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Monday 8:30am - 5pm Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm Wednesday 8:30am - 5pm Thursday 8:30am - 5pm Friday 8:30am - 5pm

The Barnabas Center

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Charlotte, NC
The Barnabas Center

The Barnabas Center is a nonprofit, nondenominational, Christ-centered counseling, training and teaching ministry.

The Barnabas name, which means “son of encouragement,” communicates our desire to encourage people by coming alongside them, entering into their daily struggles and walking with them toward freedom. The Barnabas Center’s ministry is comprised of the three areas :

Counseling: Through individual and couple counseling sessions, our counselors are invited to walk alongside people in the midst of thei

r most intimate struggles. Witnessing God use brokenness and heartache to move people toward redemption is one of our greatest privileges. Groups: Bringing your darkest struggles to light through the safety of confidential, counselor-facilitated groups is often an integral step toward healing and redemption. We currently offer group programs to address eating disorders, sexual addiction, and various forms of abuse. Training: Our counselors and staff facilitate various seminars, conferences and retreats that guide participants toward an authentic relationship with God and more meaningful relationships with people.

08/12/2025

Triad counselor Hannah Van Patter summarizes a powerful fable written by Edwin Friedman and looks at how we might use the power of such stories to read into our life and experiences: "As a counselor, I’ve found that stories can take on a therapeutic dimension, offering a unique pathway to self-discovery and introspection. In the counseling room, I’ve recommended the exploration of well-crafted stories as a means of gaining insight into one's own emotions, thoughts, and life experiences. By digging into these narratives we can begin to externalize our internal struggles, making it easier to examine and process our own experiences."

I’ve always loved stories: books, one-on-one conversations in coffee shops, podcasts, movies, theater productions. As a counselor, I’ve found that stories can take on a therapeutic dimension, offering a unique pathway to self-discovery and introspection. In the counseling room, I’ve recommende...

08/07/2025

If you haven’t had a chance to participate in a Barnabas Training Basic yet we’re offering another one this October. Do you ever think to yourself, “I want to have deeper conversations and friendships, but where do I begin?” or “There has to be more to friendships than what I’m experiencing.” If you desire deeper friendships, to be a better and more intentional friend, or to grow in facilitating conversations that get past the surface, Barnabas Training Basic could be just the thing to begin to address your thoughts and questions. It equips you to see yourself and others in ways that foster deeper relationships. It includes sound teaching, personal examples, and an interactive small group experience, plus reflective time to practically apply the principles.

Saturday, October 25, 2025
Hope Community Church - Olde Providence site (4418 Rea Rd, Charlotte, NC 28226)
Registration opens 8:30a; Seminar 9:00a-4:00p (lunch break around noon)
Cost: Early registration is $80 per person if registered on or by October 10th; late registration is $110 after that date.

If you want deeper friendships & to grow in having conversations that get past the surface this training could be just the thing for you.

07/30/2025

Counselor Roger Edwards explores the courage required to truly expose our vulnerabilities in a conversation and how it helps us engage more fully: "But if you will allow me a strange retort; talk is never mere talk. There is more to this strange gift of language. Whenever we express ourselves, we engage in a process that involves the whole person. I’ll repeat that: all talk involves the whole person. Contrast this to keeping things bottled up inside. Rumination, stewing, and stuffing down do the exact opposite of involving our whole selves. They are designed to shut out certain emotions, shield ourselves from conviction, and deny our weaknesses or needs (especially the need for grace)."

I am, what people might call, a talk therapist. So, I am often asked, “How does talking help?” Sometimes the undertone of the question is, “How does merely talking help? Talk is just talk, isn’t it? Don’t you need more than just talk?”

07/10/2025

Clinical Director John Pierce reflects on the healing power of art and creation and their ability to sustain us in times of hopelessness and grief: "That moment lingered in my mind. It got me thinking about how art, poetry, music, writing, storytelling, and even metaphor-making have been a part of the healing and mending ebb and flow throughout my life. There’s something about the act of creating, especially in seasons of transition, sorrow, and loss, that has brought God’s balm of comfort and transformation to my heart. It’s as if, in creating, I am partnering with Him in the quiet, unseen work of repair."

The other day, I found myself lying in my garage after a walk, stretching beside shelves of old tools and forgotten projects. My gaze wandered upward until I noticed the one unfinished sculpture that I had started five years ago. Layers of dust and plastic clung to its surface, and the project—tho...

06/19/2025

Founder Palmer Trice takes an honest look at how we insert our own stories, feelings, and opinions into our relationships with others, and how that usually leads to hurt feelings and miscommunication: "The truth is, I don’t really know how anyone feels. I may think I know how I would feel if I were in their circumstances. But I’m not them. And for years, my working assumption without knowing it was that everyone did or should react like me. I want to call that self-centeredness. I see the world through the only set of eyes that I have. That is my experience of the world. So intuitively I assume you do too. And I assume that my experience of it is accurate, the correct experience."

“Nobody knows how I feel!” It was a scene from a sitcom. One brother was struggling with an alcohol addiction. His compassionate brother kept saying, “I know just how you feel!” But he didn’t, and it drove his drinking brother crazy.

06/05/2025

Triad counselor Kristin Leathers reflects on how our perceptions of the past impact how we feel about now and how we anticipate the future: "The stories and families that bore us do much to shape and contour how we move about the world. You are also likely to be familiar with the notion that to be present, here and now, is to be well and to know God. And that to wonder about the future is folly at best. Past, present, future. Three places we can be at any given moment."

