Fall 2004
The INNERLIFE
A Publication of the
Pastoral Counseling Centers of Tennessee, Inc.
Partners in Caring Since 1985
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Saying Goodbye
by: Dr. James R. Coffman, Executive Director
Eric Berne wrote a book entitled What Do You Say After You Say Hello? I have recently thought someone should write the book on what one says before saying goodbye. Reflecting on my journey between my “hello” in August 1985 and my "goodbye" in September 2004, I remember that every story has a beginning, middle, and end.
My story with the Pastoral Counseling & Consultation Centers of Tennessee, Inc. begins with Liston Mills' introduction to the Steering Committee and Board of Directors of the Vine Street Education and Counseling Services in the spring of 1985. Mills was Professor of Pastoral Theology and Counseling at Vanderbilt Divinity School and a CPE supervisor and consultant at the V.A. Medical Center. Vine Street Christian Church had conducted a long-range planning study in 1983 and saw needs for a counseling ministry. Dan Moseley, Vine Street's minister, had experiences of excellent pastoral counseling support in his former church and consulted with Liston about starting such a service in Nashville. Liston said that many had talked with him about starting a pastoral counseling ministry, but no one had been willing to pay the price. Vine Street Christian Church and Moseley were serious. The founding Board of Directors decided our mission would be to provide pastoral counseling without regard for counselees' capacity to pay the cost for care (we adjust fees based on need), to provide life enrichment events in congregations, and to provide pastoral care and counseling training. We have remained faithful to this mission.
These events were only the start of a long middle in ministry. For nineteen years Vine Street Church has hosted our main center, under girding our services without costs to the ministry for space and utilities. Generous host congregations now do this in each of our locations; they are Clarksville's First Christian Church, Brentwood's Episcopal Church of the Advent, Franklin's St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and Murfreesboro's First Baptist Church. Two gracious members of Hendersonville's First United Methodist Church have hosted the North Center throughout its ministry. These churches, and more than 125 others, have supported us through these years and embraced an ecumenical mission of outreach to persons struggling with the vicissitudes of living in the natural world. In the beginning pastors like Westminster Presbyterian's K.C. Ptomey, Brentwood United Methodist's Joe Pennel, First Presbyterian's Bill Bryant, St. Henry Catholic's Bill Bevington, West End United Methodist's Russ Montfort came to our side and helped us establish this ministry by making referrals and leading their congregations to provide mission support. In 1987-1988 Clarksville's First Presbyterian's George Gracey came to dialog with us about starting a satellite with a wonderfully dependable group of churches in Clarksville. The Clarksville congregations' conversation was our beginning to create access to our services in other religious communities. Wise board members have come to us from our congregations, including five outstanding board presidents: Edward H. Cole, Liston O. Mills, William V. Parsons, Jr., David L. Tuleen, and James N. Stansell, Jr.
In the middle, an excellent group of colleagues have carried the mission of our board and congregations into the everyday difficulties and mental health problems of tens of thousands of persons and families. If the meaning of Christ's parable of a shepherd leaving his herd to go after one sheep or a well-to do woman becoming single-mindedly focused on finding a lost coin includes giving attention to the struggling or wayward or alienated, our counselors have been superb representatives of Christ as listeners and change agents who offered support and celebrated the redemption of every soul who found her or his way through a great crisis that life presented. I give thanks for the lives and ministries of each of our staff members both clinical and support colleagues. Thank you. In the middle years we have provided more than 105,000 hours of counseling. Our counselees have paid an average counseling fee of $47.24. It now costs us about $90 per hour to provide our services. One-third of our counselees have been in low-income and poverty areas and we have charged minimal or no fees to commend our supporting congregations' attention to their needs. We have trained hundreds of pastoral care and counseling specialists, who serve in places all over the world. Many of our clinical training graduates are now teaching in prestigious seminaries, contributing to the ministries of the next generation of pastoral caregivers.
