Sessions

This year’s breakouts include sessions on the following topics:

• From Text to Counseling Method
• Helpful Truths in Past Places
• Critiques of Clinically-Informed/Trauma-Informed Counseling Theories
• Biblical Discernment and Guidance
• Biblical Concept of Sensuality

You can select a session in each time block on a single topic or mix it up!

** Indicates that these sessions are offered in-person and virtually

(Available sessions are subject to change)

• Plenaries

  Dale Johnson

  Sinclair Ferguson

  Joel Beeke 

  J. Stephen Yuille

  Keith Palmer

  Keith Evans

   

   

• Breakout 1

  ** Indicates that these sessions are offered in-person and virtually

  From Text to Counseling Method
  ** Keith Evans – Counseling Toward Commitment From Philemon
  Rick Thomas – A Practical Plan to Break Free from Being Controlled by Others
  **Ernie Baker – Isaiah 61:1-2a –The mission of the Messiah and giving hope
  

  Helpful Truths in Past Places
  Joel Beeke – Puritan Casuistry
  Chris Chumita – The Sinfulness of Sin-Ralph Venning
  ** Joshua Greiner – Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices
  ** (Women only) Cheryl Bell – Thomas Watson and All Things for Good
  Garrett Higbee – Ancient Practice in a New Paradigm
  

  Critiques of Clinically-Informed/Trauma-Informed Counseling Theories
  Nathan Currey – Westminster Confession in Counseling
  (Women only) Julie Ganschow – Debunking The Adverse Childhood Questionnaire (ACE)
  Timothy Pasma – Trauma Counseling & Emotional Abuse
  ** Matthew Rehrer – A Biblical View of Memory in PTSD
  

  Biblical Discernment and Guidance
  **Jim Newheiser – Counseling Procrastinators
  John St. Pierre – Dealing With Those Who Disagree – Lessons from Romans 14
  ** Jim Fain – What’s Wrong with Living by Emotions
  

  Biblical Concept of Sensuality
  ** Marco Bartholomae – Sensuality and Sanctification–Confronting the Flesh with Biblical Truth
  Lee Edmonds – Senses are not the problem
  Jim Newcomer – The Silent Sufferer

• Breakout 2

  ** Indicates that these sessions are offered in-person and virtually

  From Text to Counseling Method
  ** Terry Enns – The Counselee’s Hope from Psalm 121
  Jim Newcomer – Staring Down the Fear of Man
  Aaron Brewster – The Four Soils and the Homework Assignments They Need Most
  

  Helpful Truths in Past Places
  Sinclair Ferguson – The Famous Case of the Catechizing Counselor
  (Women only) Karen Haught – Nouthetic Inisights from Ichabod Spencer, “The Bunyan of Brooklyn”
  ** Scott Mehl – Understanding the Conscience through Learning from the Legacy of William Perkins
  ** Keith Palmer-Decades of Care – John Newton’s Counsel to William Cowper
  

  Critiques of Clinically-Informed/Trauma-Informed Counseling Theories
  ** Ernie Baker – Is Clinically Informed Biblical Counseling the Third Generation of BC
  ** Joshua Greiner – Theological Contradictions of Integration
  Josh Weidmann – Is Anxiety a Sin and How Do We Address It Correctly?
  Jim Koerber – The Gospel Knows No Boundaries

  Biblical Discernment and Guidance
  ** Stuart Scott – Helping the Counselee with Biblical Decision Making
  ** Adam Tyson – Should Your Conscience be Your Guide
  

  Biblical Concept of Sensuality
  (Women only) Venessa Ellen – The Pull of the Flesh–Addressing Sensuality and Sexual Purity in Biblical Counseling
  ** Keith Evans – Fasting through Starving our Desires as a Counseling Discipline
  ** Andrew Rogers – The Sensualism of Gossip
  Bryan Gaines – Preventing and Purging Sexual Sin

• Breakout 3

  ** Indicates that these sessions are offered in-person and virtually

  From Text to Counseling Method
  ** Glenn Dunn – Laying Aside Laziness
  Ryan Trzeciak – In-Law Relationships – Marriage Comes with Extra Family
  Jonathan Moorhead – Setting the Trajectory of Counseling in the 1st Session–1 Corinthians 10:31
  

  Helpful Truths in Past Places
  Joel Beeke – Puritans Counseling the Spiritually Depressed
  ** J. Stephen Yuille – The Duty of Self-Denial through Pastoral Insight from Thomas Watson
  Joel Wood – Five for All – William Perkins and Common Grace
  ** Tim Keeter – Counseling Truths from Thomas Boston’s ‘The Crook in the Lot’
  

