Sybrand de Swardt is Pastor of Lynnwood Baptist Church in Pretoria where he serves with Dr Mack, and is the Director of SMTI. Pastor Sybrand has completed his MA in Biblical Counselling from The Master’s University in Santa Clarita, California and is in the process of doing research for his PhD at the North West University. He has both taught extensively on counselling related issues at SMTI as well as done extensive counselling.

Jim Newheiser is currently the Director of the Christian Counselling Programme as well as the Associate Professor of Counselling and Practical Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is both a Certified Counsellor, Fellow, and Board Member for The Association of Certified Biblical Counsellors (ACBC). He is presently serving as a Council Board Member for The Biblical Counselling Coalition, and he was formerly a Board Member with the Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals.

Jim received his BA in Business Administration from Baylor University in Waco, Texas and then both his MA and D. Min from Westminster Seminary in Escondido, California.

Jim has served in the position of Pastor or Youth Leader/ Director at Grace Bible Church in Escondido, California, Calvary Covenant Church in Poway, California, International Christian Fellowship of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, Believers Chapel of Dallas, Texas and Central Baptist Church of Waco, Texas.

Jim’s teaching experience includes international training trips to Korea, India, Spain, Germany, Qatar, Oman, Nigeria, Mexico and the Philippines. He has served as a lecturer in preaching and assistant to the director of the D. Min program at Westminster Theological Seminary in California. Jim has served at the Institute for Biblical Counselling for 24 years and has been the director there for the past 12 years. Jim is an adjunct professor in the Biblical Counselling department at The Master’s University in California.

Jim has written or contributed to 16 publications including numerous books in the Help! Mini series through Shepherd Press, several books on parenting such as When Good Kids Make Bad Choices, You Never Stop Being a Parent, and Parenting is more than a Formula. His most recent work was published through P&R Publishing and is entitled Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage—Critical Questions and Answers. Jim has also contributed to The Journal of Biblical Counselling, The Journal of Modern Ministry, Men Counselling Men, Christ Centred Biblical Counselling and Biblical Counselling and the Church.

Jim has been married to his wife, Caroline, since 1979 and they have three adult children.

Nicolas Ellen is the Senior Pastor of Community of Faith Bible Church and a Professor of Biblical Counselling at the College of Biblical Studies, both in Houston, Texas. He has served in full time ministry as a Christian Education Director, Associate Pastor, Assistant Pastor, and Senior Pastor for the past 19 years also in the Houston, Texas area. He has developed a biblical counselling training center called Expository Counselling Center, LLC.

Dr Ellen received his BA in Business Administration from the University of Houston, Houston, Texas, his MA in Christian Education from Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas, his MA in Biblical Counselling from The Master’s College, Santa Clarita, California and a D. Min in Biblical Counselling from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky and he is also currently enrolled there as a PhD student in Biblical Counselling.

Dr Ellen is a certified Biblical Counsellor with the Association of Certified Biblical Counsellors (ACBC) and travels nationwide with the organisation teaching biblical counselling principles. In addition, he is also a Senior Member of the Biblical Counselling Framework Association. Dr Ellen teaches on a morning show called “Up With The Son” where he teaches various topics from God’s Word. Pastor Ellen has authored books such as Coming to Know and Walk with God, So You Want to Get Married, Happy Even After, Pursuing Godliness Through the Disciplines of the Christian Faith, With All Your Heart? Identifying and Dealing With Idolatrous Lust, Understanding and Developing a Biblical View of Life, Biblical Framework Counselling Basic Training Course, Marriage and Family Basic Training Course, The Dynamics of Biblical Counselling, Common Issues We Face in Life, Biblical Counselling Practicum, and Every Christian a Counsellor.

He and his wife, Venessa, have 2 children and 4 grandchildren.

Edward Wilde received his JD from the University of San Diego in San Diego, California and his MA in Biblical Counselling from The Master’s University in Santa Clarita, California. Edward has been a member of the bar since 1989 and a professor at The Master’s University since 2002.

He has been published in the Whittier Law Review, UCLA Entertainment Law Review, Intellectual Property Law Journal, and has written articles for the ABA, California State Bar Intellectual Property Bar Journal and The Los Angeles Daily Journal.

He has taught Theology, Doctrine of the Church, Discipleship in the Local Church, Essential Qualities of a Biblical Counsellor, Business Law and Introduction to Psychology.

Beth de Swardt has a MA in Biblical Counselling and worked in campus ministry for 5 years after receiving her degree. She also taught women’s ministry classes in the Biblical Counselling Department of The Master’s University for 9 years. For many years, she was involved in helping to lead the Women’s Ministry at Calvary Bible Church in Burbank, California. She came to South Africa in 2005 to work with a ministry helping children with the HIV. In all of these positions, she was actively involved in teaching, counselling and discipling women. She met the love of her life, Sybrand de Swardt, in South Africa and they have been married since January 2009. God has blessed them with one little girl, Carol-Marie and an adopted son, Thomas-Wayne. She is a member of Lynnwood Baptist Church where her husband pastors and she is actively involved in ministry there.

Glenn Dunn has been the Pastor at Cornerstone Bible Fellowship (CBF) in North Ridgeville, Ohio since 2004. Glenn has an BA in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations from Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio, a MA in Religious Education with an emphasis in Theological Studies from Grand Rapids Baptist Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan and he is currently pursuing a D. EdMin in Biblical Counselling through Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Glenn has been an ACBC Certified Biblical Counsellor since 2002. He is the Founder, Board Member and Instructor of the Biblical Counselling Institute (BCI) which was approved by ACBC in 2006 and established at CBF 2015. Glenn is also a plenary annual conference speaker, a workshop speaker and trainer of biblical counselling internationally in Trinidad, St. Lucia, Ukraine and Australia. He is a FIRE Executive Board Member (Fellowship of Reformed Evangelicals), FIRE Moderator, National and Regional FIRE Conference Speaker and GARBC National Conference Workshop Speaker. Glenn has been married for 27 years to his wife, Beth, and they have two children, Jack and Caroline.

Mike Brunk received his BA from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio (1979). He taught at Community Bible Church in Leondale from 2001-2002. He completed the two-year SMTI programme with Dr Wayne Mack in Pretoria, South Africa in 2013. He has been serving as Senior Pastor for Kathorus Bible Church in Katlehong, Germiston since 2002. He is currently working on a MABC from Faith Seminary, Lafayette, Indiana. He has completed all of the coursework for his MABC and is in the process of completing the required supervised counselling and thesis.