Welcome to Speak The Truth, a podcast devoted to giving biblical truth for educating, equipping, and encouraging the individual and local church in counseling and discipleship. Hello. Hello. Hello. Nothing, Pete?

Oh, six years. Hey, everyone. We're back with another episode of Speak The Truth, and I've got Pete Potloff with us because we're gonna introduce another track for the Called Counsel Conference in 2026. I got Pete with us. Pete, how are doing?

Man, it's so good to be here and to be back with you. I'm so glad every time you guys come to the Pacific Northwest, man, it just it feels like you're family. So it's great to have you here.

Yeah. It feels like it because it's actually true. It's like it's a reliable emotion.

It is.

I It is feel because yes. It is. It's joy filled. It's all the right emotions you want to have when we come. It is very nostalgic for us as we were just talking about before we hit the record button is 2019, the first year we came here Mhmm.

Was the first year we started to speak the truth. So I think we were like five or six episodes in before I got to bring all my gear. We were in a little storage closet, think at the time.

We were, yeah.

Salem Heights has come a long way. It's still under construction though. It is, yeah.

God has been doing a lot of stuff. And we're hoping to even this room that we're you start some renovations to this building here.

Yeah. Was this pastor Justin's I actually, 2019, I think I sat in this office and Justin Yeah. When Justin had all these bookshelves filled with Yeah.

Books. So we've since moved our ministry offices, our pastor offices over to our main building, and this is gonna become our counseling center. We're just final few permits come in and we get to start the remodel process hopefully in January. And this can be a great space for our biblical counseling ministry.

As a matter of fact, where we're sitting directly behind us is something where a lot of training could be happening.

Yeah, we're hoping to develop that land behind us. It's a last parcel of our lot here, but we're gonna build a, Lord willing, a training center here in the next couple of years that's just gonna be for multiple ministries. Biblical counseling is one the main That's

very sweet. Pete, thank you for being with us. And so obviously, this Bonus Episode, we wanna introduce this track. And Pete is gonna be the track leader for Counseling Through Colossians, which is a new track. Yeah.

Pete, you wanna tell us a little bit about this track, brother?

Yeah. So Shana called me and said that they were wanting to add a track where we could walk through a whole book of the Bible, and be able to show folks how to counsel a variety of different issues through a text and not have it be just a topical series, but to be able to work from start to finish over a book. And so she asked if I'd be interested in leading that. And I said, absolutely. And so we discussed some of the books we could possibly do and we landed on Colossians, a great four chapter letter in the New Testament.

Yep. And we're gonna be working through that and really hopefully kind of building on that foundation that we see in another New Testament letter of second Timothy, where Paul is charging Timothy to study, to prepare himself, to be able to rightly handle God's word. And so we're hoping people walk away with that ability.

Yeah, that's really good. So who are gonna be some of the track speakers?

Yeah, when Shauna told me some of the people she was hoping to set me up with, I'm like, I think they should be track leader because these are some of the people that as I started coming to the National Conference started to not just appreciate, but have been able to build some relationships with us. We have Lee Lewis is gonna join this track, Jonathan Holmes and Nathan Scroggins. And these are men who are doing biblical counseling and all over the country, Texas, Ohio, Indiana. I'm here in Oregon. And so we've already been meeting, we've already been planning.

And I'm really excited because all have a little bit of a different background and a different ministry that we're doing biblical counseling in. And so I think the people in this track are gonna be able to see four different approaches to the same letter. So it's gonna be a great diversity in what they're exposed to and some of the ways that we can handle God's word rightly.

Yeah. That's really good. And you guys are gonna be moving through the text expositionally to your point. This isn't gonna be topical teachings from the letter of Colossians. It's drawing from the text and how it would be applied to care carefully.

Absolutely. And one of the things I wanna make sure people know is that this isn't gonna just be eight sermons on Colossians. We're really going to be trying to exegete some of the big ideas, talk about the variety of different things we could potentially use that text to counsel towards. Yep. We're gonna have case studies.

