About Agape Christian Counselors
Welcome. Agape Christian Counselors comes alongside the people we serve with hope in Jesus through the Gospel, relying on God's word and discernment through the Holy Spirit. We also rely on many years of life experience, training, and education, to provide real solutions to the issues they face.
On our website you can find information about our services, learn about David Hovis, founder & counselor, make an appointment, read our Statement of Faith, find out more about what we mean by Christian Counseling, how we charge for our services, and Free Resources (including some great free downloads). My prayer is that you will take time to read about who we are, investigate the site as you wish, and then prayerfully consider coming in for a free consultation to see if counseling here will provide you with the kind of help you need. You may also download our color brochure.
Our Story: David Hovis founded Agape in 2007. His career path was a bit unusual. After getting saved in 1987 at the age of 19, David served four years on active duty in the Army as a Medic. Afterward, he would miraculously go from the middle of his graduating class in High School to graduating with highest honors from college. Then it was off to Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota Law School followed by “big firm” law practice. God then called David irresistibly out of law to pastoral ministry.
David, his wife and 10-month old son sold everything except one vehicle and moved East to attend Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. During his second year, David received a call to pastor a church while completing his Master of Divinity degree.
Ultimately, a perceived call to church planting would transform into a call to Christian counseling and a Master’s Degree in Marriage & Family Therapy. He also flew to Atlanta, GA, for post-graduate coursework and training in Christian Sex Therapy. It has been the joy of David’s life to “get” to do Gospel ministry each day.
A Brief Summary of Where We Go for Hope and Why
The Beginning: We were created for joyful, shame-free communion with God and with each other. And that was how life started out for our first ancestors.
The Fall: But from the beginning, we have been making decisions to do it our own way instead of God's way, and the first evidence of this was the shame Adam and Eve discovered upon sin and death entering into their lives. Their uncommon joy also came to an end. The effects of sin and death are passed down generationally. And our sins and the sins of others impact us deeply.
Life is hard this side of heaven. We humans, though wonderfully created in the image of God, are sinners in need of the grace, mercy and new life offered by Jesus. We have related issues too - marital strife, intimacy struggles, depression, wounds from the past, and addictions, are just some of the challenges we face. Identifying the root issues can be difficult, especially with all the confusing messages we receive from our culture and companies spending billions of dollars to influence our thinking.
Word and Spirit: Christian Counseling is so helpful because of the power and wisdom of God's Word and Spirit to provide real, long-term solutions and actual healing to those in need. At Agape, counseling sessions begin and end with prayer in reliance on God to provide wisdom and discernment for the session and to bless you as you go out.
Hope: The greatest gift of Christian counseling is Jesus Christ. He is Savior of all who will believe in Him, trusting in Him alone for the forgiveness of their sins and the restoration of their souls. Jesus is also the One who cleanses us from all the filth and stains left by those who have hurt us. Real meaning and real hope is found in Jesus and it is to Him we look as we begin the restoration process in whatever issue we may confront. Ultimately, the highest end of Christian counseling is to assist you in establishing a deep and growing satisfaction in all that Christ is for you, in order that you would get the joy, and God would get the glory, forever. Please see the What is Christian Counseling? page for more information on Agape's beliefs about Christian counseling.
Agape: How do you pronounce Agape and what does it mean? agápē comes from the common Greek language used during Jesus' earthly ministry and is translated in texts like the New Commandment of Jesus found in John 13:34-35 as "love." However, this does not capture its full meaning. Jesus uses this Greek word to denote the kind of love He loved us with: an otherworldly, unconditional love by which we would love one another and so show the world we are His disciples. I wanted that kind of love built into the very name of the counseling practice I started so that it would be foundational to everything we are about.
On our website you can find information about our services, learn about David Hovis, founder & counselor, make an appointment, read our Statement of Faith, find out more about what we mean by Christian Counseling, how we charge for our services, and Free Resources (including some great free downloads). My prayer is that you will take time to read about who we are, investigate the site as you wish, and then prayerfully consider coming in for a free consultation to see if counseling here will provide you with the kind of help you need. You may also download our color brochure.
Our Story: David Hovis founded Agape in 2007. His career path was a bit unusual. After getting saved in 1987 at the age of 19, David served four years on active duty in the Army as a Medic. Afterward, he would miraculously go from the middle of his graduating class in High School to graduating with highest honors from college. Then it was off to Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota Law School followed by “big firm” law practice. God then called David irresistibly out of law to pastoral ministry.
David, his wife and 10-month old son sold everything except one vehicle and moved East to attend Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. During his second year, David received a call to pastor a church while completing his Master of Divinity degree.
Ultimately, a perceived call to church planting would transform into a call to Christian counseling and a Master’s Degree in Marriage & Family Therapy. He also flew to Atlanta, GA, for post-graduate coursework and training in Christian Sex Therapy. It has been the joy of David’s life to “get” to do Gospel ministry each day.
A Brief Summary of Where We Go for Hope and Why
The Beginning: We were created for joyful, shame-free communion with God and with each other. And that was how life started out for our first ancestors.
The Fall: But from the beginning, we have been making decisions to do it our own way instead of God's way, and the first evidence of this was the shame Adam and Eve discovered upon sin and death entering into their lives. Their uncommon joy also came to an end. The effects of sin and death are passed down generationally. And our sins and the sins of others impact us deeply.
Life is hard this side of heaven. We humans, though wonderfully created in the image of God, are sinners in need of the grace, mercy and new life offered by Jesus. We have related issues too - marital strife, intimacy struggles, depression, wounds from the past, and addictions, are just some of the challenges we face. Identifying the root issues can be difficult, especially with all the confusing messages we receive from our culture and companies spending billions of dollars to influence our thinking.
Word and Spirit: Christian Counseling is so helpful because of the power and wisdom of God's Word and Spirit to provide real, long-term solutions and actual healing to those in need. At Agape, counseling sessions begin and end with prayer in reliance on God to provide wisdom and discernment for the session and to bless you as you go out.
Hope: The greatest gift of Christian counseling is Jesus Christ. He is Savior of all who will believe in Him, trusting in Him alone for the forgiveness of their sins and the restoration of their souls. Jesus is also the One who cleanses us from all the filth and stains left by those who have hurt us. Real meaning and real hope is found in Jesus and it is to Him we look as we begin the restoration process in whatever issue we may confront. Ultimately, the highest end of Christian counseling is to assist you in establishing a deep and growing satisfaction in all that Christ is for you, in order that you would get the joy, and God would get the glory, forever. Please see the What is Christian Counseling? page for more information on Agape's beliefs about Christian counseling.
Agape: How do you pronounce Agape and what does it mean? agápē comes from the common Greek language used during Jesus' earthly ministry and is translated in texts like the New Commandment of Jesus found in John 13:34-35 as "love." However, this does not capture its full meaning. Jesus uses this Greek word to denote the kind of love He loved us with: an otherworldly, unconditional love by which we would love one another and so show the world we are His disciples. I wanted that kind of love built into the very name of the counseling practice I started so that it would be foundational to everything we are about.