Our Greatest Hope
Georgina was a 24-year-old single mother when she was first referred for counseling. She had been married twice and divorced twice by her your age, and presented symptoms of severe anxiety (panic attacks) and depression, and felt hopeless to change her life situation, in spite having just come to Christ and being a member of a dynamic church. Her hope was to find a “good” husband, but in her words she “always chose losers.” She had never linked her symptoms of wrong choices to being sexually abused by a family friend…but the link was only too painfully clear as we progressed in the counseling process.
What brought her to seek help was when this “friend” came back into her life…who happened to be an “upstanding” member of Pastor Wallace’s local church…which turned out to be great for her and ultimately great for her “friend”…as Pastor Wallace knew just what to do.
An Equipped Equipper
I so appreciate Pastor Wallace and his team. Pastor Wallace is an African American Pastor who has diligently prepared himself for crisis ministry by taking extra counselling courses beyond seminary to equip him for critical cases. He Pastors a growing congregation, is a gifted preacher and visionary leader, and as the church has grown, he has realized he just can’t do it all…you see, at any given time approximately 10% of a congregation needs special care beyond worship and the word. In the case mentioned above, he was well equipped to deal with the victim (referred for counseling as mentioned) and the perpetrator (who eventually faced the consequences of his actions and began the healing process for the mess he created).
You see, with a congregation over 300, even though skilled and gifted in to counseling, Pastor Wallace just can’t help all the folks needing it in his congregation, and because of his compassionate ministry, other pastors and congregations want to refer to him as well. He has openly acknowledged that this primary responsibility is to equip God’s people to do ministry, not to do it all himself, and as an outstanding pastor, he is taking on this responsibility with passion and excellence.
This is the primary reason that Pastor Wallace is working alongside an outside agency who specializes in crisis and domestic violence to select qualified, caring and mature believers to be trained in crisis ministry and domestic violence. He is preparing a team “for such a time as this.”
Above and beyond preparing a team, he makes sure he preaches and teachers on the topic of healthy family life, marriage communication and problem solving, etc., at last twice a year, and provides specialized training opportunities for his team of care givers.
In his church, he has zero tolerance for DV, insists on having strong policies in place, and has developed excellent relationships with outside agencies who can help is times of crisis…in other words, he really believes that an ounce of prevention is a pound of cure.
Developing a team in your local community is one of the key preventive measures that can be taken to help with DV and crisis Of course, this is the reason I developed this introductory course in DV…so please take few minutes to watch our third free video and download the free resources…thanks for taking the time to watch these free teachings. I truly hope they have been helpful and keep your eyes open for the special offer to come.
Dr Stan DeKoven is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor, and Certified 
Domestic Violence Counselor living and serving in Southern California. He is also the founder and President of Vision International University, and has written over 50 books in counseling, practical theology and leadership, including the bestselling Patterns of Destruction:Counseling for Domestic Violence, and Crisis Counseling.
