Many who have had the opportunity to engage with true Biblical counseling have had the same privilege as Rod and Mary Huber in watching the glory of God be made known throughout the nations as new Christian ministry leaders are trained in wise and compassionate soul care. The Hubers have served with Overseas Instruction in Counseling (OIC) for over ten years now, witnessing the growth of OIC through many different phases.
Rod and Mary’s story begins later in life as Rod considered missions work after retiring from his senior pastoral position. Rod had felt compelled to help young pastors around the world grow and learn how to best shepherd their flock using the years of experience he had as a pastor.
Rod started his ministry with OIC in the Philippines using its Church Leadership Training modular program (CLT) for biblical counseling training. Attendance at these modules grew until there was a biblical counseling certifying organization in the country that could continue to expand on its own. As this developed, the Lord opened the door to involvement by other pastors who also needed training and so the OIC modular training program continued to flourish.
Soon the Hubers began to travel to Central America where they set up several training programs that are still currently actively training pastors and other church leaders in biblical counseling. These programs are completely self-supporting.
During their time on the field, Rod and Mary have seen the hand of God actively at work both in their own lives and in the lives of the people around them. The Hubers rejoice in the fruit of their labors when they see the harvest growing in areas of the world that were lacking in true biblical soul care. Mary recounted a story from a recent interview where a pastor had told them he had been waiting for five years for OIC to move into their country to provide adequate training for the pastors in his area. Although it took five years for this to be initiated, OIC has now completed all four modules of the CLT program in his area of the country and moved on to another area to begin new modules. Mary commented, “It’s gratifying to see God’s provision and the answer to the prayers of the pastors there.” Rod agreed with his wife in saying, “It’s similar to the Macedonian call to the Apostle Paul to come help them. It has just been so gratifying to be an answer to prayers of the saints in this type of ministry, in biblical counseling training.”
Another benefit Rod and Mary have enjoyed experiencing on the field is the deep and intimate relationships with biblical counseling trainers and other Christian ministers on the field that have continued to grow now that they are stateside. As Mary noted, “That is the beautiful thing with God’s people, you meet them and it is as if you have just seen them the day before.” The Lord is abundantly worthy of glory and so it has been an abiding encouragement to Rod and Mary to watch him use OIC to bring the reality of such relationships to churches around the world through biblical counseling training.
In a personal reflection, Rod said that working overseas with OIC has helped broaden his understanding of what it looks like to live out the gospel in everyday life as a Christian. He shared, “It has caused me to love Christ more and to love the gospel more. It has caused me to just appreciate the grace of God, what he has offered us as believers in our daily lives.” Rod recounts how this has been proven in his own personal life in areas of struggles and hardships, where the gospel has been proven sufficient. Through deep and meaningful friendships, commitment to the merciful and powerful Lord God, and the pouring out of their lives into the lives of others, Rod and Mary have much to look back on and be thankful for as the Lord has richly blessed them in their ministry and personal life. “To Him and Him alone be the glory!”
The profitable labors of Rod and Mary are also evident to OIC team members and other Christian workers who are following them, traveling to places in which the Hubers have set foundational steps. Without the faithful work of the Hubers, many places throughout Central America would not have faithful Christian leaders learning true biblical soul care.
And the Hubers strive to see biblical counseling trainers in the countries they have served take responsibility for training others to be biblical counseling trainers. One strategic objective in some places is to see development of nation-specific or region-specific biblical counseling organizations being accomplished. As Mary emphasized, OIC takes biblical counseling around the world to train trainers in biblical counseling so that those people can begin to train their own people in biblical soul care.
The Hubers have taken monumental steps for OIC over the last decade and they continue to look to God to prosper their work for the multiplying training of biblical counseling trainers and disciple makers for years to come. As you are in prayer with and for OIC, we would ask you to remember the work of the Hubers and the Lord’s grace in answer to the burden of Rod and Mary’s hearts to see the church return to the sufficiency of Scripture and a deep understanding of the essence and beauty of the gospel so that Christ might be glorified in churches around the world.
*Central America map image from freeworldmaps.net
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