Rick & Angela Carter

Dear Pastor,

Please allow me to share my heart for a moment. I started ministry in 1994 by starting a church in Oberlin, Kansas. In our second church plant it became painfully obvious that we needed help in our marriage; it was also obvious that while I knew my doctrine I didn't know how to use the Word to help people with their personal problems. In 1999 God directed our path to Beth Haven Baptist Church to train in Biblical Counseling under the ministry of Dr. Mike Hays. Here God fixed our home and salvaged our ministry.

After graduating in 2005 with my Master's in Biblical Counseling I began to do personal counseling with others. In 2004 the Lord directed us to start another church in The Dalles, Oregon. Here we had a newly saved family that was struggling with addiction. Through our efforts to minister to this family I wrote the H.O.P.E. Addiction Program. Just after this God directed again in 2008 to return to Beth Haven, this time as pastor. For the last 16 years as I pastored, I have been writing counseling material for churches to use on a wide variety of topics.

In April, 2025 God began to speak to my heart about this need in my morning devotions. I read in 1 Corinthians 9:10 "Is it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope." As I read God pricked my heart that at some point we were going to step down from the pastorate and be full time in this work. In September of this year God made it clear in my heart that we were going to go full time teaching how to minister to the hurting through Biblical counseling and addiction ministry.

It is obviously a step of faith to resign our church and leave the safety of our salary to go full time in ministering to other churches, but Beth Haven is behind us and our people see the need to share this ministry with others. We will be sent out of Beth Haven and my brother Joshua is taking over fully as pastor. We do need monthly support and if you would like to have us present our ministry to your church, please let us know.

I will ask you to pray for us regarding two main things:

A. That God would open the doors for the meetings that He wants us to do.
B. That God would provide financially for our new journey. Please pray about partnering with us financially in this ministry.

If we can be a help to your church, please let us know. We are now scheduling meetings for next year and beyond. You can reach me at (405) 323-8232 or pastorrick2008@gmail.com. I am available to help your church in whatever way I can.

Some of the types of meetings I have done in the past include:

H.O.P.E. Recovery Training — regional addiction recovery training conferences and direct training for churches. Biblical Counseling Training — from large training conferences to emotional health conferences. Ministry Counseling — personal counseling for you or your family, or help to train people for ministry. Revivals, Missions Conferences and more — preaching and teaching in churches to help God's people change and grow. Evangelistic Outreaches — neutral site outreaches promoted through answers4life.net.

Here is a link to our recommendation letter from our Pastor, Joshua Carter. Below I have included links to the recommendations of a few other men that we have had the blessing of ministering with over the past years.