Speak The Truth

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EP. 222 ABC Partners with Santiago Theological Seminary to Expand Spanish Biblical Counseling Training W/Brad Hambrick & Matias Casco Jul 31, 2026

Show notes

Michael interviews Brad Hambrick and Matias Casco discussing ABC initiatives to expand Spanish-language biblical counseling training. Casco, a Honduran living in the Dominican Republic and serving at Santiago Theological Seminary, explains that a 2022 church survey revealed most churches lacked counseling ministries, prompting a one-year, six-module program on key topics like family, marriage, addictions, suffering, and ethics, graduating about 250 students from multiple countries. The seminary is now partnering with ABC to translate Equip to Counsel and related resources into Spanish and provide certification, scholarships, and digital access worldwide, supported by a $100,000 fundraising goal. They announce an August 21–22 kickoff conference in Santo Domingo at Pastor Miguel Núñez’s church on “mental health/living with a renewed mind,” featuring Ed Welch, Hambrick, Beth Broome, and Núñez, available for virtual co-hosting.

00:00 Conference Wrap Up
01:17 Meet Matias Casco
02:00 Counseling Needs in DR
03:38 How Brad Connected
06:02 Designing Church Training
08:52 Digital Access Expansion
11:31 Funding the Vision
13:49 August Conference Launch
17:02 How to Register
17:59 Final Thanks and Appeal

Episode Mentions
Help us translate ETC into Spanish - Donate
Oasis Conference Matais talked about - Register
Seminario Teologico de Santiago - Seminary information

EP. 221 Power with Purpose: God’s Design for Power Dynamics in Marriage W/Dave & Krista Dunham) Jul 24, 2026

Show notes

Michael interviews David and Krista Dunham about their book, Power with Purpose: God’s Design for Power Dynamics in a Marriage. They share their backgrounds in pastoral ministry, counseling, and ABC resource development, and explain they wrote the book as a constructive, “pre-abuse” resource after seeing power issues damage marriages and recognizing a lack of practical guidance. Walking through the book’s structure, they discuss understanding power as God-given and meant for good, developing a shared family vision, and how husbands and wives should use power biblically, including headship that empowers and a wife’s influence expressed through strengthening, sustaining, and sharpening, with submission defined as purposeful yielding of a wife’s power. They emphasize mutuality, collaboration, and one-another commands, and note the book includes reflection questions for ongoing application.

00:00 Conference Intro and Guests
01:01 Meet Dave and Krista
02:16 Why They Wrote It
04:20 Book Roadmap Overview
04:37 Understanding Power
06:39 Power Purpose and Jesus
08:17 Shared Family Vision
12:59 Husbands Use of Power
15:41 Wives Use of Power
19:47 Mutuality and Collaboration
24:29 Final Encouragement and Wrap

Episode Mentions
Power with Purpose Book

EP. 220 Care Assist Pro: Built for Today's Biblical Counselors W/Jeff & David Founders of Care Assist Pro Jul 17, 2026

Show notes

Michael interviews new exhibitor Dr. Jeffrey M. Kelly, a full-time biblical counselor and former church planter, and David Driskill, a veteran software developer and Care Assist Pro’s CTO, about their platform (careassist-pro.com). They explain that Care Assist Pro was built to address the shortage of soul care in local churches by reducing counseling roadblocks and increasing counselor confidence through secure, HIPAA-compliant tools such as note organization, encrypted communication, built-in video conferencing with transcripts, summaries, and AI-driven feedback on counseling skills over time. They emphasize AI is never the counselor but a tool with biblical guardrails, using a curated RAG knowledge base of about 800 documents (e.g., ACBC, CCF, ABC, Counseling Coalition) and features like notebooks, multilingual outputs, and training “personas” for seminary practicums and skill development.

00:00 Conference Introduction
01:02 Meet the Guests
01:16 Dr Kelly Background
01:48 David Driskill Tech Story
03:09 How Care Assist Began
05:49 Redemptive Use of AI
08:31 AI Training Practicum
11:19 Notebooks Language Features
15:30 Guardrails Not Replacement
19:58 Counselor Growth Analytics
23:57 Who Its For Pricing
26:50 Final Encouragement Wrap

Episode Mentions
Check out Care Assist Pro

EP. 219 Counseling Through Colossians: Living a Christ-Ruled Life W/Nathan Scroggins Jul 10, 2026

Show notes

Michael is joined with first-time guest Nathan “Jogging” Scroggins, who also highlights Soul Care Consulting International as an “operating system” for local-church discipleship along an intentional-to-intensive discipleship continuum. Nathan explains why Colossians is vital for resisting empty deceit and worldly philosophies and focuses on Colossians 3:15–4:6 about living a Christ-ruled life. Using a case study of Frank, a stressed 42-year-old project manager, husband, and father drifting into irritability and prayerlessness, they discuss counseling applications: letting Christ’s peace govern the heart, letting the Word of Christ dwell richly, cultivating thankfulness, restoring prayerful dependence, rebuilding Christlike relational patterns, and refining witness through speech.

