Open Letter to the Austin Stone Counseling Center team
This week we plan to have our final meeting with the Austin Stone Counseling Center team. Here is the letter we sent prior to resigning my roles as Biblical Counselors. I hope this letter is a blessing to you as you walk the journey of ministry that God has for you.
To the amazing Austin Stone Counseling team:
Some of you may have heard that we took a break from our roles as Elder and Deacon with Austin Stone’s Northwest Congregation to better hear from the Holy Spirit as to what might be next for us. With this we realized that God is calling us away from the Austin Stone Counseling Center.
We feel called to do something different with our remaining time in ministry. “Gospel good-byes” are often not easy, but we believe that God is initiating this move and that is confirmed by us being unified in the timing. We are now in our mid-to-late sixties. We want to continue to remain faithful in our roles as biblical counselors. Amidst all of this, we feel that God is doing what God does. He has, for the last 8+ years, trained us up well at Austin Stone. We hope to continue to give away to others all that we have received. And for that we are grateful.
We have loved, loved, loved all that we have come to learn from the Austin Stone Counseling Center team. Nothing could replace the wealth of experience we have received and the number of relationships we have gained as a result. We cannot express the level of gratitude we have for each of you as we have co-labored together for so many years. We are so encouraged by your willingness to give others biblical insights that point them to their Savior and their God. You have each blessed us as we have watched you do this for those you counsel.
This is a time where real sadness and real gratitude intersect.
What's next for us:
We will be moving to a more full-time role at Burke Care focusing on discipleship care, equipping certification students with the Association of Biblical Counselors (ABC), and improving ease of access to solid, biblical counseling resources. Discipleship Care using biblical counseling has been on our hearts since we were first introduced to the Equipped to Counsel material in 2007.
We are planning to provide discipleship care to male and female adults, couples, and families. Burke Care will also continue to provide ABC Level 1 and Level 2 mentoring to certification students with Jim supervising Level 2 students through the certification process. Jim plans to continue in his role with ABC as the Training Center and Student Relations Advisor for Certification.
Website: www.burkecare.org or even more simply www.burke.care
Email: donna@burkecare.org and jim@burkecare.org
New Office Location: Burke Care is 100% online, virtual discipleship care reaching North America and overseas.
Our transition schedule:
November 8th-30th: Final weeks of seeing counselees online.
December: Finalizing the move and taking extended time off for Christmas.
January 1, 2024 – fully transition to Burke Care
We hope to be able to attend one final staff member in November to say good-bye virtually. We are so thankful for all the many ways God has grown us and blessed us through the Austin Stone.
We are also very thankful and encouraged by each of you and the work you are doing to share the Gospel with others in your daily endeavors.
In Christ, Jim and Donna Burke
