Short Version
Brad serves as the Pastor of Counseling at The Summit Church in Durham, NC. He also serves as an Assistant Professor of Biblical Counseling at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, a council member of the Biblical Counseling Coalition, has authored several books including Angry with God: An Honest Journey through Suffering and Betrayal, and served as general editor for the Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused (churchcares.com) project. (full list of publications)
How does my church or organization schedule for Brad to come speak? Thank you for asking. This brief 2 page document overviews the most common FAQ’s about my speaking schedule and provide the next steps in the scheduling process.
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Longer / Narrative Version
My story is like the mingling of Jayber Crow (Wendell Berry) with Hillbilly Elegy (J.D. Vance). Growing up in a small farming community in the Mississippi River bottoms of western Kentucky, there were as many cows as people and it was (and still is) a thirty-minute drive to the nearest McDonald’s. My younger brother and I spent much of our time fishing or exploring the multi-acre woods behind our house and the rest tossing a baseball in the back yard.
I came to faith as a 9 year old. While I didn’t understand much more than I was a sinner and that Jesus died for my sins, the simple truths of the gospel were enough to change my heart and change the course of my life.
After high school, I attended Union University; my first intentional step towards a call to vocational ministry. While in college, the opportunity to serve as Middle School Youth Director / Director of Urban Outreach at Calvary Baptist Church helped confirmed this calling.
During my final year at Union, on a second blind date with the same young lady, I began dating the woman who would be my wife. Sallie and I moved to Wake Forest, North Carolina to attend Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) where I completed an M.Div in Biblical Counseling and a Th.M. in applied theology.
We left SEBTS for Crossroads Counseling in Augusta, Georgia with one general goal – to learn how many ways biblical counseling could effectively benefit and serve with the life and mission of the local church. This was a challenging and rich eight years of ministry. During this time four core conviction began to emerge that define my approach to counseling:
(1) the necessity of the gospel,
(2) the centrality of the local church,
(3) the primacy and finality of Scripture, and
(4) a balanced perspective on how the gospel speaks to both sin and suffering.
These are the central tenants of what I strive for the resource at bradhambrick.com to uphold.
Then in January 2011 our family moved back to Raleigh-Durham, NC when I accepted a position as Pastor of Counseling at The Summit Church (TSC) and Instructor of Biblical Counseling at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In 2012 TSC helped launch Bridgehaven Counseling Associates, a parachurch ministry to expand the scope of care for our members and our community.
In recent year, the desire to find ways for counseling serve the mission of the church has taken the form of the Church-Based Counseling series with New Growth Press.
Brad Hambrick, Th.M., Ed.D.
Pastor of Counseling, The Summit Church (www.summitrdu.com)
Assistant Professor of Biblical Counseling, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (www.sebts.edu)
Council Member of The Biblical Counseling Coalition (www.biblicalcounselingcoalition.org)