To reach Covington County with the love of God in a practical way, Covington Baptist Association and Pathways Professional Counseling teamed up in the mid-2000s to offer counseling services at the associational office in Andalusia.
While Pathways has this same partnership with several associations, it is “one of the very few psychological and emotional help resources in Covington County,” said Otis Corbitt, Covington Association’s director of missions.
An extension of the association’s Christian Service Centers, three professional Pathways counselors (Tommy Smith, Alisha Lewis and Jen Napper) provide services on Mondays and Wednesdays during the day and on Tuesday afternoons, something an associational board member suggested so that clients don’t have to take off work or school in order to speak with a counselor.
Pathways is a ministry of the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries. Through the partnership Covington Association is able to “touch well more than 100 families a year through this ministry,” Corbitt said.
Prior to the Pathways partnership, the association has offered some sort of counseling services since the 1980s, Corbitt said, and an in-house counselor was on staff from 1998 to 2003.
The counseling service is a part of the association’s “ministry strategy pillar” and is a way to “bring the love of Christ and grace of God to people who are in need spiritually, relationally or emotionally,” Corbitt said.
“We’ve found that people are reluctant to bring up deep spiritual or emotional issues with their pastors. They want help but they really don’t want it to be with the church family. … So this fills the need for that. … It’s a vital part, although not seen, of our ministry. But counseling doesn’t need to be visible, it just needs to be effective.”
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