We are so excited to tell you about this! Our 2019 furlough was undoubtedly the most profitable time away we have ever had. One of the things that we felt very strongly while we were in the US was that the Lord was drawing us towards some new life goals in terms of ministry and education. We both have felt led to seek out master’s programs in counseling. We are heavenly burdened for the following three areas of ministry:
- Counseling and Pastoral help for missionaries on the field -We hope to be able to offer empathetic counsel to missionaries and their families by incorporating our experiences of having “been there” through some of the joys and trials associated with missions. We have seen first-hand how few resources are available for missionaries during times of crisis and trauma, emotional upheaval, spiritual battle, and the challenge of raising a family on the field.
- Marriages – Both of us grew up in homes with troubled marriages and because we’ve seen the phenomenal stress that missionary service can have on couples, we hurt for marriages in the body of Christ. God has mercifully brought us through our own struggles in marriage, so we understand intimately that good biblical counsel for marriages is an area of great need! Our burden for counseling is therefore primarily focused in marriage and family therapy.
- Addiction and Abuse recovery – Because our lives have been affected by the realities of these two tragic words, recovery and abuse will forever be very close to our hearts. Helping people recover will always be one of the largest burdens that we carry. If the trials that the Lord has carried us through can help someone else, then God can get glory from difficult things, which is what we want more than all else.
We’ve sought the counsel and the approval of the authorities that God has placed over us and our ministry at Loma de Luz as well as our sending agency, Christian Health Service Corps. They have both affirmed that they also see this as God’s calling for us and have given us permission to take courses online as we continue our commitment here in Honduras with Loma de Luz. We’ve researched a number of programs and have settled on the online Masters of Pastoral Counseling (Marriage and Family Therapy focus) at Liberty University. We are excited to tell you that we start online classes in January, 2020! We hope that we will be done at the conclusion of the spring semester, 2021. We both are so excited and encouraged to begin studying and learning how Pastoral Counseling can be used through us for God’s glory.
Those who want to join with us in this endeavor might consider the following sponsoring options:
- A semester for one $2750 or both $5500 of us
- One class will cost roughly $915
- One semester hour will cost about $305
- Books look like they will cost about $200 per semester
- The full Master’s degree will cost $11,000 for one or $22,000 for both
Here are some ways to partner with us through Christian Health Service Corps:
- Text “fields” to 71777
- https://app.mobilecause.com/vf/fields
- Donations can be sent by mail to: Christian Health Service Corps PO Box 132 Fruitvale, TX 75127
- https://www.healthservicecorps.org/author/fields/
