In 1977, Pastor Bill Goode and Dr. Bob Smith began Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries as a ministry of the church in an effort to evangelize the lost and to disciple believers who lives were full of troubles and difficulties. Thankfully, they did not allow facility challenges to get in the way. They simply began in the basement of church.
People came, not because the facilities were glorious in those days, but because people were genuinely changing and getting the help they so desperately needed. While the facilities are nicer today and while we have far more counselors now than we did in 1977, the reason people come is the same. The Lord has changed lives.
At the same time, Pastor Goode and Dr. Smith had an interest in training others knowing that the need for this kind of ministry was far too great for them to meet alone. Thus, a conference began in the hopes of training others to use the Scriptures to point people to the life changing power of Jesus.
Today, that training is offered around the country through the Biblical Counseling Training Conference and our Monday training program.
Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries continues today with a very similar mission: (1) provide excellent biblical counseling to anyone who wants it free of charge and (2) provide excellent training to help equip others to counsel those in their churches and communities.
Our Locations and Hours
Common Questions
Yes. It is true that the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC) once had their offices at our church and it is also true that Bill Goode (former Senior Pastor at Faith – now with the Lord) served as a president of ACBC. However, FBCM and ACBC have always been separate organizations. Technically speaking, ACBC is a certifying organization that does counseling training, whereas FBCM is a counseling and counseling training center under the guidance of Faith Church.
NANC/ACBC accepts our Monday Training Course and Track 1 in our Biblical Counseling Training Conference as part of the process to be ACBC certified. For more information on ACBC certification, please visit www.biblicalcounseling.com.
Yes. In 2013 the board officially decided to rename the organization to help demonstrate that it was an international organization (as opposed to one that ministered only in the States), to show the organization’s purpose (certifying), and to remove a word that some found confusing (nouthetic).
The counseling ministry at Faith Church originated with Pastor Bill Goode and Dr. Bob Smith. It is amazing that some 30 years later Dr. Bob Smith is still actively involved in training the next generation of biblical counselors.