My freshman year of college was a doozy. We’d moved cross-country five times in nine years, and just when I thought I was getting my footing and earned a scholarship to my dream North Carolina school, my family moved again; this time to Florida. My parents told me I needed to pick a Florida school...

04/22/2025

Counselor Noelle McNab describes the Barnabas Training group she has been leading designed to help us connect more deeply with God and each other, especially in areas like forgiveness: “The basic idea is that by recognizing I have done something wrong or hurtful, I can confess it and repent of it (basically turning away from my own choice in the situation and back to God). This ideally allows me to engage in the process of being forgiven and returns me to a safe connection with God and the other person. It’s low-key a main theme of the Bible and one I am realizing—yet again—I can never outrun or relearn too often. What a glorious and disappointing relief.”

But even less than these things, I don’t like someone else telling me I was wrong or I hurt them. However, if I have to face either of those realities, I’d much rather come to that conclusion myself and not have to be externally confronted with my misdeed.

04/08/2025

Counselor Emmett Richardson takes a different perspective on Lent this year and focuses not on what we give up during this season, but what we can gain: “The topic of spiritual formation is one that I’ve become increasingly interested in, and I’ve come to find out that formation isn’t just a Christian thing, but a human thing. As humans, we are changing constantly. Our souls are dynamic, not static. The question isn’t “Are you being formed? It’s, Who or what are you being formed into?” You and I are becoming a person. We’re on a trajectory towards either “immortal horrors or everlasting splendors,” as C.S. Lewis puts it in The Weight of Glory. In light of this, I’ve been sitting with this question: Who am I becoming?”

“So, what are you giving up for Lent?” Growing up in my liturgical church going home, this question often came up around this time of year. For me, this usually meant thinking of something that I was content to lose and that would require little effort and no sacrifice on my part (like vegetable...

04/02/2025

Counselor Laurie Hobbs reflects on the importance of playing and give ourselves the freedom to let go sometimes: “Play means that there are times when it’s best to surrender to a whole other paradigm of relationship. After our time this Christmas I am beginning to see the value of playing with friends and family. It reminds me of the scripture that Jesus tells us to enter the kingdom of God we must become like little children (Matthew 18:3). Children are not concerned with schedules or the worries of tomorrow. They are fully present to the moment and enjoy it completely. I wonder if this allows us to lower our normal self-protective guard and connect with others in ways we don’t normally.”

This past Christmas, my whole family gathered and was together for the first time in several years. We now total sixteen, including our six grandchildren ranging in age from one to eight years old (and only one girl in the whole half dozen!). Though excited, as I contemplated the gathering, I began....

03/18/2025

Counselor Megan Erdmann ponders the concept of rest and grounding ourselves in what makes us feel most like ourselves: “From the Christian worldview, this (like most things in life?) can be difficult to hold in tension with other truths. The reality is, because of the fall, we labor and toil and life is exhausting. We haven’t yet reached the full restoration of all things on heaven and earth, so we’re absolutely going to feel that. It’s normal—and even good—because it helps us depend on God and long for the day when all things are made right.”

For me, it’s going on a long walk in nature or in the city, spending time with my husband and daughter, or playing the piano. How do you know when you need to seek this out, the feeling of being at peace in your mind and body? I know I’m past due for some intentional rest when I’m short with m...

03/04/2025

Counselor Caroline Chambers reflects on our tendency to be harsh in our judgment of ourselves, but compassionate to others with the same insecurities and how we could be better served if we saw ourselves the way the Father does: "I want more of this for myself and for the ones I love and care for. I want a lens of compassionate curiosity when I examine both my own actions and others’ actions. I want to be drawn in like Jesus is, not repulsed or scared away by humanity. I believe this is how God views us as well. His face toward me is love, all my sin covered by Jesus’ work on the cross."

One of the ways I’ve been passing the short, cold days this winter is reading. I like novels best because I can really get lost in a good story. My own experiences are limited, but by inhabiting a well written character and his or her story, I can grow in understanding and empathy. Even if the cir...

02/20/2025

Counselor Meredith Cloninger recalls a recent movie night with her teenaged daughter that didn't go quite to plan, but reflects God's love and presence in the most unexpected moments: "We’d had our teen girl right up to this point. To be sure, the story is gripping, because it pulls on the way our hearts were made. The cute son of the king and bow-shooting elf hadn’t hurt either. She fully bought in, no complaining. And I ruined it all. To her horror, I started to weep. I wept foolish, hobbit tears, because I have known the loneliness and overwhelm of carrying burdens too strong for me. I wept because Gandalf’s face reminded me our Father is permanently in love with us, rises with compassion to meet us, and promises that every day we walk the path ahead, with any burden too great, He will help us."

To pass the chilly month of January, my husband endeavored to once again to introduce our daughter to one of his favorite movie genres: fantasy. He’s passed Luke, Darth and Chewbacca by her multiple times, in hopes that she’ll let the force be with her. He’s tried to entice her with Hogwarts.....

Address

Charlotte, NC

Opening Hours

Monday	8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday	8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday	8:30am - 5pm
Thursday	8:30am - 5pm
Friday	8:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+17043654545

Website

http://www.thebarnabascenter.org/, http://www.youtube.com/barnabascenter

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