What to Expect with Our Blog

Welcome to the blog of Hope Counseling and Discipleship Center! If you want more information about our counseling center, please visit the "About Us" and "FAQ" sections of the website. You can also head over to our new "Scripture for Today" podcast. Our first series on the podcast will be about the goal of this counseling center, the benefits of having a counseling ministry, counseling as discipleship, and more. We have invited seasoned biblical counselors to come on the podcast for your benefit. For example, we will have Daniel Berger (author of over 10 books, counselor) on the podcast in May to talk about the breadth of Scripture in addressing mental health problems. Exciting stuff! But enough about that; this is supposed to be a blog post about the future of this blog!

This first blog is written by Justin Daugherty (not AI like this software keeps telling me to use). But don't get used to me. Our plan is to have a rotation of local pastors and counselors writing so that you hear different people in different stages of life saying different things about the beauty of Scripture. These pastors and counselors are also the pastors and counselors that will be available for counseling. We want to employ peoples' giftings so that the body of Christ might be edified. Each blog post will be:

1. Short and Digestible

Puritan worship services were often known for having deacons going around with rods to poke people in order to wake them up because of the long, drawn-out sermons. Some also had a feather attached to the rods so the congregants would be jolted awake with an intense itch or tickle. There is a time and place for long, deep exposition of Scripture, and we should want to hear such exposition. However, these blog posts will not be the place for that. No one should have to flick a feather on your forehead while reading these. We want them to be short and to the point like an espresso shot, but hopefully they will be a bit smoother going down. Ironically, this is the shortest section of this post.

2. Rich with Scripture

There's thousands of blogs out there regarding counseling and counseling issues. While we know the simple relaying of information can be helpful, our blogs will consist of rich Bible doctrine. We want people to know foundational truth about the Bible so they can filter their problems through the lens of Scripture. We consider all of this labor pointless if we cannot show you the character of God as He reveals Himself in Scripture so that you might be changed into His image. This is different than having secular theories at the base of our understanding about human beings and then throwing in a few Bible verses to give it a Christian-twist. Our understanding of soul problems as well as the solutions we give will be derived from Scripture alone because we believe God gives us the clearest view of people, their problems, and the solution they need.

This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. (Psalm 18:30)

3. Applicable to Life

What is the point of creating content for a counseling center if the content does not deal with daily matters of life? There isn't one! That is why these posts will be application-heavy. We want to show you how the Bible comes to life when talking about serious problems you face on a random Thursday. Because of this, these posts will touch on deep, personal matters. After all, Scripture intrudes and rushes into the corners and shadows of our life because God wants to change us. So be ready for the practical.

Think of our blog topics as being key takeaways from our study in Scripture. We don't want to write theoretical research papers (also we will touch upon the theoretical from time to time), but rather, we want to provide for you real life, boots-on-the-ground help from the eternal Word of God. We will cover all sorts of topics. Some random ones that come to mind are: fear, finances, parenting, post-partum depression, decision-making, eating disorders, pride, trauma, and more. We will also try to be proactive in teaching topics such as: discipleship do's and don'ts, the lost art of biblical meditation, how medical problems impact the soul, how to appropriately apply Scripture, how biblical counseling differs from secular therapy, the counseling benefits of listening to worship music, and more. So be on the lookout for more content. Our prayer for this counseling center is that of the Apostle Paul's in Philippians 1:9-11:

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

In Christ,

Justin Daugherty