ABOUT WORD OF LIFE COUNSELING TRAINING INSTITUTE
Our Beginnings
Word of Life Counseling Training Institute was founded in 1995 as a ministry of Word of Life Church which is located in Wichita, Kansas. (For more on Word of Life Church visit www.wolm.org) It was the natural outgrowth of a Christian support group, counseling, and state licensed drug and alcohol outpatient clinic that were founded by Pastor Troy Reiner shortly after joining the church as an Associate Pastor in 1991. He realized that in order for those ministries to continue and grow they would need more, highly trained Bible-based support group leaders, lay counselors, drug and alcohol counselors, and Christian therapists.
Since no Bible-based local training was available, Word of Life Institute was begun by holding two seminars. Both were well attended but it soon became apparent the more in-depth, ongoing training was required. At that point an alliance was formed with LOGOS Christian College and Graduate school so that those taking training at WOLI would have the opportunity to continue their counseling education to the graduate level and receive a credible Christian counseling degree.
Since as early as 1974, Pastor Reiner had always had a strong interest in learning to effectively apply the Bible to help the hurting people around him. Finally, in 1988 when he retired after spending 20 years in the USAF as a Space Systems Officer, he had the opportunity to enter full time ministry. He was sent to Wichita to pioneer a new church which eventually became part of Word of Life Ministries. Although at the time he had a number of college and university degrees, he did not have a doctorate. LOGOS was willing to accept much of his previous graduate course credit and he completed his Ph. D. in Christian Counseling in 1997. His dissertation was on the development of a new modality in Christian counseling that he later called "Faith Therapy." Eventually, as the Lord continued to provide new insights as Dr. Reiner taught classes at WOLI, his work was divided into four classes which eventually became "The Just Shall Life by Faith Series of books" that today provides the basis of Faith Therapy.
Today, Faith Therapy has become a full-fledge new modality in Christian counseling with a full college curriculum of courses that is especially attractive to Bible-based churches who truly believe that "Jesus is the answer to even life's most difficult problems." As Faith Therapy continues to develop, our goal is to train as many of the members of the body of Christ as possible to help as many hurting people in our churches and society as possible. Because of this, we are doing what we can to make these resources available at minimum cost and to provide free training to as many people as possible. This website provides those resources and our website www.freechristiancounselingtrainging.com provides that free training.
Our Director
Dr.
Troy Reiner is the Director of Word of Life Counseling Center, the Director
of Word of Life Counseling Training Institute, and an Associate Pastor at
Word of Life Church, all of which are located in Wichita, Kansas. His
counseling education includes a Master’s Degree in Psychology, Guidance, and
Counseling from the University of Northern Colorado, a Specialist in
Education Degree with emphasis on Marriage and Family Counseling from
Wichita State University, and a Ph.D. in Christian Counseling from LOGOS
Graduate School. He is a licensed Clinical Marriage and Family
Therapist and a certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor in the State of Kansas.
He is a a Charter Member of the American Association of Christian
Counselors. He has been married for over 30 years and is the father of
an adult son and daughter. His wife Nancy has a Master's Degree in
Elementary Education and is a substitute school teacher. She also serves as
women's minister, biblical coach, and an instructor at Word of Life
Institute. Their son David is a computer engineer living in Austin,
Texas; and their daughter, Sarah, is a graduate student working on her Ph.
D. in Clinical Psychology at Biola University in Los Angeles.
As an author and originator of Faith Therapy, Troy is available as a speaker for conferences, seminars, and as an adjunct Bible college instructor. Nancy speaks on women's issues, coaching, and parenting. Because Dr. Reiner has an active counseling practice and they both teach courses at Word of Life Counseling Training Institute, they have limited availability during the school year and do most of their speaking engagements during the summer. Because their ministry focuses primarily on teaching the principles of Faith Therapy and assisting churches in establishing counseling, coaching, and support group ministries, these types of engagements receive their highest priority. They are especially interested in teaching the principles of Faith Therapy to missionaries for implementation on the mission field where it is so desperately needed and can serve as a dynamic method for evangelism. To set up a speaking engagement contact Dr. Reiner by telephone at 316-838-9200 x101 or by E-mail at treiner@wolm.org.
About Word of Life Ministries
Word of Life Ministries is a non-profit 501-3c charitable organization. All materials at this website are offered on a minimum donation basis for the amount listed with each item. Only the amount of donations which exceeds this minimum price may be deducted from your taxes as a charitable donation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to be working on a certification or degree to take classes at WOLI? No. You can take any class you would like just to learn more about the Bible, as self-help or to learn how to more effectively help people, or for Continuing Education Credit. You may upgrade a class for credit that you have taken for up to one year after you complete it.
