IABC Executive Board

Jeff Christianson, President

Jeff is a grateful husband; applauding dad of four; indebted worshiper; online course creator; and the blessed pastor of the remarkable folks at Calvary Glenwood. Jeff graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Calvary Chapel Bible College and a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Theology with Faith Evangelical Seminary.

Jeff Christianson, Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel in Glenwood Springs, Colorado is the current President of the International Association of Biblical Counselors. He serves as an online course creator and Dean of Biblical Counseling at Calvary Chapel University. Together with his team at Jeff Chrsitianson Ministries, he helps ministry leaders and pastors know Jesus and make him known through the sufficient resource of God’s word. All while equipping, training, discipling, coaching and certifying biblical counselors.

Every day we see leaders grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 2 Corinthians 3:5-6

Warren Lamb, Vice President

Pastor Lamb serves as a pastor, Bible teacher, Biblical counselor, author, and theology professor. Experienced in counseling a broad spectrum of troubles, he specializes with survivors of trauma and abuse, abandonment and neglect, domestic oppression and violence, kidnapping and sex-trafficking, and kidnapping. He also works extensively with the sexually broken, including those struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction. He provides specialized training for churches, including shepherding churches through the aftermath of a leader’s moral failure.

His passion? “Discipleship: helping people understand the nature and character of God so that they can fully live as Christ intended for them to live.”

A frequent keynote and workshop presenter at conferences, Warren serves as director of IABC Training Center Truth in Love Biblical Counseling & Training Center (formerly Vancouver Bible Institute in Vancouver, WA). He also serves as director and Lead Counselor at Truth in Love Biblical Counseling & Training Center, and as Lead Teaching Elder at Truth in Love Fellowship.

He and his wife Connie relocated to Orange County, CA, in 2017, so he now personally ministers in both Washington and in California. The current goal is to establish an IABC Training Center in Orange County.

Howard Eyrich

Dr. Eyrich graduated from Bob Jones University with a BA degree. Following graduation he married Pamela Clark who graduated with him. They started married life with Pam working for General Motors while he pursued graduate work at Faith Theological Seminary. During those first three years they shared a youth ministry on the staff of Bethel Chapel in Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania.
Following graduation they moved to Atlanta, Georgia Pamela was employed in the Legislative Counsel’s office of the state of Georgia. Dr. Eyrich worked in a steel fabricating facility as a welder and a supervisor. They took this year to build relationships with Pam’s family during her brother’s senior year in high school.
The next year they moved to Dallas where Dr. Eyrich completed a ThM in Theology. His thesis subject was The Theological Presuppositions of Situation Ethics. Colonial Hills Baptist Church under the leadership of Dr. Paul R. VanGorder then called Dr. Eyrich as minister of Youth and Education.
After only two years in this role, the Lord opened his first teaching post at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, PA. Next the Lord led Calvary Fellowship Church in Exton, PA to call Dr. Eyrich as Church Planter and Founding Pastor. He continued in this post for the next seven years during which time he also earned the Doctor of Ministry degree from Western Seminary. His research led to the writing of Three to Get Ready.
In addition to church planting, Dr. Eyrich began his journey into the fledgling field of Biblical Counseling which eventuated in spending the next five years working on the staff of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation as Counselor and Director of Curriculum Development.
Dr. Jim Bair then invited him to join him at Granada Presbyterian Church in Miami to provide counseling services for the church.  After four years, an unexpected opportunity to have a sabbatical and study gerontology at the University of Georgia took the Eyrichs back to Georgia. The sabbatical resulted in the book, The Art of Aging and an invitation to join the faculty of Covenant Theological Seminary as Assistant Professor of Practical Theology. During his tenure at Covenant he founded the Biblical Counseling and Educational Center in St Louis where Pam become his Administrative Assistant.
After eight years in St Louis, they moved to Alabama where he was senior pastor of a PCA congregation and began teaching at Birmingham Theological Seminary where he became president in 2000 serving for the next five years. He currently is Minster of Counseling at Briarwood Presbyterian Church and Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program in Biblical Counseling.
Dr. Eyrich and Pam have two children and eight grandchildren. Their daughter is married to a PCA pastor and their son co-owns a landscape architectural firm.

