Great trip to Indiana – thank you for your prayers!

We had a productive time of ministry in Indiana this past week! We were both encouraged and encouraging while there. The Bible is such a great book and resource for counseling! What else is needed?

I’m thankful to have presented on Tuesday about the team concept in biblical counseling. It was well received. In fact, a precious man named Kevin gave his testimony about how he is pursuing NANC certification as a biblical counselor. He is a deaf man and at the end of his testimony, he said: “And the great thing is…I don’t have to do ministry alone,” as he held up my Strength in Numbers: The Team Approach to Biblical Counseling book! All 1200 conference attendees saw the book thanks to this dear brother in Christ! Later that day, I met him and he asked me to come to his church to teach and I told him I would. He said he loved the book and will promote it wherever he goes. What a blessing!

Other great things happened, too, while we were there. I was thrilled to have a 15 minute conversation with Dr. David Powlison, one of the foremost leaders in biblical counseling and at CCEF. He’s a wonderful man, knowledgeable, and humble! He and I got a chance to chat and I learned so much from him in just 15 minutes.

I also met Dr. Bob Kellemen for the first time and many others. One man has a ministry in Kenya and we talked about partnering together to do missions work! That’s been a desire of my heart for several years now and he already has some ministry going in that part of the world. Coincidence? I think not! Sovereign plan of God!

I could go on and on but you get the drift. Like-minded believers who are sold out to Christ and the sufficiency of Scripture for helping hurting souls to overcome their issues by the power of Christ!

-Mark (thank you for your prayers! praise God for His grace!)

Reminder: First Annual Biblical Counselor Training Conference in Birmingham, AL – one week away!

Just another reminder that Truth in Love Ministries is partnering with Birmingham Theological Seminary AND Briarwood Counseling Ministry to host the first ever (and hopefully, annual) biblical counselor training conference in Birmingham, AL, that will count for NANC certification.

To our knowledge, no conference has ever been held in B’ham that counted toward certification in the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors! Classes have been taught but never a conference like this!

Lou Priolo, Pastor Harry Reeder, Craig Rowe, Tim Keeter, Virginia Stewart, Joe Davis, Tim Brown, Howard Eyrich, Luis Orteza, Dave Matthews, and others (like me) will be teaching during the conference.

Topics include everything from medical issues, sex, marriage, anger, depression, and much more TO the doctrine of God, man, etc. in the advanced track 2. There will be such great teaching at this conference that you will spiritually grow very much even if you do not consider yourself a counselor.

Dates are July 22-24 and August 5-7, 2010.

Location is Briarwood Presbyterian Church in the fellowship halls to the right of the sanctuary.

Cost is $255.00 per person. Checks must be made payable to Birmingham Theological Seminary (BTS).

We are offering the foundational track of 30 hours required by NANC to become certified AND we are offering a special track for those who have already taken that track and want to prepare & write their NANC exam!

This second track will have writing labs and topics that help the attendee to complete the NANC exam by the end of the conference!  (I can imagine hearing many of you right now saying, “Praise the Lord!” as the exam is rigorous!).

For more information, go to bham_NANC_training@histruthinlove.org.

-Mark (thrilled to be equipping so many with the powerful message of the Gospel)

This is why I love NANC…ASL Biblical Counselor Training

The National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC) is sponsoring a biblical counseling training course for the DEAF. ASL stands for American Sign Language and it is one of the most prevalent languages spoken in our country today. I think it’s the third most spoken language in the U.S. behind English and Spanish (but don’t quote me on that- not sure I’m remembering that right).

So I appreciate NANC’s effort to reach out to a very large group that is underserved!

Here’s the NANC email that was sent to me:

Counseling and Discipleship Training
specifically for deaf people is coming to
Plainfield Bible Church, near Indianapolis, IN!

July 11-14, 2010

This conference will be interpreted in ASL and is
exclusively for deaf people and their families.

A wide range of topics will be presented including marriage, parenting, worry and fear, sexual issues, forgiveness, trials and suffering, and life dominating sins, just to list a few!

Learn from a variety of 5 different key leaders in the Biblical Counseling movement who will present 15 different sessions.

Come see how God’s Word is superior to the world’s
philosophies in solving everyday problems.

Forward this on to someone who wants to learn
more about the practical healing of God’s Word!

View the Conference Brochure and Register at http://www.NANC.org.

-Mark (excited that anyone who is deaf can dig deeper into God’s Word and learn to help others)

TIL to co-host first ever biblical counseling conference in B’ham

Just a reminder for those of you who desire to be NANC certified as a biblical counselor (www.nanc.org), TIL is co-hosting with Briarwood Counseling Ministry and Birmingham Theological Seminary the first ever biblical counseling conference in Birmingham that covers the NANC certification requirements for Track 1.

Conference begins this summer (2010) on July 22nd which is a Thursday evening at 6 pm at Briarwood Presbyterian Church (www.briarwood.org). It will run all day Friday until 8 pm AND from 9 to 3 pm on Saturday. NANC requires 30 hours of coursework. Therefore, to fit it all in, there is a second weekend that begins on Thursday August 5th and continues in the same format on Friday and Saturday (the 7th).

What is extra SPECIAL about this conference (other than being the first annual) is that we are offering a track for those of you who have already taken Track 1 but want to work on your NANC exams. The second track will encourage you to finish your exam and give you many helps. You choose either Track 1 or Track 2 (exam track). If you take Track 1 this year, you can take Track 2 next year when we plan to host the conference again.

