency of Scripture, the belief in the power and the authority of Christ, the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit relative to change, and the authority of the local church or the church in general. And so I think we have to be very cautious but excited as we move forward to see that we’ve been left here on Earth to minister the Gospel and to be a watchman for the truth that God has entrusted to us.

Heath Lambert: Those things that you just spoke about—sufficiency of Scripture, the centrality of Christ, the importance of the local church—those commitments that I know that you have and that I know are shared by so many of our listeners, are some of the very reasons why most encouraged about you and about your leadership. And so I just want you to know that I think I’m speaking for a lot of people when I say I’m praying for you, I am excited about being there to see you be installed as the next leader of our organization, and I know that by God’s grace, there are many, many good days and good years ahead for ACBC under your faithful guidance.