What are my beliefs ?

This may be an odd question but I believe there is no more important question that can be asked of a therapist before you bear you soul. Whatever answers the therapist may give will be based on his or her own beliefs--and I am no exception.

Perhaps you noticed the M.Div after my name. That stands for Master of Divinity which is a degree granted by a seminary. In my case, it was a conservative Baptist seminary. I am a Christian and while I am far from fundamentalist, I am conservative. I believe in morality and honesty but more than that, I believe there is a God who is not some pantheistic New Age being who is anything you want him to be but rather a clearly defined being known by the scriptures and encountered through his Son, Jesus Christ.

Now don't panic. If you don't hold to this belief I am not going to preach to you. I won't even try to convert you. In fact, I usually don't even mention it unless a person might ask. I am not going to throw scriptures at you as if the Bible were some kind of band-aid and God were some kind of being existing only to make us feel good.

I went to seminary not to be a preacher but to be a counselor. I chose seminary for my training because I believe it is more important to be grounded in a world and life view that holds water, that makes sense and gives hope than to be indoctrinated in nothing but psychological philosophy. While knowing psychology is very important (as it gives a therapist competency), knowing my belief through and through gives meaning in life. When people see in me that I know more than intervention strategies, that I have hope, then they will have hope. The most important element I possess as a therapist is not what I know but who I am.

for a more detailed description of my theological stance, you my read my STATEMENT OF THEOLOGY It is a little technical. For more interesting reading, you may be interested in DEVOTIONAL READINGS, which are several sermons I preached in church.