Our list of featured speakers is fantastic as most of these men and women who are serving are donating their time and resources to teach! What a blessing!

Lou Priolo, Howard Eyrich, and Harry Reeder are three of my mentors who will be teaching during the conference. All are published authors and loving men of God who stand on the truth and sufficiency of God’s Word. These men are gifted by the Holy Spirit to teach God’s Word.

Other speakers include Tim Keeter from Huntsville, a gifted teacher that many of you will enjoy learning from. He’s fresh, young, brilliant and a godly man who loves his wife and children. He’s a special guy.

Also, Tim Brown from His Steps Ministries in Atlanta (www.hisstepsministries.com) will be teaching on addictions, anger, and forgiveness. He and I will team teach some things together!

Joe Davis from Montgomery, Craig Rowe from Statesboro, Georgia, and several other godly men will be teaching and serving during the conference. I have not even been able to mention them in this blog until now and these guys in particular are astute teachers of biblical counseling principles, too!

Oh, and Dr. John Fischer from Christ Health Center in Bessemer (www.christhealthcenter.org) will be co-teaching with me on some of the MEDICAL aspects of biblical counseling, too. Dr. Fischer is a committed man of God and you will learn so much from him during our two workshops together.

Other great teachers are Dr. Dave Matthews from Briarwood, Dr. Virginia Stewart from HOPE Biblical Counseling and Training in Florida, Dr. Luis Orteza from Truth in Love Ministries, and several others!

Personally, I am very excited about this conference because it glorifies God by pointing people to the all-sufficient Word of God for salvation and sanctification.

This may sound BOLD but you will not find a better teaching conference to attend in the Birmingham area this year where you will learn the practical, hopeful principles of the Word of God taught by the power of the Holy Spirit through godly men and women. You will be amazed at how you grow personally and you will be empowered to help others grow in the ministry the Lord has entrusted to you!

For more information, we prefer that you contact us by email at bham_NANC_training@histruthinlove.org.

OR you may call Shirley Crowder at 205-567-0244. Also, I am available by email at markshaw@histruthinlove.org. Our conference brochures are available at Philadelphia Baptist Church, Briarwood PCA, and Bethel Baptist Church in Moody. Hopefully, we’ll have more brochures out at The Church at Brook Hills and around the greater Birmingham area soon.

There is a fee for the conference as we are providing meals and paying for other expenses. The EARLY BIRD sign-up discount ends June 8th so hurry and get your registration in today!

-Mark (looking forward to learning more about how to better serve God’s people at this wonderful conference)

TIL Update: 2009 NANC Conference and Radio Interviews

We just returned from a good time of teaching, fellowship, and serving Christ in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Several of us attended from TIL and I hope more will attend with us next year.

For me, this conference was full of new experiences. First, this was my first time to teach a workshop at NANC’s annual, national conference. I taught on the TEAM approach (co-counseling) to biblical counseling. I prayed that the Lord would be glorified in the sight of the attendees and I believe He was. If you’d like to purchase a copy of my teaching, you can go to www.soundword.com and order the 1 hour CD (wait a few days for them to get it on their site).

Second, radio host, Pastor Kevin Boling, was at the conference and I was asked to speak on my Strength in Numbers book with 2 other authors (Dr. Stuart Scott and Pastor Mark Mann) on October 6th. If you’d like to hear the broadcast for free, click on this site and go to Oct. 6th’s broadcast: http://knowingthetruth.org/content/view/749/26/ . If you don’t want to hear the entire broadcast, I am on the end of the show in the final 15 minute segment (start at the 43 minute mark).

Third, I was asked to do a 5 minute “Moment of Truth” segment critically evaluating a secular article about TV, Internet, and Videogame “Addiction.” I did that radio segment yesterday and I’m not sure when it’ll be up on the same website, www.knowingthetruth.org . That was a chance to demonstrate the difference between worldly thinking and biblical thinking on that topic.

Finally, the most important experience for me was getting to spend time with Jason, Shirley, Sonya, Richard, Ronny, and my family. We had a fun time together with a busy schedule. Most amazingly, we are all still friends after spending so much time “cooped up” together!

For me, all of this is new. I am learning a lot and thankful that the Lord has given me opportunities to glorify Him on a national level. It is truly scary and humbling when I look at my own lack of abilities, but it is wonderful when I look at how God can use a foolish, regular guy like me to do His work.

-Mark (thankful for your prayers – please keep praying for me to keep my eyes on Jesus!)

NANC Conference 2009

I wanted to tell you about the upcoming NANC Conference in South Carolina in just a few weeks (Oct. 5-7).

James MacDonald and Howard Dayton are featured speakers as well as David Powlison, Jay Adams, Randy Patten, and others.

There are excellent workshops on a wide variety of issues related to biblical counseling. You will learn a lot at this year’s conference!

Go to www.nanc.org to find out more information!

-Mark (grateful to be involved in an organization that makes a strong stand on the Word of God)

National Association of Biblical Counselors (NANC)

If you are looking for a biblical counselor in your area of the world, I’d advise you go to www.nanc.org to find a certified biblical counselor anywhere in the country.

NANC has been around for many years and they sponsor an annual conference every October. This year’s conference will be in Greenville, SC, on the first Monday of October of 2009. I highly encourage you to attend this life-giving event!

I just found out that I will be teaching a workshop called “Strength in Numbers: The Team Approach to Biblical Counseling” at this year’s 2009 Conference!

-Mark (reminded daily of the importance, authority, and sufficiency of God’s Word)