Special programming in recent years includes our managing an imaginative, collaborative CPE program, which provides between twenty and thirty thousand contacts with persons in health care crises each year. The Nashville CPE Partnership trains about 20 seminary and clergy students annually. Our Business Resource Center provides short-term care for hundreds of employees each year, we provided 1,500 sessions to this population in 2003. And through our Clinical Pastoral Therapist Training Program we served in six sister nonprofits over the last two years, providing pastoral counseling services to hundreds of individuals and families without costs, these nonprofits and our counselors worked with prisoners and their families, persons with problem pregnancies, the abused and abusers, and elderly persons in diverse circumstances. The middle has been full.
In this 20th year I come to the end of my ministry in this call. I have accepted a call to serve as Executive Director of the Samaritan Counseling Centers of the Mid-South in Memphis. Mary Kathryn and I plan to live on a family farm that has been in my family for scores of years. In ending this call, I look back and remember our relationships and work with profound appreciation. No deposit made in relationships of care is lost in God's great economy, and together we have made deposits that have permitted many to receive care during seasons of great need. I am grateful for your many contributions and for your holding our ministry in your care. My ending here is the occasion for another Executive Director to begin and to continue another part of our agency's story. With our excellent staff, our great Board of Directors, and our wonderful supporting congregations and partner institutions, the future looks bright for a mission of care to another 100,000 souls in the near term. An extraordinary search committee of our board has begun the work of finding our next leader. Contact Chrissa Jennings Walsh if you have recommendations.
In my benediction and goodbye, I remember you to God, who forgets no one and holds your and my life with the greatest love. Be of good courage; hold fast that which is good; render to no one evil for evil; strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak; help the afflicted; honor all; love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit. Amen.
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Development Doings
by Chrissa Jennings Walsh, Development Director
How do you say thank you to those who have done so much? Is it possible to do so without feeling inadequate in the attempt? People like Reverend Bob Abstein, St. George's Episcopal Church, Reverend K. C. Ptomey, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Charlotte Chaney, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Edward Cole and Patricia Cole, two of our Founding Board members, are so deserving and we honored them in style, September 18, 2004, at our annual Founders Banquet.
Next year marks the end of our 20th year. You won't want to miss this spectacular celebration. It's been said that “a picture is worth a thousand words” but I'd say these are priceless! Thank you again to those who do so much for the Pastoral Counseling Centers of Tennessee!
Once again, Father Patrick J. Kibby and the Cathedral of the Incarnation, provided the William J. Fleming Center as the backdrop for our event.
Fundraising Events take a lot of time and people to be successful, but nothing is more fulfilling than sharing time with those with whom we have a common cause. This was evident in the comments from those who attended and the smiles on their faces.
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SILENT AUCTION DONORS
Act I-Darkhorse Theatre
Actors Theatre, Louisville, KY
Adventure Science Center
American Artisan
Athens Distributing, Mr. Don White
Belle Meade Drugs
Belle Meade Plantation
Benedictine Bed and Breakfast, Chicago, IL
Berenice Denton Estate Sales
Blockbuster~Southern Stores
Brueggers Bagels
Brushfire Pottery
Carmike Cinema
Carol Weil, Artist
Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre
Chigger Ridge Bed and Breakfast~Pegram
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory
Cookie Bouquet
Cracker Barrel
Crystal's for Fine Gifts
Dalt's Grill
Dessert Designs
The Diamond Exchange
Favorite Recipes Press
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Foralora~Village Market Place