  Critiques of Clinically-Informed/Trauma-Informed Counseling Theories
  ** (Women only) Francine Tan – Do You Need to be Trauma Informed
  ** Edward Wilde – Is Informed Therapy Even Legal
  Mark Shaw – How Trauma-Informed Counseling Undermines A Biblical Approach to Idolatrous ‘Addiction’
  

  Biblical Discernment and Guidance
  ** Keith Palmer – Mysticism in Biblical Counseling
  Robert Jones – A Biblical Approach to Priorities and Time Management
  Jonathan Okinaga – From Sin to Disease – Reclaiming Biblical Discernment in Addressing Addiction
  

  Biblical Concept of Sensuality
  ** (Women only) Caroline Newheiser – A Positive View of God’s Gift of Pleasure
  ** Scott Mehl – Biblical Principles for Sex in Marriage
  Aaron Brewster – Counseling Children Exposed to Sexual Sin
  Adam Tyson – How to Talk to Teenagers about Sex

• Breakout 4

  ** Indicates that these sessions are offered in-person and virtually
  
  From Text to Counseling Method
  John Street – Taking Biblical Texts Out of Context in Counseling
  ** Joel Wood – The Counselor’s Counselors – Counseling from the Book of Job
  ** Kevin Carson – The Foundation for the Counseling Session and Homework
  (Women only) Zondra Scott – The Role and Method of Renewing Thoughts Biblically – Philippians 4:4-9
  

  Helpful Truths in Past Places
  Logan Williams – John Owen’s Mortification and Modern Biblical Counselors
  Sybrand de Swardt – Thinking and Emotions According to Baxter
  ** Bryan Gaines – Counseling Themes from Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress
  ** Marshall Adkins – A Presuppositional Approach-The Influence of Cornelius Van Til on David Powlison

  Critiques of Clinically-Informed/Trauma-Informed Counseling Theories
  ** Robert Jones – Thinking Biblically About Abuse through a Conceptual Model for Biblical Counselors
  Eric Abisror – Biblical Theology, Trauma, and the Body
  ** Kyle Gangel – The ‘Dysregulated’ Nervous System and A Biblical Evaluation of Polyvagal Theory
  

  Biblical Discernment and Guidance
  ** Terry Enns – What Can We–Eat Guiding Counselees Through Questions and Answers About Liberty
  Todd Sorrell – Counseling Hoarders and Those Who Love Them
  ** Jacob Elwart – Teaching Counselees How to Apply Truth from the Scripture

  Biblical Concept of Sensuality
  (Women only) Martha Peace – Intimacy – What is Sinful and What is Not
  ** Jim Newheiser – Overcoming food and body idolatry

  ACBC Process
  Abby Crawford – How to Become ACBC Certified
  Sam Stephens – How to become a certified Training Center

• Breakout Bonus Pre-Recorded Sessions (Included for every attendee whether in-person or virtual)

  Note: All “Breakout Bonus” sessions below are automatically incorporated into to every attendee’s conference agenda whether attending in-person or virtually. All conference attendees will have virtual access to ALL “Breakout Bonus” sessions beginning at 3:50 pm (Central Time) on October 8, 2025 through the two-week window following the close of the conference.
  
  From Text to Counseling Method
  Rush Witt – Bearing One Another’s Burdens–Counseling Principles from Galatians 6:1-5
  Michael Burgos – Using it Lawfully–The First Use of the Law in Biblical Counseling
  Matt Mumma-War of Words – Communication Principles from James
  ** (Women only) Shelbi Cullen – Battling Bitterness–Exposition from Ephesians 4:31-32

  Helpful Truths in Past Places
  Jim Newheiser – Two reformers – Jay Adams and Martin Luther
  Jacob Elwart – Cultivating Christian Contentment for Troubling Times
  Keith Evans – Puritan Demonology and Biblical Counseling

  Critiques of Clinically-Informed/Trauma-Informed Counseling Theories
  Omri Miles – Grounded in the Text
  (Women only) Cheryl Bell –  Grounding Therapy–A Temporary Panacea that Neglects the Soul
  Daniel Dionne – Biblical Counseling and The Body

  Biblical Discernment and Guidance
  (Women only) Caroline Newheiser – What to Do When Your Counselee Lacks Discernment
  Brad Brandt – The Importance of Prayer in Counseling
  Brian Sayers – Manipulation – Defining, Discerning, and Responding Biblically
  Spencer Harmon – Helping Indecisive People
  

  Biblical Concept of Sensuality
  Jeremy Pray – Common Mistakes When Helping Others Overcome Sensuality
  John St. Pierre – Three Roots of Sensual Sin

**Indicates that these sessions are offered in-person and virtually