Jordan Williams

I recently wrote a dissertation on OCD from a biblical counseling perspective to help our counseling movement better understand this experience and to advance the discussion on how we might better address those who suffer with OCD from a more holistic--and biblically faithful--approach. If anyone is interested, Southern Seminary has made my dissertation open access. You can view and download it for free at this link: repository.sbts.edu/handle/10392/7… #BibleCn #OCD

@BlakeJRatliff Hmmm, never read it. It’s an older book I believe. Where did you get introduced to the book?

@JordanStoryline Self Confrontation

Paging Biblical Counselors: I was asked a difficult question today and would love to hear from you: What is ONE book you would recommend to someone considering getting seminary-level training in biblical counseling? Not asking for a textbook-level book with tons of pages, but something easy to read and inspiring.

@rikmaxedon @gospelcareco Interesting! Not very familiar but I know of the author.

@JordanStoryline @gospelcareco Leading with a Limp.

@JoeySmith920084 Adams! going with an OG track!

@JordanStoryline The book and the man that started it all. The modern biblical counseling movement that is.

@nocoradio A great book!!

@JordanStoryline Proverbs

@jared_poulton @HanoverPressLL @LondonLyceum Nice! Congrats, Dr. Poulton!!!

👀 #comingsoon @HanoverPressLL @LondonLyceum

@JohnLBulger That’s certainly vital to faithful biblical counseling!

@JordanStoryline Study and know the Word of God!

@jasonkovacs That’s what Chessa picked!

@JordanStoryline Mike Emlet's 'Saints, Sufferers, and Sinners' is excellent!

I love this clip of @WesleyLHuff on the @ShawnRyanShow. Best news you’ll hear all day.

Looking forward to teaching my first class at Gateway this semester!

Protesting should never involve traumatizing children in a church. When fear and harm are involved, it’s no longer protest - it’s intimidation and even domestic terrorism. Lord, have mercy!

We're one month out from the Life & Godliness conference hosted at Gateway Seminary in Ontario, California. We'd love to have you join us! gs.edu/event/24260241…

Before my father passed, we began working together on 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑊𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐵𝑦-a project exploring the seven cultural narratives that shape how we think about identity, freedom, and meaning. Finishing it has been both meaningful and challenging. We wrote it for people asking whether the stories our culture tells us actually work, and how the Christian story enters and completes them. It comes out later this year. -Michael Keller buff.ly/PLILmvF

@pastordemer @BobKellemen @TDaleJohnson @jasonkovacs @acbc Gotcha! Yes, I've had some wonderful experiences with both groups. And while I'm no longer ACBC certified, I am grateful the Church is blessed with so many resources through the "the alphabet soup" of biblical counseling ministries (ABC/ACBC/CCEF/BCC/ETC.).

@JordanStoryline @BobKellemen @TDaleJohnson @jasonkovacs @acbc Sure thing. I wasn't meaning to imply you were on the "other side." I meant to refer to you and Gateway as the 3rd party host and that there are people on the "other side" that can meet there with folks with ACBC. And I see your ACBC and ABC associations as an advantage!

