HEALING HEARTS MINISTRIES
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Coming Alongside the Local Church with Biblical Tools, Practical Training, and Gospel Hope.
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by Allan Miller, Executive Director
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Over the years, we’ve been deeply encouraged by the way pastors have described Healing Hearts as we’ve come alongside them in the work of shepherding Christ’s Church. Perhaps the greatest compliment we’ve ever received came after one pastor met a Healing Hearts counselor and said,
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“Oh… I’ve heard about your ministry. You’re the pastor’s friend.”
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That simple description has stayed with us.
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We have never wanted to replace the ministry of the local church. Our desire has always been to strengthen it—coming alongside pastors and faithful church members with practical biblical tools that help hurting people experience the hope of the gospel.
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Over the past several weeks, I’ve had the privilege of sitting down with three pastors from different parts of the country to hear how God is using Healing Hearts within their churches. Their churches are very different, yet each conversation revealed the same heartbeat: a desire to faithfully shepherd God’s people and raise up more believers to care for one another.
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Although each pastor told a different story, together they answered an important question:
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Why would a pastor call Healing Hearts “a friend”?
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When One Pastor Can’t Meet Every Need
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Pastor Ray Cruz of Godspeak Calvary Chapel has watched the counseling needs within his church steadily increase. Like many pastors, he realized that faithfully caring for every hurting person could not rest on one shepherd alone.
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Instead of asking how he could simply counsel more people himself, he began praying that God would raise up more laborers.
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Healing Hearts became one answer to that prayer—not by replacing pastoral ministry, but by preparing trusted church members to minister alongside it.
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“The more people that get trained… the more people we can help.”
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Pastor Ray’s testimony reminds us that healthy churches don’t merely grow in attendance; they grow in faithful servants who are prepared to walk alongside hurting people.
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Equipping Ordinary Believers
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Pastor Jasper Swaney of Summit Church described a different challenge.
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His church was filled with people who genuinely wanted to help hurting friends and family members, yet many lacked the confidence to know where to begin.
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Pastor Jasper longed for a practical way to prepare willing believers to begin serving faithfully. As he prayed about that need, one burden kept returning:
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“God, there has to be a way for people to feel equipped to help people in the church.”
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When Summit began using Healing Hearts studies, Pastor Jasper noticed something changing almost immediately.
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“I’m now seeing a lack of fear. They’re now confidently saying, ‘I can take someone through this.’”
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Strengthening a Culture of Discipleship
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Pastor James Leinneweber of Rebecca Creek Baptist Church approached Healing Hearts from yet another perspective.
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For years, his church has intentionally built a culture where every believer is encouraged to grow and eventually disciple someone else.
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“We really wanted to be more purposeful about it,” he explained.
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To Pastor James, biblical counseling isn’t separate from discipleship.
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“Counseling is really discipleship.”
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As his wife, Kori, leads women through Healing Hearts studies and trains additional leaders, he sees the ministry fitting naturally into the disciple-making vision God has already given their church.
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Reflecting on what he has witnessed so far, Pastor James said Healing Hearts brings:
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“An equipping and empowering that builds confidence in those who counsel or disciple others.”
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Three Pastors. One Shared Prayer.
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As I reflected on these conversations, one truth stood out.
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What struck me wasn’t that these pastors all discovered Healing Hearts. It was that they were all praying remarkably similar prayers long before they ever knew our ministry existed.
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- They were praying for more laborers.
- They were praying for more disciples.
- They were praying for faithful believers who could help shepherd God’s flock.
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Long before they ever heard of Healing Hearts, God had already placed those burdens on their hearts. Our privilege has simply been to come alongside what He was already doing.
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That, to me, is what it means to be a friend to pastors.
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🐑 Pray for pastors to continue to faithfully shepherd God’s people, even as they often carry burdens that few others ever see.
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✝️ Pray for churches to continue raising up compassionate, biblically grounded disciple-makers who can walk alongside hurting people with God’s Word.
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✈️ Pray for the Answers for Pastors Conference where Healing Hearts will be exhibiting Sept. 29th–Oct. 1st. Ask the Lord to connect us with pastors and ministry leaders searching for practical ways to strengthen biblical counseling and discipleship within their churches.
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If this story encouraged you, would you consider forwarding this newsletter to your pastor—or to another pastor you know? You never know how God might use one simple email to begin a conversation. It may be exactly the encouragement they need, or the resource they’ve been praying God would provide.
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And if the Lord leads you to give, your partnership makes conversations like these possible. Gifts to our Go & Grow Fund help introduce pastors to Healing Hearts through conferences like Answers for Pastors, where many discover our ministry for the very first time. General Fund gifts provide the day-to-day foundation that allows us to offer scholarships, train leaders, encourage churches, develop new resources, and faithfully respond as God opens new doors.
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If Healing Hearts has become a friend to pastors, it is because faithful friends like you have been sending us. Every church represented in these stories—and every life now being touched through those ministries—has been strengthened because you chose to pray, give, and stand with us.
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These conversations left me profoundly encouraged. Hearing three pastors from different parts of the country independently describe the same heart for shepherding God’s people reminded me that Christ is faithfully building His Church.
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What a joy it is to partner with you in the good work of encouraging pastors, strengthening churches, and helping more people experience the hope of the gospel.
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Equipping the Church Together,
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Allan Miller
Executive Director
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“Gospel-centered, grace-driven healing… One heart at a time.”
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