Biblical Counseling
We all, at times, struggle in our lives as Christians. The apostle Paul struggled with sin (Romans 7:14-25) and with the circumstances of life (2 Corinthians 1:3-11).
LifePoint’s Biblical Counseling Team seeks to lovingly minister the Scriptures to help people glorify God in their motives, thoughts, words, and actions in any and every area of life and in every conceivable circumstance.
Biblical Counseling is relational, intensive, gospel-centered discipleship that focuses on treasuring Christ above all! For when we treasure Christ and the gospel above all, we begin to apply the truth that sets us free in our specific sin struggles and helps us to glorify God in our trials and sufferings.
We really believe the Bible is true when it says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, emphasis ours, ESV). We believe the Bible is sufficient for all sin-struggles and trials because God, who cannot lie, declares that it is. We also believe that the Bible is sufficient because we and others have found it to be so in our own lives. (See personal stories below.)
Our Biblical Counseling Team is led by Pastor Tony Guinn, who is an ACBC Fellow (Association of Certified Biblical Counselors), and consists of trained biblical counselors who minister the Word out of love for God and for people.
Please contact Pastor Tony if you would like more information.
Biblical Counseling Story - Male
"Like most men, I am reluctant to stop and ask for directions. Last year, I found myself hopelessly lost after following my own lead for several years. After being confronted with the sin in my life, I approached Pastor Tony Guinn to ask for help.
As I came to know Tony better, I realized that he understood my struggles much better than I could have known. As a counselor, Tony did not pretend to have all the answers. He simply turned to God’s Word and used it to teach me about my sin, repentance, God’s forgiveness and how to repair the damage I had caused in my marriage and other relationships. When I had questions, doubts and struggles, Tony showed me how to gain victory through the Word and God’s love. I had strayed far from the path of righteousness, but there was no condemnation, only a helping hand to point the way back without minimizing my sin. When Tony counsels, he always goes to the Word for his directions. He has been blessed by God with this gift, and through his counsel God has brought me back into his flock.
My private life, prayer life, my personal study and my marriage are all now so much better than before. God has worked a miracle in my life, and Tony showed me the way back though God’s Word and a caring friend’s heart."
Biblical Counseling Story - Female
"In early December of 2014, I found myself in a very dark place. I had been in a deep depression for several years, and my husband had just informed me that he was leaving me. I was anguished, panic-stricken and desperately worried about the impact of this on my 7-year-old daughter.
I had been a Christian for over 16 years and, although that was certainly not evident in my day-to-day life, I knew that the world didn’t have any answers for me and that Jesus had all the answers. I realized that what I needed was Christian counseling. I called the LifePoint office to see if the church offered counseling services, and I was so relieved to find out that they did.
My counselors are two amazing, kind-hearted, strong women of God that have led me to the truths of the Bible and have helped me to apply those truths to my circumstances. God worked in and through them to begin the process of transforming my thinking so that my words actions and choices would bring Him glory.
My husband, whom I dearly love, left a little over a week ago now. One would think that I should be in a deeper, darker depression than anything I’ve ever experienced, but God has not let me down. He has held me and loved me and in His mighty power, He is breaking the shackles of depression that I allowed to hold me prisoner for so long. I am definitely suffering, but I have an unsinkable hope in God that sustains me. Each week I look forward to meeting with my counselors. They really listen to me and each time that we get together I come away with a deeper understanding of God’s word and a greater appreciation for His heart.
The counseling program at LifePoint has not only been a huge blessing to me, but also to my daughter. Every night before she closes her eyes, she asks me to read Psalm 121 to her, which is one of the passages that my counselors introduced me to in my first appointment with them. It reassures us both that God is indeed watching over us no matter what adversity we face.
The counseling program at LifePoint is free and I am so incredibly grateful that it was available to me when I needed it."
Biblical Counseling Story - Marriage Testimony
“After many years of good marriage, I began to feel distance creeping in. I tried to work through it, but I didn’t understand why it was happening, and because of that I couldn’t find the solution. Thankfully, my wife agreed to try Biblical Counseling through LifePoint.
Before we started there was apprehension. What would we both find out? What if it’s me? Could WE be fixed? Thankfully we were met immediately with warmth, kindness and truth. The kind of truth that you can build on.
The Biblical Counseling began simply enough; introductions, statements of concern and personal inventories. But it quickly went deeper. We were directed to reading the Word regularly and targeted prayer for each other, along with weekly homework that helped to reveal deeper inordinate desires/idols that were negatively affecting our relationship. This helped each of us to reframe the way we viewed each other, not as someone needing to be fixed, but as someone who needed to pursue God more seriously, while simultaneously extending grace to my spouse.
The weeks of Biblical Counseling both dragged and flew by depending on the day, but over time the growth was obvious in both of us. We each realized that our hearts were not where they should be. We were more focused on our spouse serving us than our serving our spouse. Biblical Counseling reframed our expectations, and with that came a sense of peace and satisfaction.
It has been awhile since we went through Biblical Counseling at Lifepoint, and I still find myself thinking fondly of the experience. I know this might sound odd, but Biblical Counseling helped me to fall in love with my wife all over again. It is a different kind of love this time, though; it’s deeper, rooted not in emotion, attraction, or youth, but on God and his promises for me, and for us.
We still have bad days. Please know that. We are not perfect, but both of us now value the other in a way that we flatly didn’t prior to our Biblical Counseling. It was a pivotal moment in our marriage, and I thank God that LifePoint can offer such an amazing ministry.
I encourage you to be open to the idea of Biblical Counseling not because I think it’s good, but because I know.”