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 2003 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, 2023 God began to speak to my heart about this need in my morning devotions.  I read in 1 Corinthians 9:10 “Or saith he 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 to go full time teaching how to minister to the hurting through Biblical counseling and addiction ministry.  We believe that God wants us to training conferences both here stateside and on the foreign field as we have done over the last few years.

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.  

1. 1. That God would open the doors for the meetings that He wants us to do.

1. 1. 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: we hope to do regional addiction recovery training conferences for churches in your area as well as doing direct training in churches for using the H.O.P.E. addiction curriculum as God opens the door.  Information on the H.O.P.E. Recovery Ministry and curriculum can be found at www.hope4addictions.com

Biblical Counseling Training: we have done anything from large training conferences to emotional health conferences for your church.  We offer a fully certified Biblical Counseling training course through our website www.biblecounselors.com.  Those who complete this course receive their certification through Independent Baptist Association of Biblical Counselors (IBABC).  

Ministry Counseling: If you or your family have a personal need for counseling or you would like help with how to train people for ministry including foreign missions, how to send men from your own church, or how to set up ministries in your church from local evangelistic outreach to larger helps ministries we would love to help. 

Revivals, Missions conferences and more: I truly love preaching and teaching in churches to help God’s people change and grow in their walk with Christ.  I am available to preach on Christian growth, revivals, missions, or on any topic that I have written on to be a help to your church.

Evangelistic Outreaches: Some years ago, we set up an outreach website www.answers4life.net.  Through this site we have pursued doing issues oriented evangelistic outreaches.  We hold these meetings at neutral sites such as libraries and promote them through answers4life ministry and sponsored by your local church.  You will be amazed at the response you get at a neutral site for those looking for answers to emotional trauma, anger, marriage help, and other topics.  We have seen many people come to these events and been able to share the gospel through them.  We would love to hold events like this for your church.

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.

Kevin Metzinger

Erick Knight

Bill Smith

Several Other Pastoral Recommendations