00:00 Conference Welcome
00:55 Soul Care Consulting
03:22 Why Colossians Matters
05:12 Reading The Passage
07:31 Meet Frank Case Study
09:07 Peace Rules The Heart
20:01 Word Dwells Richly
25:51 Thankfulness And Practice
28:02 Counseling Frank Summary
33:25 Final Thanks And Wrap

Episode Mentions
Soul Care Consulting

EP. 218 Biblicare: Everything You Need to Run Your Counseling Ministry W/Founder Dr. Bob Olender Jul 03, 2026

Show notes

Michael interviews Bob from Biblicare about a church-focused counseling platform that supports the full counseling workflow from intake forms, scheduling, session notes, and homework to analysis, reporting, and ministry oversight. Bob shares his ministry and programming background, including work with a missions agency, and explains Biblicare’s origin after a seminary friend with a large church needed a system beyond spreadsheets to prevent counselees from slipping through the cracks. They discuss how Biblicare helps churches create structure, improve administration, and give pastors visibility into counseling activity, trends, and aggregate data for training and budgeting, while also providing ongoing onboarding, coaching, and proactive support as a family-run company.

00:00 Conference Intro
00:43 Meet Bob
01:51 Origin Story
03:39 Church Need Emerges
05:49 Family Built Company
07:29 Kingdom Infrastructure Vision
09:31 What Biblicare Does
10:55 Onboarding and Process Design
13:01 Oversight and Reporting
17:23 Crisis Support and Coaching
22:24 Cookie Factory Care
25:45 Final Advice and Contact
29:15 Wrap Up

Episode Mentions
Biblicare Software

EP. 217 Recognizing Bitterness: When Pain Turns to Resentment W/Author & Biblical Counselor Shannon McCoy Jun 29, 2026

Show notes

Michael interviews biblical counselor Shannon McCoy, who shares her current counseling season in South Carolina and her new role hosting shepherdpresspodcast.com. They discuss her emotions-track session on recognizing bitterness, defined as settled resentment formed when pain is rehearsed and judgment is retained rather than entrusted to God, drawing from Hebrews 12:15, Deuteronomy 29:18, James 3:14–15, and Acts 8:23. McCoy outlines a progression from pain to interpretation, judgment, and resentment, noting bitterness is often camouflaged as irritability and can defile individuals and communities. They emphasize a missing step between bitterness and forgiveness: lament, which includes honest complaint to God, repentance, and surrendering justice to Him, leading to peace, joy, and fruit-of-the-Spirit living even amid unresolved conflict.

00:00 Conference Welcome
00:58 Meet Shannon McCoy
01:22 New Season in Ministry
01:49 Podcast Hosting Adventures
02:54 Emotions Track Highlights
04:04 Why Bitterness Matters
04:48 Defining Bitterness Biblically
05:42 Calling Out Bitterness
07:05 From Bitterness to Forgiveness
08:10 Lament and Repentance
11:16 Bitterness Toward God
13:02 Surrendering Justice to God
13:32 Joy Versus Bitterness
14:29 Roots of Bitterness
15:32 Pain to Resentment Cycle
17:13 Family Estrangement Example
18:50 Bitterness Defiles the Heart
20:58 When Bitterness Turns Toxic
24:39 Flesh Versus Spirit Choice
26:34 Wrap Up and Next Steps

Episode Mentions
Shepherd Press Podcast W/Shannon

EP. 216 After Church Hurt: Rebuilding Healthy Churches W/Pastor Tim St. John Jun 19, 2026

Show notes

Michael interviews Tim St. John about his “Freedom in Christ” session, “Building Churches that Honor and Protect,” concluding a hidden abuse track focused on identifying abuse in churches and then rebuilding healthy culture. Using a termite-damage metaphor, St. John explains that removing abuse isn’t enough; churches must reinstall “beams” like sound theology of suffering and identity in Christ to promote healing and exalt Christ. He defines church hurt as unrepentant sin normalized or protected by leadership and describes three waves of pain: the direct wound, failure to address it, and loss of community. Discussing his book After Church Hurt, he addresses both sheep hurt and shepherd hurt, urges looking to Christ as the Good Shepherd, and offers practical steps including diagnosing what happened, seeking legal counsel when crimes are involved, finding experienced counseling, easing back into church, planning conversations, and evaluating church accountability and culture.