Kevin Carson

Kevin grew up in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the son of a pastor and often says “it has been my privilege to have lived my entire life in and around church.” In 1990 Kevin moved to Springfield, Missouri to attend Baptist Bible College. There he met his wife Kelly and was married in 1994. Shortly thereafter, he started working as the senior adult pastor at Cherry Street Baptist Church. It was in that ministry where Kelly and Kevin first started talking about planting a church. They are thrilled God brought a team together with them to start Sonrise in 2002.

The hope is that this blog will serve as an encouragement to you and a challenge to walk in godliness. We are committed to walking together through life as friends in Christ sharing wisdom along the journey.

“What a thrill to serve Christ and the fellow members of Sonrise
in the beautiful Ozarks.”

Biography

Kevin Carson is the Pastor of the Sonrise Baptist Church in Ozark, Missouri (www.sonrisebaptist.com). In addition to his pastoral ministry, he serves as the department chair of biblical counseling at the Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri (www.gobbc.edu). He also serves as a counselor at Sonrise Biblical Counseling Ministry, is ACBC Certified, IABC Certified, a council member of the Biblical Counseling Coalition, author, and is a frequent speaker at conferences, retreats and seminars. He and his wife, Kelly, have four children.

You can follow him on Twitter at @pastorkevinc.

Bill Hines

Bill Hines, B.A. Political Science, M.A. Religion, M.A. Counseling, D.Min. Biblical Counseling is the President of Covenant Ministries, Inc., a biblical counseling and education ministry in Ft. Worth, TX. Bill is the author of: Leaving Yesterday Behind; Curing the Heart (with Howard Eyrich, D.Min.); Homework CD for Biblical Counseling, (with Howard Eyrich, D.Min.); Paul the Counselor (with Mark Shaw, contributing editors), The Pursuit of Perfection (with Mark Shaw) and numerous articles on the Christian life. A frequent speaker in the U.S. and abroad Bill serves as team member with The Addiction Connection (TAC: www.theaddictionconnection.org) and is a Commissioned Addictions Biblical Counselor. An ordained Minister of the Gospel of Christ. Bill and his wife, Kathy, have five children and seven grandchildren & reside in Ft. Worth, Texas.

Bill’s greatest desire is to help people consistently exchange the worship of self for the worship of God to increasingly grow as followers of Christ to the glory of God.

Virginia Stewart, Secretary

Virginia Stewart, PhD in Biblical Counseling, is one of the first females in the nation to become a certified biblical counselor. Having counseled biblically for over 30 years. she now leads HOPE Ministries, an extension of Christ Presbyterian Church, PCA, Nashville, TN where she also teaches IABC certified training courses.

 Virginia has a passion for the multiplication ministry, as well as individual and family discipleship and training. This passion has been fueled by watching the Lord transform her own life, as well as others’ lives through Christ-centered ministry in marriage, family, and individual issues, such as conflict resolution, anger, depression, anorexia, fear, anxiety, grief, etc.

As the Leader of HOPE Ministries, she counsels biblically and teaches IABC training courses. She is the former director of HOPE Biblical Counseling & Training Center, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Fort Myers, FL.

Virginia is certified by IABC and ACBC. She received a Biblical Counseling certificate from the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF) and received her PhD in Biblical Counseling from Trinity Theological Seminary, Newburgh, Indiana.

Alden Laird, Treasurer

Mark Hager

Joe Propri

Joe is the founder and director of the Biblical Counseling Institute. He has been ACBC certified since 1980 and IABC certified since 2009. Joe has developed numerous seminars on various topics of personal, familial, and marital concerns, as well as courses on counseling training for Prison and Jail Workers, and a two-year course of training for Elders. He has had articles on counseling published in the Journal of Pastoral Practice and is the author of The Peace and Joy Principle (Focus Publishing). Joe hosted the Transforming Lives radio program from 2006 thru 2010. He frequently speaks at retreats and conferences. Joe served as senior pastor of Covenant Bible Fellowship for over 25 years. He and Debbie, married since 1969, have four children and five grandchildren.