So we're gonna have individual case studies for each workshop session where these fictional stories or real stories where we're changing out the names are gonna be presented, and we're gonna show how we would use that section of Colossians to counsel that specific issue. And then we're also gonna be suggesting certain homework activities that we could assign following that type of meeting. And so again, you're gonna see four men be able to show how they would use it, comes to the top of mind. So it's very practical, very much how to counsel the word of God, not just how to exegete it and learn what it's saying.

Yeah, that's really cool because it really at least functionally follows how our counseling through books are structured. Right? And but just I hope you all are picking up what he's putting down. That's gonna be really huge. So like in real time kind of work through what it would look like to counsel through Colossians with the counseling.

And then the fact that you guys are gonna have case studies to go along with that particular text is huge. And so I just wanna walk through maybe a little bit of these these particular lessons that are gonna be spoken of. Like Pete mentioned, you're gonna be doing counseling through scripture, second Timothy two fifteen. And then Lee, he's gonna be focusing on preeminence of Christ in Colossians. And then Jonathan Holmes, he's been in many different tracks.

I got to teach with him earlier, one of the previous tracks that we did, was talk about feeling like the underdog. I don't belong here. Right. Yeah, that was a that was an honor. But he's gonna be focusing on the gift of Godly wisdom.

And then alive in Christ, Nathan Scroggins, avoiding legalism. That's gonna be huge because there's a lot of that obviously. And then Pete, you wanna just mention the rest of these?

Hopefully you can see where there is already a variety in the topics that Paul is addressing to the Colossian churches. And these are just some of the natural breakdowns in the letter. But then we're gonna pick up in chapter three talking about that renewed mindset. Yep. And some of those put off and put ons.

Lee's gonna talk about that. And then the Christ ruled life. So a lot of application because a lot of Colossians is what difference does Yep. Christ make as the preeminent one. Colossians one, that beautiful, it's the centrality of Christ.

Yep. He's above all things. But what difference does that make? And so that's really, I think, the key distinction in this track is what all biblical counselors, whether they are experienced or brand new, are hoping to be able to do, which is I can take God's word, and I can not just teach what it says, but help connect it to real life. So I hope people walk away going, man, I could actually take the whole book of Colossians and counsel from it.

Yeah, you guys are gonna that's gonna be nice. Colossians three, because that that that is the premier text for a biblical paradigm of put off, put on. Yeah. So that's gonna be great. Who would you recommend attend this track?

I've given a lot of thought to that because I think it's gonna obviously appeal to people who are maybe newer to biblical counseling

Yeah.

Who are trying to understand how do you take passages of scripture and then walk slowly through them. Not just speak them over people, but help a person through asking good questions, making good connections, and then assigning things for them to do outside of that. But I think it's actually for everyone. I think I would encourage, if you've come to this conference for many years, there's a good chance you've taken a lot of the content. You've probably been counseling all the content.

I think I would invite you to come and potentially consider taking this track to be fed, but not just to be preached at, to be just reminded of just the diversity of approach that we can take. God's word is not only sufficient, but God's spirit can equip us to take the same passage and apply it to a very unique situation. And I think you're gonna leave reinvigorated that God's word is still active and qualified. So I really think it's for everyone. And I hope we see a great attendance here in this first year.

Yeah. I'm really excited for this particular new track because I wanna see additional tracks of counseling through another other books of the Bible. Yeah. And so we're really excited about this one. Pete, thank you for taking the lead on this, man.

We know you'll do great.

The Lord will do great through us, but I'm really excited to be Yeah. Invited to be a part of it.

Meaning you'll do great because you love what you do. Right? Love much of Christ.

Amen.

Yes. Yes. And so with that, guys, again, the show notes, I would encourage you to go register. Pete, thank you You're welcome. For sharing that track with us.

We look forward to it. Thank you guys for listening. We can't wait to see you at the twenty twenty six Called to Counsel Conference.