Targeting Transformation

Then, after some six years of being in a classroom while also serving as a full-time minister, I was blessed with an encounter that changed my thinking and set me on the path to the sought-after answer to my questions. Why is there so much dysfunction in the church, and why does the church not agree on a single purpose? This one encounter hit me like a lightning bolt had struck out of a clear blue sky.

While studying for a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Counseling, our professor, Dr. Dale Bertram, introduced our class to Mike Rankin, a guest speaker. We were only told that Mike had served for several years as a Catholic priest and was now devoting his full energy to counseling. At that time, Mike was running his own counseling practice in Louisville, and Dr. Bertram thought that we could learn a great deal from Mike’s counseling style and process. He was right.

When Mike came to the front of the class, he started by asking one question. “What is the one goal you have for each and every client that enters your counseling office? The one goal that you maintain for each and every client, each and every day, which is the same goal for each and every person, each and every session?” We gave him many answers. All were wrong.

Then he said, “Let’s bring the answer down to one word.” We still could not get it. Finally, he gave us the answer: transformation. He went on to clarify. “You should make it your goal to listen to your clients for the purpose of understanding where they are on their spiritual journey and then help them get one step closer to God. You should stay determined to help them on their road of Transformation, or in other words, being like Christ. Each and every person, each and every time, each and every day. If you do this, your counseling will be successful.”

I remember little about the rest of that class, Mike had set my mind in motion. I was remembering so many people who had walked through my life consumed by some struggle, which had gone unresolved. Is this the answer that would help them? Is this the direction that I had been longing for? I didn’t sleep well that night. My mind kept churning this idea over and over. The words, “every person, every time, every day” continued to roll and bang around in my brain. The idea was revolutionary to me! What if this is the “common ground” that my fellow students and I had been looking for? What if my friend Gary had encountered a group of people in the local church who were totally focused on helping him be like Christ, and not so focused on who he wasn’t at the time, or who his parents and family were? What if that congregation had understood personal transformation, and lived that idea seven days a week? What if all congregations set that in their mind, preached that from their pulpits, and shared that in their day-to-day living? What would, or could, the church become by agreeing to the common goal of helping each person along their road of Transformation?