00:00 Conference Intro

00:41 Meet Tim St John

01:24 Workshop Overview

03:11 Church Hurt Defined

06:11 Three Waves of Pain

08:16 After Church Hurt Book

08:34 Sheep and Shepherd Hurt

11:30 Hope in the Good Shepherd

14:53 Practical Steps Forward

18:11 Closing and Resources

Episode Resources
After Church Hurt - Tim St. John

EP. 215 Mental Health and the Church Mini-Series: Bearing Burdens Without Burnout - Pastoral Counseling, Limits, and Getting Help W/Pastor Kevin Dau Jun 05, 2026

Show notes

Michael interviews Kevin Dau, pastor for discipleship and counseling at Hespeler Baptist Church in Cambridge, Ontario, and a practicum instructor for Heritage College and Seminary’s master’s level biblical counseling certificate. Dau contrasts professional counseling with pastoral counseling, where caring becomes more personal and multifaceted because counselees are also part of church life, increasing stress and highlighting human limits. Using Galatians 6:1–3, Exodus 18, and themes from Psalms, they discuss bearing one another’s burdens while watching for temptation, pride, and burnout, and the need for accountability, peer support, and sometimes personal counseling for counselors. They emphasize proactive self-care, ordinary means of grace, recognizing stress signals (affect and effectiveness), building a church culture of vulnerability, and regularly asking trusted observers what they see and acting on it.

00:00 Podcast intro and guest

00:59 Kevin ministry roles

02:10 Training counselors at Heritage

03:38 Pastoral burdens and stress

07:24 Needing care and counseling

12:00 Accountability for shepherds

18:12 Asking for help early

20:34 Stress and means of grace

24:55 Galatians warnings and humility

26:28 Practical steps and closing

EP. 214 Mental Health and Church Mini-Series: Resurrection Hope for Trauma – Hebrews 2 and the Light in the Darkness W/Jeemin Moon May 29, 2026

Show notes

Mike welcomes Jeemin Moon to discuss an eschatological perspective on mental health, trauma, and resurrection hope. Moon shares updates about directing the biblical care and counseling studies program at Heritage College and Seminary, implementing ABC Level One (Equip to Counsel) for fourth-year students, and completing PhD comprehensive exams at Southern Seminary while writing a dissertation on a biblical theology of shame and God’s covering. He explains why he taught on resurrection for a forthcoming book project, then reads Hebrews 2:5–18 and connects it to trauma, distinguishing traumatic events from being “traumatized,” and emphasizing Jesus’ resurrection ministry to sufferers. They encourage trauma sufferers to interpret painful narratives through Scripture’s meta-story, citing Isaiah 43 and Psalm 84 about God redeeming wilderness and valleys of tears into springs.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:22 Meet Jeemin Moon

01:26 PhD Work on Shame

03:01 Training Counselors at Heritage

05:07 Why Focus on Resurrection

06:06 Reading Hebrews Two

08:40 Trauma Defined Light and Darkness

11:40 Traumatic Events vs Traumatized

14:46 Resurrection Hope in the Valley

17:15 Redeeming the Past Story

19:56 Host Reflection and Encouragement

22:41 Final Thanks and Sendoff

EP. 213 Mental Health and the Church Mini-Series: Held But Not Yet Healed - Lament and Hope in Psalm 13 W/Biblical Counselor Alysia Whiteside May 22, 2026

Show notes

Recording on the road at the Canadian Biblical Counseling Coalition in Oakville, Ontario, Michael interviews biblical counselor Alysia Whiteside of Deep Roots Biblical Counseling. Whiteside shares her conversion in 2018, her interrupted plans to pursue medicine amid severe ulcerative colitis, multiple surgeries, and a permanent ileostomy, and how God redirected her into biblical counseling training and certifications. Her breakout topic, “Held But Not Yet Healed: Christ in the Midst of Physical and Mental Suffering,” frames chronic illness as “embodied suffering” that integrates physical, mental, and spiritual burdens and raises the question of who God is when healing does not come. Using Psalm 13, she explains a lament framework—turn, complain, ask, trust—leading to praise, emphasizing the “already but not yet” tension of hope amid suffering and encouraging sufferers and caregivers to write their own laments to rehearse God’s character and respond faithfully.

00:00 Welcome and Road Update
01:30 Meet Alysia Whiteside
02:26 Her Health Journey and Calling
04:30 Training and Narsegesis
06:14 Held But Not Yet Healed
06:34 Reading Psalm 13
08:29 Embodied Suffering and Hope
12:18 Lament Framework Explained
14:57 Trust and Gods Hesed
19:05 Counseling the Stuck
20:57 Write Your Own Lament
23:26 Singing Joy in Suffering
26:12 Encouragement for Chronic Pain
27:16 Final Thanks and Wrap Up

Episode Mentions
Deep Roots Biblical Counseling

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