Latest “Numbers” for TIL…see what the Lord has done!

I know that some of you are wondering what has TIL done since March 28, 2008, when we began to do biblical counseling. Well, here are our year-to-date numbers through Oct. 31, 2008:

• We have counseled 385 counselees using 282 total sessions.
• We have spent 452 hours in counseling those people. (Most sessions are 1.5 hours)
• Over 20 biblical counselors have volunteered to serve with us in this ministry.
• 10 support volunteers serve with us in this ministry.
• In our sessions, we’ve used 270 biblical counselors (that’s a hard number to explain – basically, each day, we add up the number of counselors who worked for us that day and so far this year, that total number is 270 which includes me as 1 of them each day…sorry that’s confusing!).
• We’ve seen 1 marriage reconcile after a divorce (the wedding was a couple of months ago)!
• We’ve seen 5 people saved and 5 more re-commit their lives formally to the Lord (many others have informally recommitted).
• We’ve taught over 30 people to do the work of biblical counseling in our classes.
• We are teaching 15 people at The Popper’s House weekly on addictions and biblical counseling.
• We are working with 50 men at The Village weekly at the Downtown Church.
• We have provided biblical resources (like books and booklets) FREE of charge to counselees.
• We do NOT charge anything for biblical counseling and provide 2 counselors to EACH session. (the going rate is $100.00/hour – imagine what it’d be if there were 2 counselors)

Please remember that ALL of this has been done primarily at 2 church locations on 2 days per week. We are still a part-time ministry because our total donations for our first year are approximately $30,000.00, most of which are from private donations. My wife and I have committed $2,000.00 ourselves because we believe in the importance of this type of ministry.

That is not much money compared to many ministries, but we have watched the Lord grow our weekly donations as He is providing in His timing. Our donations have increased from $50.00/weekly to approximately $500.00 weekly now.

Right now, we are serving 5 churches and doing much counseling! It’s been overwhelming to us but God has provided and is providing and will continue to provide for His ministry.

We have also trained nearly 30 people in biblical counseling and many of those are now serving with us in our unique team ministry. We have another class planned and 3 more churches to begin working with in 2009. We are growing exponentially and ask that you pray for us!

What a praise that the Lord has used this little upstart family to build His kingdom. TIL and its over 30 volunteers are being used to restore relationships and build SPIRITUAL homes (families) for His glory.

Thank you, Lord! There are many more blessings, too!

We need your help. We are totally dependent upon financial gifts that are tax-deductible. Please pray about supporting TIL or ask someone you know to prayerfully consider helping us. I know of no ministry in the country doing team biblical counseling like TIL. We are unique and pioneering. We believe God says He’ll do what He says in His Word.

Jason and I are crazy enough to keep going in this ministry because we are daily blessed to see lives changed as the Lord works in the hearts of His people!!! We are not going to stop obeying Him. Join us today and be a pioneer with us! Ask Jason how fulfilling it is to serve Jesus.

-Mark (thankful to Christ for His many provisions including my ministry partner, Jason Cooke, for his full-time effort with part-time pay and faithfulness in this ministry despite minimal financial compensation so far; by the way, he and I are paid the same amount as he is just as important to TIL as I am)

Pretend you’re a biblical counselor…(part 2)

So what did you do? Did you recommend the secular place that uses the 12 steps and psychological techniques? Or did you recommend the Christian place that uses the 12 steps and psychological techniques along with a smattering of Bible verses and a few biblical principles?

Well, this is a tough call for me.

My personal choice was NOT listed: send them to a PURELY biblical program in its approach. I only know of two of them in the entire U.S. – His Steps Ministries in Atlanta, GA, and Vision of Hope in Lafayette, IN. But this choice was not available so…

I would rather send someone to a SECULAR program by warning them that what they are about to enter is going to have some wrong, humanistic teachings that may ”brain-wash” them with man-centered ideas IF they are not careful. Why would I pick a purely secular option? Because a so-called Christian program that teaches lies mixed with half-truths CONFUSES people and leads them to more problems. In addition, most people who go to a “Christian program” tend to trust it and its counselors as “experts” so they may believe the man-centered lies and half-truth deceptions without questioning them!

To me, it’s more dangerous to send someone to a false Christian program than to a secular program WITH the warning that the person MUST be careful at the secular place and when they get out, they MUST get involved with the nearest biblical counselor asap…however, the best case is to send the person to a purely biblical program that will deal with the sinful nature issues of addicts. Again, the only programs that I know of that are like that are His Steps Ministries in the (Woodstock) Atlanta, GA, area and Vision of Hope in Lafayette, IN.

-Mark (longing for a purely biblical approach to addiction – grateful to God that He led me to write about one in The Heart of Addiction)

P.S. Please understand, each individual case is different and this was simply a “fun” scenario to think through and to challenge us in our thinking! My answer is NOT “thus sayeth the Lord”!!!

#1 Most Generous city in America is…

I received this in an email about Birmingham:

“Thought you might find this interesting:I think this was in our Western Recorder (Baptist State Paper).
Most generous U.S. city named: Birmingham, Ala., ranks as the most generous city in America, according to a study that measured percentage of household income given to charity in 60 metropolitan areas. Birmingham-area residents give 3.6 percent of their household income to charity, just ahead of several other Southern cities, the study noted. Memphis, Tenn., was second at 3.4 percent, and Columbia S.C. was third with 3.2 percent.  The study was conducted by the Tijeras Foundation in Albuquerque, N.M., a city that incidentally ranked fourth from the bottom, ahead of San Antonio, Pittsburgh and Tampa, Fla. The foundation supports church organizations, including help with fund raising and financial management skills.”

The above statement is only for RECORDED giving and I would argue that people here in B’ham give even more than that. That’s been our experience!

I guess it’s a good thing we started this ministry in Birmingham since we do not accept insurance payments and do not have any state or federal money or grants! We are totally dependent upon the Lord to move in the hearts of mankind to support this ministry – and He is doing it! Praise the Lord!

We also thank all of you for contributing to the Lord’s ministry through Truth in Love! We have watched Him increase our contributions all year long!

-Mark (God is faithful)