Gail Smithwick Art
Grand Ole Opry
Great American Opportunities
Hart Hardware
Helen's Children's Shop
Heritage Cleaners
Heritage House
Mr. John and Rev. Margaret Howell
Katy's Hallmark
Illusions Day Spa
Joe Horton Studio
Joy's Flowers
Keith and Cora Newcomb
Ken Williams
Kroger Stores
Laser Quest
LifeWay Christian Stores~Broadway location
Links Worldwide
Liquor World~Hickory Hollow
Maggie Tarpley
Marc Eaton Massage Therapy
Mary Kay Cosmetics~Alice Conner
Miss Kitty's Bed and Bath
Nashville Ballet
Nashville Chamber Orchestra
Nashville Opera Association
The Nashville Predators
Nashville Symphony
Nashville Zoo
Pat Bridges~Miniature Art
Phillips Toy Mart
Prince Market Research~Dan Prince
Rebeka Vaughn Lingerie
Regal Cinemas
Renaissance Center
Rudino's Pizza and Grinders
Second City & Second City, Etc., Chicago, IL
Sound Creations Recording Studio, Fran Kowalski
Southwest Airlines
Southwestern Book Company
St. Mary's Bookstore
Talbot's Kids
Tennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga, TN
Tennessee Titans
Uncle Bud's Catfish and Such
Wave Country
WSMV-Channel 4
Zanie's Comedy Club
TABLE SPONSORS
Abner Overdeer Foundation
St. George's Episcopal Church
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Westminster Presbyterian Church
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2004 FOUNDERS BANQUET COMMITTEE
Margot Deschenes, Chair
Mary Kathryn Coffman,
Bess Henderson, Audrey Jones,
Jane McDow, Jennie Mills,
Susan O'Neill, Marguerita Riggall,
Shirley Stansell, Maggie Tarpley
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CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS
October Clergy Appreciation Month 4 Free Depression Screening
Clarksville Center: 516 Madison St.
Noon-1:00 pm
Brentwood Center: 5501 Franklin Rd.
Noon-1:00 pm
6 Free Depression Screening
Murfreesboro Center: 129 E. Main St.
Noon-1:00 pm
7 Clarksville Center Fundraising Event
Madison Street United Methodist Church,
Clarksville, TN 6:30 pm-8:30 pm
16 Murfreesboro Center Fundraising Event,
Middle Tennessee Medical Center,
Murfreesboro, TN 10:00 am-11:00 am
17-24 Pastoral Care and Counseling Week
21 Board of Directors Meeting, 5:00 p.m.
28 Franklin Center Fundraising Event
First Presbyterian Church, Franklin, TN
11:30 am-12:30 pm
November
8 Clarksville Advisory Meeting, 7:00 am
11 Murfreesboro Advisory Meeting, 8:00 am
15 Franklin Advisory Meeting, Noon
18 North Advisory Meeting, 12:30 pm
23 Nashville CPE Partnership Board
Meeting, 8:30 am
December
7 PCCT Phonathon, 7:00 pm-9:00 pm
16 Board of Directors Meeting, 5:00 pm
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Fifty Friday Discussion Group to Focus on Domestic Violence
According to the Tennessee Association of Alcohol & Drug Abuse Services website (www.taadas.org), every 15 seconds a woman is battered in the United States by her husband, boyfriend, or live-in partner. Domestic Violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 to 44, more common than automobile accidents, muggings and rapes combined according to findings by the former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. Our Fifth Friday Discussion group on October 29th, 9:00 a.m.-Noon, will focus on this important issue. We will have with us representatives from the Davidson County Metro Police Department and from the Y.W.C.A. The officer and counselor from the police department will be talking about how metro police respond to domestic violence calls and what counseling services they offer. The representative from the Y.W.C.A. will be sharing about domestic violence and the services offered by the Y.W.C.A. Please join us for this informative morning.
Supporting congregations may attend for free. Others may reserve a space for $30 by calling Caroline McBride, 615-383-2115. Please join us 10/29/2004, 9:00 a.m.- Noon, at the Vine Street Center, 100 Vine Court, Nashville, Tennessee (Facilitator: Chris O'Rear, Pastoral Counselor). We look forward to a great morning.
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Archived Issues:
Summer 2004
Winter 2003: Nuturing
the Institution
Fall 2002
Summer 2002
Spring 2002
Winter 2002: Ethics In The Workplace
Fall 2001: Room for Laughter
Spring 2001: Suicide - A Loss of Hope
Winter 2001:
Helping
a Child Through Loss
Fall 2000: Adolescence
and Substance Abuse
Summer
2000: Hospitality, A Context for Care and Healing
Spring 2000: The
Cry of Anguish