The folks at @ACBC recently put out the Fall 2025 volume of the Journal of Biblical Soul Care. This latest edition covers the clinically informed biblical counseling movement, generational trauma, and the role of common grace. I want to briefly correct a few mischaracterizations that appear in the article. In Greg Gifford’s article, “I’m a Biblically-Informed Psychologist”: Is Clinically-Informed Biblical Counseling Really Just Integrationism?" he asserts that I am not a biblical counselor, that I “implement secular psychological methods”, and he places Gospel Care Collective on an integration continuum based on our supposed amenability to secular psychology. Here are a few clarifications: 1. I do not use the term CIBC or claim to formally be “CIBC”. I use the terms “gospel-centered, clinically-informed, church-based, mission-focused” to define my model of Biblical Counseling. It just gets a little awkward and cumbersome to say I’m a GCCICBMFBC. I believe the order is important and in my brief writings I have been very clear as to what is foundational. The gospel and the Person of Christ (His Word and His work) are the source and authority by which my philosophy and practice/methods of Biblical counseling is built from. This is contrary to Gifford’s claim that “CIBC undoubtedly uses the Bible, but not as the source of counseling.” 2. The article assumes that I use secular psychological methods. In reality, I pursue learning from those with expertise in fields like trauma, child development, and neuroscience because common grace means unbelievers can observe true things about God’s world. Some of my training I received working in the adoption/foster care field where we observe some of the most devastating impacts of trauma and suffering on embodied souls. I do not adopt common grace observations uncritically - they drive me back to Scripture to assess, refine, or reject them. When appropriate, I may utilize certain evidence-based techniques or interventions, but always re-adapted and subordinated to a biblical framework and methodology that keeps God’s Word as the interpretive authority and engine of change. 3. I view Scripture as the comprehensive lens that defines what a human being is, what has gone wrong, how change happens, and what real health looks like. The article argues that what we are doing is essentially integrationism or close enough to it that we should just be honest and admit that is what we really are. This is a loaded term within the BC world and in practice it is an approach that typically 1) grants psychology interpretive authority 2) uses Scripture as a supplement, and 3) mixes competing worldviews. What we are doing is the opposite of integrationism as I define it here. 5. The critique is based entirely on a paragraph from my website and my bio and not any of my teaching or actual counseling approach. Nothing in the article demonstrates that I (or GCC) give secular theory authority to explain or change the human heart. Any tool we find helpful is subordinated to and corroborates the sufficiency of Scripture - not blended into a new authority structure. I recognize that using resources in this way can be misunderstood as supplementing or competing with Scripture. This is a risk. I agree with Gifford that when secular theories become co-interpreters of the soul, the result is confusion and harm because the counsel offered no longer flows from the authority of God’s Word. 6. The Church has always used common-grace wisdom in care. Puritans recognized medicine, habits, and community as part of embodied soul care while still holding Scripture as the exclusive and sufficient authority for understanding human nature, sin, and redemption. I view my approach to biblical counseling as following in this historic Reformed stream as well as in the footsteps of David Powlison (see in particular his article “Cure of Souls (and the Modern Psychotherapies”) I welcome rigorous critique - and even disagreement - but hope future interaction will represent the actual substance of my beliefs and practice. These, along with others issues in this journal, are important and I am grateful they are being discussed.

@pastordemer @BobKellemen @TDaleJohnson @jasonkovacs @acbc I wouldn’t say I’m on the other side. I’ve been ACBC certified in the past and have benefited greatly from so many who have been involved with ACBC. Nonetheless, it’d be wonderful to have any and all leaders from the major bc orgs representing and participating in a summit.

@JordanStoryline @BobKellemen @TDaleJohnson @jasonkovacs @acbc That's great, Jordan! So now have a venue. That's progress! Are there major voices on the ACBC side willing to join Jordan and folks on the "other side" in making this conciliation summit happen? With a venue offered, perhaps Bob you could "re-extend" an invite to certain folks?

@BobKellemen @pastordemer @TDaleJohnson @jasonkovacs @acbc I would be happy to support a conciliation summit in any way I can. If Gateway Seminary's Southern California campus could serve as a "common ground" meeting space, I'd be glad to continue the conversation. Please feel free to email me at jordanwilliams@gs.edu

@pastordemer @TDaleJohnson @jasonkovacs @acbc Wow! I LOVE the idea of public streaming a BC conciliation summit.

@Seth_Troutt There are lots of good churches in Louisville! I went to and recommend sovereign Grace church of louisville @SGCLouisville

I am in Louisville. Where should I go to church tomorrow?

@MissJilianne @UNICEF

Poor child has idiots for parents. x.com/TeslaClubWorld…

@IvankaTrump Encounters with Jesus by Timothy Keller

As I begin my reading list for the year ahead, I would love for you to share your recommendations! 🦉📚✨

📚 Here are some books that shaped my 2025: Each one shifted my perspective, some softly, others profoundly. Some I return to again and again, not just for insight, but for alignment.

Join us this February in so cal! Registration is open! bcmw.breezechms.com/form/LGC2026-G…