Heath Lambert: The reason for the existence of ACBC is to pursue excellence in biblical counseling. The way we pursue excellence in biblical counseling is by certifying counselors and training centers who know how to do biblical counseling. The work of certification is so important in counseling because how are you supposed to know if a counselor is any good? If you want to know if a preacher is a good preacher, you can go visit him at his church or go listen to a podcast or listen online in some other way, but there aren’t any counseling podcasts. How are you to vet a counselor before you would go see them or entrust a cherished loved one to them?
The answer to that question is the reason for the existence of ACBC in our process of certification. We certify counselors who have gone through a process of training, examination, and supervision where people who have been in counseling for decades are looking over their shoulder and helping them to do their work with increasing excellence. One of the questions that people can have is why should I care about that? Why should I go be certified to do counseling?
And so, this week on the podcast, we want to take a special look at the answer to that question. And we have asked Marilyn Kirkpatrick to be our guest on the podcast this week. Marilyn is in women’s ministries at the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida, and she is actually right now in the process of certification. Marilyn, we’re happy that you’re with us this week. And I want to ask you as we get started, as someone who’s in the middle of the process of certification and who has lately begun getting very serious about counseling ministry, what have been some of the fears and challenges as you’ve gone through this process and how have you addressed those?
Marilyn Kirkpatrick: Well, thank you for asking me to be here today. As I was thinking about this, one of the greatest fears I have is that the counselee is going to present a situation or problem that I have no clue about and I feel certain that I want to give an answer, but I am fearful I won’t have an answer. And so, that’s a little bit of a challenge and a fear to me.
But another challenge that I think about is when someone comes to meet with you, they may present with one particular situation, but as they share with you and you gather data, you find there’s all kinds of issues on the table. And one of the challenges for me is trying to figure out how to sort that data out, figure out what is the underlying issue, and what is the thing that I need to target, and where do I need to start with them first? And so that’s one of the things that I think a lot about and pray a lot about when I get to meet with a counselee.
Heath Lambert: How has the certification process at ACBC helped you address and respond to some of that?
Marilyn Kirkpatrick: One of the things is doing the training weekends, they have been very helpful because you have very gifted speakers and teachers who have been doing this for many years. They give great resources. They give specifics on how to gather data, how to give homework, how to know Scriptures that apply, especially those who give a lot of great Scriptures that I’m beginning to catalog those for certain situations, this is like a go-to Scripture, and that’s one of the things I’m trying to learn. I feel so inadequate sometimes in knowing where things are in the Bible and where things would apply, so, the weekends have really helped me do that, and sitting in with other counselors and watching them also has been very helpful for me.
Heath Lambert: One of the things that you said a moment ago that stood out to me is that a concern you’ve got is you’re going to be talking with the counselee and they’re going to have a problem that you don’t know how to respond to. And the reason that stood out to me is because I’m talking with Christians from all over the world and when you talk to them about counseling, so many of them are afraid to do it. They don’t want to do it. They don’t want to touch it with a ten-foot pole.
And as you talk to people, they say that issue that you raised. “What am I going to say to somebody? How am I going to know how to respond to that problem?” And so, there really is this fear and concern that I’m not going to do that because I can’t do it. And yet, once you start doing counseling, you find out that this is a really rewarding process. That this is a good thing to be involved in. What for you has been the most rewarding reality as you’ve increased the amount of counseling that you’ve been doing?
Marilyn Kirkpatrick: I think one of the first things I think about is the Bible itself has opened up to me like never before. I am seeing things in God’s Word that I’ve never seen before, especially relating to people and their situations and their lives. And, you know, Peter tells us that God has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness and it’s in the Word. And so, the Word of God has become alive to me in a whole new way and it’s exciting and even when I’m not looking for an answer for someone, just in my daily reading, I’ll see something that just speaks to me and reminds me this is a help for someone, so, I really love that.
Another thing that is so rewarding is to see that very thing for other people, when they start to see the truth of God’s Word that God’s Word does speak to their life, that God does have something to say about their problems, that God cares about them. And they begin to see that, and they understand that God is not just a God in heaven just handing out rules, but God wants to be intertwined in their life and involved in their life and has answers for them. And when they start to seek Him, that is so exciting to see them do that.
Heath Lambert: Good, ACBC certification exists in three phases. There’s the training phase, the examination phase, and the supervision phase. Where are you in that phase right now?
Marilyn Kirkpatrick: Right now, I am in the supervision phase.
Heath Lambert: You’re in the supervision phase. So, you’re nearing the end.
Marilyn Kirkpatrick: Yes.
Heath Lambert: What for you has been the most beneficial part of the overall certification process?
Marilyn Kirkpatrick: I think, and this came through both the training weekends and doing the exams, is it opened up resources to me I never read before. And again, learning Scripture that I had never seen how it applied to everyday life and to situations. The training weekends exposed me to a lot of great truth and a lot of great people who have been doing this and they give very practical helps and so it does help alleviate the fear somewhat in knowing that you can learn to do this. And I’ve been to three of the years of the weekends and love those, those are my favorite. Every time I go, I get more excited about biblical counseling, and I really am looking forward to it. I am really excited about this process for me.
Heath Lambert: A woman like you, Christian woman, wife, mother, grandmother, involved in women’s ministries, you decided that counseling was something that you needed to be good at. Someone’s listening to this and they would say, “Well, maybe counseling’s for her, or for him, that’s not for me. Certainly not certification. I don’t need to go into all that.” If they’re thinking ‘That’s just not for me.’, what would you say to a Christian like that?
Marilyn Kirkpatrick: Well, number one, we are all speaking into someone’s life at any given time, whether it’s my husband, my family, my daughter, my granddaughter, at some point, we’re all going to be speaking into someone’s life. And I have such a heart for discipleship for women to know God and to know His Word, and for me, the certification process has just helped me to grow in that area. It has helped me to better understand God’s Word. It’s helped me to know exactly how God’s Word applies and I don’t feel like I have to give an opinion.
Now, I feel equipped that I can answer with truth from God’s Word that will be way more helpful than my opinion. The certification process for me has just opened up a new avenue for me. I never would have thought of myself being a biblical counselor and I know that word scares people, but if you think of it as biblical discipleship, we’re all called to be disciplers and to make disciples and this is just a great avenue that helps us to do that well.
