Equipping Ministry Leaders

For over 14 years, Saddleback’s Counseling Ministry has been helping individuals discover Christ-centered answers to a wide range of challenges. The ministry helps fulfill Pastor Rick's vision for “Saddleback to be a place where the hurting, the depressed, the frustrated, and the confused can find love, acceptance, help, hope, forgiveness, guidance and encouragement."

To help meet those needs, each year hundreds of volunteers receive extensive training, ongoing supervision, and continuing education as certified counselors. That’s why Saddleback’s powerful ministry recently launched the 2018 Church Counseling Training—another step toward reaching our Daring Faith goal of training 25% of our members to be leaders in the church and ministry.

Held at our Lake Forest campus on Thursday nights, this 30-week course officially kicked off January 18 and runs through August. It provides a biblical paradigm through which counseling can help others improve communication skills, discover the marriage God intends, develop a biblical foundation for parenting, and deal with emotions including grief, loss, anger, bitterness, and discouragement.

Taught by Saddleback’s Counseling Minister, Jennifer Norheim — as well as other ministry staff — the course follows Pastor Bob Baker’s book, Church Counselor, and covers topics on honesty, integrity, communication, marriage, and parenting.

According to Counseling Coordinator, Susie Tarca, “The training is so much more than learning how to be a church counselor. It’s about modeling the life of Christ and learning how to become a better person by building character and growing closer to God.”

In total, 560 people registered for the course, or which approximately half will complete all 30 weeks and graduate to help others face life’s challenges. Open to anyone over 18 years of age, the training is attended by a mixed demographic, including non-Saddleback members who account for 25 percent of attendees.

At completion of the training, roughly 20 percent of the graduating class will be selected to become church counselors at Saddleback, based on fulfilled requirements. Appointed counselors must have completed CLASS 101-401, SHAPE, baptism, membership, weekly homework, and must have participated in at least 27 of the 30 classes. In addition, an extensive interview and several tests are conducted including a background test and personality tests.

Due to the importance of this trustworthy position, the Counseling Ministry is the most difficult ministry to enter at Saddleback —not only because of the challenging requirements, but also because of the investment of time and energy.

Despite the long list of prerequisites, the feedback has been tremendous from those in the course. “People are blown away,” says Susie. “Each one learns how to become a better person and speak into the lives of others as a believer. It’s a ministry that brings about life change.”

Once engaged as a Saddleback counselor, a minimum of 2-4 hours per week are expected for counseling services, in addition to 1 hour of supervised counseling, and 2 hours every other month for advanced training. This commitment helps serve the 300+ people who receive free counseling sessions at Saddleback each week.

As Counseling Coordinator, Beth Brenneman explains, “The Counseling Training is an opportunity to grow and learn through real-life application. In the process, we dig deep into topics like the importance of small talk and biblical roles in a marriage. It really is one of the most challenging, yet rewarding ministries at Saddleback.”

To learn more, email CHURCHCOUNSELING@SADDLEBACK.COM.