Purpose Statement | Counselor Information | Dr. Don Dunlap | What We Believe

Dr. Debbi Dunlap

Family Counseling Ministries Welcomes You!

Dr. Debbi Dunlap is a respected Christian counselor and a popular women’s ministry speaker. A graduate of Florida State University, Debbi did Master’s work at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Doctoral work at Master’s Graduate School of Divinity.

Debbi has authored 11 books aimed at helping people counsel more competently with God’s all-sufficient Word. She is deeply committed to investing in women the authoritative, life-changing truths of Scripture.

Debbi and her late husband, Dr. Don Dunlap, were married for 30 years, and are the parents of ten children. She and her seven younger children live in Jacksonville, Florida, where she is the director of four counseling offices.

Background Information on Co-Founder: Dr. Debbi Dunlap

Dr. Debbi Dunlap came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ when she was 16 years old. After graduating from Florida State University, Debbi did Master’s work at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Doctoral work at Master’s Graduate School of Divinity. She has experience working in Youth Ministry, Missions, and Women’s Ministries, and has studied under the leadership of such outstanding men of faith as Dr. Jay Adams, Dr. Howard Hendricks, and Pastor Peter Lord.

Dr. Dunlap is a women’s ministry speaker and author, having authored 11 books aimed at helping people counsel more effectively with God’s all-sufficient Word. She is deeply committed to investing in others the authoritative, life-changing truths of Scripture.

Colossians 3:16 commands us, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing one another, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” This verse accurately describes the character and heart of Dr. Dunlap, who speaks, not only from a defining knowledge of God’s Word, but out of personal experiences that provide immense insights into the varied issues people face in their daily lives.

Dr. Dunlap is a highly respected and sought after Christian counselor. She was married for 30 years to the late Dr. Don Dunlap, a prominent biblical counselor and father of their ten children. Debbi is the Director of four counseling centers located in Madison and Jacksonville, Florida.

Her desire to encourage and help others apply God’s Word to their daily walk is clearly projected through her distinctive gift of teaching. A vivacious “wordsmith,” Debbi paints a beautiful canopy of Truth as it applies to the many women’s issues she is qualified to address. Her candor and wit draw listeners in for a close encounter with God’s Spirit as she connects with their inner thoughts and needs. The uncanny way she identifies with women’s hearts helps them hear clear steps of wise direction that lead to a vital change of beliefs, attitudes, and behavior.

Have you ever faced a dark moment when you thought you just couldn’t go any further? A time when you knew that you were at the bottom of the barrel and if you didn’t find help soon you would go over the cliff? Perhaps you suspected God was trying to get your attention but you just couldn’t quite get clarity on the situation? Countless individuals who have reached this point have found help in Dr. Dunlap’s counseling and speaking ministry.

As Proverbs 19:21-22 reminds us, “Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter end. There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.” We also note the truth of Proverbs 11:4, “Where no counsel is the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” Many women have remarked, after hearing Dr. Dunlap speak, that their lives have been forever changed by the insightful depth of truth she so clearly presents.

Debbi Dunlap will entertain you with her wisdom, warmth, charm, humor, and her accomplished musical talents. Her friendly smile and energetic, outgoing personality will hold fast your interest and touch you to the depths of your soul. Yet it is her passion for Christ that will challenge you and ignite within you the desire to live a more godly life.

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(written by Dr. Sylvia Tomberlin)

Background Information on Key Founder: Dr. Don Dunlap

Dr. Donald A. Dunlap, former Senior Editor for Counseling and a feature writer on counseling and family for the Christianity.com Network, conducted over twenty thousand counseling appointments during his ministerial career. He was a leading Pastoral Counselor and a pioneer in the placement of Pastoral Counselors in the offices of Christian physicians. As founder and director of Family Physician Partners, he established offices in South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

Dr. Dunlap was President of Family Life Association for Ministry and Education and personally trained and supervised over 100 Pastoral Counselors through his internship program. He conducted many Family Life Conferences, Parent Training Seminars and Marriage Enrichment Retreats. He also served as the Director of Family Counseling Ministries with headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida.

Dr. Dunlap held an undergraduate degree in Child Development from Florida State University, and a Master’s Degree in Education and Theology (specializing in Marriage and Family Counseling) from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Luther Rice Seminary.

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A Personal Testimony from the Late Don Dunlap

I became a Christian in high school through the outreach ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.  I was immediately challenged to begin the process of personal evangelism, discipleship and ministry equipping.  Within a few months of my sixteenth birthday, I came to believe that I should prepare for pastoral ministry.

After completing my undergraduate degree I attended Seminary in order to become equipped with the necessary knowledge, resources, and skills to effectively minister God’s Word in pastoral work.  During my final year at Seminary, Debbi and I were married.

Like many young men, I came to marriage thoroughly unprepared for the responsibilities I had assumed.  Although my wife and I were both committed Christians, neither of us possessed a very clear understanding of how to apply the Scriptures to our daily lives.  Soon after we were married we began to experience significant conflict.  Unresolved bitterness and resentment began to surface dramatically.  The conflict culminated in near-divorce.

Throughout the course of our marriage we have experienced the consequences of the absence of a strong biblical foundation in our formative Christian years.  Our problems continued to intensify and in the end, I was unfaithful to my wife. Only by God’s grace and the loving intervention of godly counselors, was my marriage salvaged. 

