Author: Michael Gembola

Gembola CCEF Outline 2021

Some years ago, working on church staff in a multiethnic church, I asked my pastor, “Can you help me get an idea of ways I can avoid putting my foot in my mouth?” He just smiled and said, “Oh, you will put your foot in your mouth.” Of course he was right. In a thousand…

Mike Emlet’s new book, Saints, Sufferers, and Sinners: Loving Others as God Loves Us, has just been released and is being featured in a series of podcasts you can access for free here. CCEF is also hosting a virtual conference for pastors that you can learn more about here.  Most of the BRCC staff has…

We recently posted a link to a limited-time, free article by Ed Welch from the Journal of Biblical Counseling, and in it he surveys three popular books on trauma and the body, and he engages them with thoughtful biblical reflections.  Today we want to share another limited-time, free resource, on a related topic, this time…

BRCC seeks to be a help and support to those doing church-based ministry, and especially pastoral and lay counselors who often serve on the front lines of bringing the Word of God into the problems of life. Earlier this year we launched our first distance consultation groups, and we have since grown to hosting three…

The current coronavirus pandemic has made many of our normal routines anything but normal. The children are doing schoolwork at home, and in addition to not having enough toilet paper (or perhaps having too much?), no doubt you’ve encountered some unexpected parenting challenges. As I’m sure you’ve experienced in other seasons of your walk with the…

For many of us, the novel coronavirus pandemic has brought significant anxiety. Some handle it well, and are taking advantage of some wonderful family time, togetherness, or getting caught up on things around the home. But sadly, for others, it can increase fear and present more danger. To those of you who are already suffering…

Christine Chappell has posted on the Hope and Help podcast an interview at this link with our director, Michael Gembola, on After an Affair: Pursuing Restoration.

Pastoral Care for Infidelity Handout Dec 4 2019 (1) Other resources: Brad Hambrick on marks of change, reasons to bring church discipline to an end: http://bradhambrick.com/churchdiscipline4/ Restoration plan dynamics, e.g., with Ted Haggard: The restoration plan http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/10/haggard.restoration/index.html Early efforts to revise plan https://www.denverpost.com/2007/08/29/haggards-plan-unacceptable/ Ending restoration plan https://abcnews.go.com/Business/ted-haggard-rebuilds-family-starts-church-leaving-sex/story?id=12566080 Minimizing sin, criticizing restoration plan https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704249004575385170843908594 The problem…

There’s a church not far from our Roanoke office that, from one vantage point, looks like it’s tucked at the bottom of Bent Mountain, and heading down 221 South it looks like a painting. I can’t get a picture that comes close to capturing it. Sometimes I drive out of my way to see the…