Refreshing Those Who Minister

Important New Information

This expands the ability of the ministry to reach more people in need. Jerry will be glad to work with any pastor, church staff, or congregation member that you may wish to refer. Please call our office at 919-783-6075 if you have any questions or if you would like to set up an appointment. We are looking forward to serving you and helping to build God’s kingdom together.

The Four C's

Pastoral Counseling Available

Counseling Services expanded.

Latest BWM Newsletter Available

BWM Adds Counseling Intern

Sharon Merrill is serving Biblical Wellness Ministries in the capacity as an intern to fulfill requirements toward her master of arts in Christian counseling. She has pursued training in the helping profession as a result of her own healing and in order to serve the Lord in the church and the community. She senses a call from God to walk along the healing journey with women.

Sharon has a heart to facilitate healing in relationships and in personal struggles. Her areas of interest are early childhood development, trauma, sexual abuse, addictions, and domestic struggles. She has an interest in working with women, couples, families, and children. Her hours will be 12 noon to 4:00pm on Wednesdays.

She is currently teaching chemistry at Durham Tech and tutoring students in science. She has taught science to students and coached a creative thinking team. She has homeschooled a combination of her children for 10 years.

She is working towards or holds these degrees:

Grace Church, Chapel Hill, NC, Counselor June 2005- November 2005 Supervisor: Dr. Stephen Bennett, Ph.D., Center for Family and Psychological Services

Sharon and her husband, Ray, have been married for 35 years. They have discovered that they both enjoy going to a favorite Mexican restaurant to unwind from the stresses of the week. Their 4 children ranging in ages from 29 - 21 are all launched and making a go of it. She and Ray are members of Grace Church in Chapel Hill, NC. She has been active in facilitating and participating in women's growth groups, discipling relationships, and prayer teams.

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     Biblical Wellness 20th Anniversary Banquet
    

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Jerry's Musings

When we look at Market Place Ministry there are ministries that focus on serving Christian Owned Companies, there are others that focus on building small groups of Christian Managers, there are Corporate Chaplins, and then there are evangelistic efforts in the Market Place or Work Place.

So what is Market Place Ministry? Well first we need to recognize that the people in our churches are part of the Market Place. These people represent anyone that holds a job, owns a company, buys from someone else, or sells products or services. Consequently, the market place consists of virtually everyone in our congregations with the exception of children and perhaps those who have retired. But the Market Place is not the church; it is what happens outside the church the other six days.

Unfortunately, many of us have bought into the idea that we serve God at church and then live the rest of the week in a secular world. Separation of Church and State is supreme and that means that we don’t allow the Spiritual to touch our work. This concept actually started with the early Catholic Church which was divided into clergy and laymen. The clergy, priests, nuns, and monks served God. Everyone else earned income so that they could support the church. The church was supreme and everything else was 2nd class.

During the Protestant reformation, Martin Luther recognized the fallacy of this thinking and pointed out that every job was a vocation and that we were all called to serve our fellowman in different ways. Each job or role was sacred if we had been called by God to serve others in that capacity. What a revolutionary idea! Yet today we still have difficulty embracing this concept.

The reality is that God has gifted each of us for the purpose of serving him and serving our fellow man. We are accountable to God for our use of those gifts. Now I don’t know a pastor who doesn’t agree with this, but I also don’t know many pastors who really understand the pressures the average person faces. A pastor friend of mine says that he is tired of pastors complaining about how hard their job is: the average layperson can’t take time for personal matters; they work 40 or more hours a week and then come to church. Then the church adds more pressure to the layperson to put time and energy into the church. What would happen if the church put in time and energy helping the lay person succeed in the work or life? Rather than draining the life out of them, what if we gave life to them. What if we spent time understanding their challenges and finding ways to serve them? That is market place ministry.

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