PEOPLE IN PRINT
April 1, 1987
To See Ourselves Counseling Christian Workers by Louis McBurney, Word, $12.95 Reviewed by Randy Alcorn, pastor of small group ministries, Good Shepherd Community Church, Gresham, Oregon Four years ago when my doctor took my blood pressure, he said, "Wow!" followed by "This can't be right." Unfortunately it was. My life was an endless string of insomnia, rashes, chest pains, and stomachaches. Louis McBurney helps people like me-professional Christian workers who draw from energy reservoirs until nothing is left but sludge. He helps us see ourselves as we are, and in the process discover how to refill that depleted reservoir. Since 1974 more than seven hundred Christian workers have come to Marble Retreat Center near Aspen, Colorado. They stay for two weeks, usually with three other couples and Louis and Melissa McBurney, who serve as cotherapists. When all you do is counsel Christian workers, you pick up insight along the way. McBurney shares these insights in Counseling Christian Workers. Reading it was like overhearing a conversation about me. As I eavesdropped, I also learned how to better understand and assist my colleagues in the ministry. McBurney's heartbeat is clear from his previous book: Every Pastor Needs a Pastor. He loves ministers and devotes his life to helping them. But beware, pastors-McBurney has our number. He knows we can be (and often are) guilty of the bluff, bluster, and bravado that marks insecure human beings. Nothing about the ministry automatically builds inner security and peace. Much about it challenges both. From the beginning McBurney warns, "We will look behind the masks, take off the clerical collars, and see the wounded, desperate, lonely, lovely people who have given their lives to minister to their ...
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