I often express to counselees that I wish I could sit before them on the basis of a successful life, marriage and ministry.  Such, however, is not the case.  The truth of the matter is, I sit before them with a message of failure and weakness.  Praise His name that He is a God who makes Himself strong in our weakness.  Where there was brokenness and humiliation, He provided forgiveness and restoration.  My greatest hope lies in the Scripture that promises, “God comforts us in our troubles so that we can comfort others with the comfort we have received.” 

I know the pain and heartbreak of a difficult marriage.  And I know the miracle of God granting beauty for ashes.  He has given Debbi and me success in our marriage relationship as we have cried out to Him for help, sought godly mentors and became accountable.

For the past several years I have met weekly with group of Christian men.  I have submitted my life, my marriage and my ministry to their scrutiny and their prayerful support.  I thank God for their consistent and continual encouragement. 

The ministry of Dr. Howard Hendricks has significantly impacted my life.  His life and his teaching ministry have given me a blueprint for how to be the spiritual head of my home, how to love and cherish my wife, and how to raise my children in a godly manner.

I remain in the debt of Dr. Jay Adams.  His books have provided the theological basis for my ongoing counseling ministry.  His life and mentoring provided the example of a loving, nurturing pastor, for which my family and I are profoundly grateful.

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Theological Statement

 

The only complete statement of faith is contained in the whole of Scripture. Listed below is a summary of the major truths we consider vital to the work of Biblical Counseling Ministries.

1.      We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the Word of God in its totality and that it is the only inerrant, infallible rule of faith and practice for every believer.

2.      We believe that there is but one God, who is the Maker, preserver, and Ruler of all things, infinitely perfect in all ways, and fully worthy of our highest love, reverence, and obedience.

3.      We believe that God is personal, and He reveals Himself as the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is the witness of the Scriptures, confirmed in Christian experience, that the God Who creates and sustains us is the God Who redeems us in Christ, and the God Who works in our hearts as the Holy Spirit; and we believe that this threefold revelation manifests the true nature of God.

4.      We believe that God, from eternity, decrees or permits all things that come to pass, and perpetually upholds, directs and governs all creatures, and all events; yet so as not in any way to be the author or approver of sin, nor to destroy the responsibility of man.

5.      Election is God's eternal choice of some persons into everlasting life with Him- not because of their own merit, but of Christ's mercy for them - by which choice they are called, justified, and glorified.

6.      We believe that every man is a sinner and condemned in the sight of God and deserves eternal hell.

7.      We believe in the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God Who was crucified for our sins and buried and rose again for our justification; we believe He ascended bodily into heaven and is coming again.  He is: the only mediator between fallen man and God; the Prophet, Priest, and King of the Church; and Sovereign Lord of the universe.

8.      Regeneration is a work of God's free and special grace in which the Holy Spirit changes the hearts of those who have been forgiven of their sins, enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly so that they may understand the Word of God, and practice His will in love and holiness as a new creation.

9.      We believe that repentance is an evangelical grace wherein a person, being by the Holy Spirit made aware of the manifold evil of his sin, humbles himself for it with Godly sorrow, detestation of it, and self-abhorrence, and with a purpose and endeavor to walk with God, so as to please Him in all things.

10.  We believe that saving faith is the belief, on God's authority, of whatsoever is revealed in His Word concerning Christ; accepting and resting upon Him alone for justification, sanctification and eternal life. It is wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit, and is accompanied by all other saving graces, and leads to a life of holiness.

11.  Justification is an act of God's grace, by which He fully acquits us from all sin- not by any merit of our own works- but by faith in Jesus Christ, who has satisfied the just penalty for sin.  

12.  Those who have been regenerated are also sanctified, by God's word and Spirit dwelling in them.  By supplying His grace and strength, those who have come to saving faith in Jesus Christ are conformed into the character and likeness of Christ, seeking to live a holy and heavenly life, and fully enabled to live in obedience to His will.

13.  Those whom God has accepted through His Son Jesus, and sanctified through the Holy Spirit, will never totally or finally fall away from salvation, but will persevere to the end through his abiding and unchanging grace.

14.  We believe Jesus to be the head of the Church, which is made up of all born-again believers in Him throughout the ages. As the body of Christ, the Church as led by the Holy Spirit, is the instrument through which God continues to proclaim and apply the benefits of His redemptive work and to establish His Kingdom.

15.  We believe that baptism in water and in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus which is obligatory for every believer. This water baptism is a sign of his fellowship with the death and resurrection of Christ, of the remission of sins and of his giving himself up to God to live and walk in a newness of life. This ordinance shall be a prerequisite to church membership.

16.  The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance commanded by Jesus Christ in which we eat unleavened bread and wine in remembrance of Him. Such observance shall continue among His Church until the end of the World. This is in no sense a sacrifice but designed to commemorate His death with the intent of confirming the faith as a bond, pledge and renewal of the believer’s communion with him and of their church fellowship.

17.  The Lord's day , or Sabbath, the first day of the week, in which Christians are to commemorate the Lord's Resurrection by keeping the day holy with public worship, private devotion, and rest.

18.  We believe in liberty of conscience in which God alone is Lord of the conscience; and he has left us free from the doctrines or commandments of men, which are in any way contrary to His word, or not contained in it. Civil magistrates ordained by God are subject to all lawful things commanded by man and man is to yield to such commandments in the Lord, not in wrath, but for conscience sake.

19.  After death the bodies of men return to dust; the spirits of righteous men return immediately to God to rest with Him. The wicked man shall be reserved under darkness to the judgment. At the last day the bodies of all the dead, both just and unjust, will be raised.

20.  God has appointed a day wherein He will judge the world by Jesus Christ and when everyone shall receive glory according to their deeds. The wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment. The righteous shall enter into everlasting life.

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