2024 COUNSELING CONFERENCE
COUNSELING WITH HUMBLE CONFIDENCE
JANUARY 19
6:30pm - 9:00pm
JANUARY 20
9:00am - 2:00pm
SPEAKER BIOS
JOSH DAGGETT | Living Waters Fellowship
I grew up in a Christian home but was not a Christian. I came to Christ dramatically, through a series of events that exposed my fear of death and worship of self. Since Jesus became my Lord and Savior, He has led me into ministry and I love communicating God's Word to people. I serve as lead and preaching pastor at Living Waters. I help lead the church through preaching and evangelism.
TREVOR MEERS | Lakeside Fellowship
Trevor serves as Pastor of Equipping and Ministry Development at Lakeside Fellowship in Polk City where he oversees adult education, small groups and missions. He preaches and teaches regularly, along with counseling and discipling. Trevor professed faith in Christ in first grade but truly began living in submission to God after he studied apologetics as an adult and saw overseas missionaries in action. Trevor spent years as a magazine editor and marketer before God used the story of the Rich Young Ruler to call him to seminary and full-time ministry. Trevor and his wife, Teri, have two adult daughters and an 18-month-old granddaughter who literally may be the cutest kid on Earth. Trevor enjoys blowing money in bookstores, overanalyzing movies and roaming the outdoors with a backpack or kayak
MEREDITH JACKSON | Saylorville Church
Meredith is the Director of Women’s Counseling at Saylorville Church. She put her faith in Jesus as a child after hearing the Gospel in a small church in upstate New York. Meredith and her husband, Jason, met in college and served in local church youth ministry for many years before joining the Saylorville family in 2016. In August of 2013, after twelve years of fertility treatments, God blessed Jason and Meredith with their son – Judah Madison. Judah is an absolute gift and a wonderful blessing for the Jacksons. Meredith’s heart is for women to love Jesus, apply God’s Word to their lives, and find their identity in Christ.
JAYSSON GURWELL | Redeemer Church
Pastor redeemer church in Winterset, Ia. Jaysson has been involved in Pastoral Counseling for 12 years. He and his wife, Leah, have been married for 27 years and have four children.
DIANNE DE CLEENE | New City Church
Dianne De Cleene (MABS, Faith Baptist Theological Seminary; ACBC certified 2008) is a member of New City Church, Ankeny, Iowa, where she serves in Women’s Ministry and counseling. Her husband, Chuck De Cleene, is the Pastor of Evangelism at New City, where they have served since the church was planted in 2019.
ADAM BEECHER | New City Church
Adam grew up in West Bend, Iowa. At age 14, he asked God to forgive him of his sins and committed to follow Christ for the rest of his life. He married his wife, Gina, while he was at the University of Iowa studying Film and Journalism. His aspiration was to be a famous filmmaker, which took Adam and Gina out to New York City for a couple of years. He did not become famous. Instead, they moved back to Iowa where God was working in Adam’s heart and gave him a passion to teach kids about the same Jesus that saved him when he was younger. He went on to earn a Master’s degree through Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Today, he’s the lead pastor at New City Church and lives in Ankeny with Gina and their 3 kids, Luke, Benjamin, and Noel.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
What's So Hard About Humility?
Josh Daggett
What's so hard about humility? Everything! Humility is the most essential quality a Christian can develop and yet this quality often gets minimized and pushed aside as life zooms by. God loves humility and hates pride... so why is it so hard to cultivate what we know God loves and values? In this breakout session, we will dig into the pitfalls of pride as well as look at how to practically cultivate humility in our lives.
7 Ways Pride Sneaks Up On You
Trevor Meers
We usually can’t stop noticing prideful behavior in others. (Could that person possibly brag about themselves any more on social?!) But how do we shine a bright light on our own hearts to spot pride infections before they grow? This session highlights common ways that self-centered thinking sneaks in—and often poses as something that we’re actually…well…proud of.
Blessing From the Lord or the Curse of the Woman?
Meredith Jackson
How do you react when someone tells you to submit? Do you bristle at the thought or do you look forward to the opportunity? Submission has almost become a dirty word in our culture today. But could it be that we’ve gotten it wrong? Together, let’s take a look at what the Bible says about God’s intention for submission in a woman’s life.
The Holy Spirit and Counseling – the Source of Our Confidence.
Jaysson Gurwell
This break-out session will focus on how we can allow the Holy Spirit to work through us in our counseling sessions. To find balance in being prepared and having a plan while trusting the Spirit to lead and guide us as counselors. Trusting the Spirit of God to help us to get to the root of sin and to give us the life-giving Words of the hope of the Gospel.
Help, Hope & Humble Confidence in Hebrews
Dianne De Cleene
As biblical counselors, we all know Hebrews 4:12 and are confident in the power of the God’s Word, but have we considered this verse in its context and connected it with the verses that follow? How we as counselors respond when the Scriptures expose our hearts? How do we help a counselee who says she doesn’t like reading the Word of God because it makes her feel worse? In our time together will look at this passage to find specific ways that God’s Word both humbles us and draws us to the Source of our confidence as counselors and counselees.
The Cross: The Counselor's Only Boast
Adam Beecher
When it comes to boasting, the bible only gives us one option: the cross. The proud counselee must stop boasting outside of the cross, the timid counselee must start boasting in the cross, and the counselor is only qualified to help through the cross. This session will examine how the power of the gospel can be used in the counseling room.