Do I need a state license to practice as a Christian counselor? No. Christian counseling is excluded from state licensure as long as you are an ordained or licensed minister or as part of an official church program.
If I do not need a license why should I get a certification or degree? Certifications give you credibility as a counselor and a means of showing that your have been deemed competent by some certifying agency. If you wish to charge any fee at all for your counseling you will need liability insurance in case someone might sue you for malpractice or some other reason. Except in the case of drug and alcohol counseling, mental health liability insurance companies require that you have a degree in a mental health field before they will insure you.
What is Word of Life Counseling Training Institute? Word of Life Institute is the counseling training ministry of Word of Life Ministries, the non-profit corporate entity of Word of Life Church, all of which are located in Wichita, Kansas. For more on other ministries of Word of Life Church visit www.wolm.org.
What is Faith Therapy? Faith Therapy is a new method of Christian counseling derived directly from the Bible and based on the process of salvation by faith. It provides the core methodology for training counselors at Word of Life Institute. <read more>
How is Faith Therapy different from other Christian counseling? The primary difference is that it is based completely on the Bible and God's plan of salvation by faith. The counselors job is to remove the roadblocks to that process. Because building faith in God is essential to that process it uses many stories from the Bible to teach the client how to live and to overcome the difficulties in his life.
What is Bible-based Life Coaching? Bible-based life coaching is intense mentoring or discipleship to help reasonably mature Christians find God's call on their lives and successfully carry it out. <read more>
How is Bible-based Life Coaching different from other secular and Christian life coaching? Bible base life coaching is solidly based on and derived from the Bible. Where all secular coaching and even a lot of "Christian coaching" focuses on making the client more successful in this life, Bible-based coaching focuses on success from God's point of view.
What accreditation do courses taken through Word of Life Institute have? Courses taken at Word of Life Institute are accepted by LOGOS Christian College and Graduate School. LOGOS is the institution that grants our degrees. LOGOS is licensed in the state of Florida by the Florida Board of Independent Colleges and Universities. It is accredited by the Southern Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges and Institutes.
Are degrees from LOGOS Christian College and Graduate School earned through Word of Life Counseling Training Institute regionally accredited? No. Regional accreditation is reserved for liberal arts colleges. Courses and degrees from WOLI and LOGOS are limited to Christian curriculum and Christian ministries as needed by the church. To apply for regional accreditation a school is required to teach a whole range of additional subjects like mathematics, English, philosophy, sociology, etc. However, just because courses are taken at a regionally accredited institution does not guarantee that other colleges will accept them and just because they are not regionally accredited does not ensure that they will not be accepted. Many LOGOS students have been accepted and courses transferred to regionally accredited institutions in the same way that other Bible School courses and degrees are accepted. If you do plan to transfer your credits to a regionally accredited institution it would be good to determine in advance whether they will accept our credits. Regional accreditation is not required in order to do Christian counseling.
Why do you offer free video training? Our mission is to prepare the body of Christ to effectively help the hurting people in our churches and society. What God has freely given us we freely give away. However, it is only right that we do receive some compensation for our costs and effort expended on your behalf. Therefore, we do charge fees for our services like grading papers and tests, supervision, certifications, and granting degrees, but not for what we teach.
If you have other questions that are not answered on this website, please feel free to sent them to treiner@wolm.org and we will do our best to answer them as soon as possible.
Contact Information
Faith Therapy was
developed and implemented over the last fifteen years at Word of Life Counseling
Center and Word of Life Counseling Training Institute located in
Wichita, Kansas as God provided a deeper psychological understanding of the
process of salvation by faith, biblical counseling and life coaching models,
and methods for using biblical principles. We do not claim to have all
the answers but continue to develop what God has revealed to us in the quest
for a more effective, in-depth, biblically based methodology. We
invite your comments, participation, and suggestions.
Postal address: 3611 N. Meridian Ave. Wichita, KS 67204
Telephone: 316-619-5589 or 838-9200 option 2
FAX: 316-838-0567
Electronic
mail:
treiner@wolm.org or
tdreiner@hotmail.com
For more about
Word of Life Church, Word of Life Counseling Training Institute, and Word of
Life Ministries select the link:
www.wolm.org
Links are provided on this webpage for other biblically based websites, those that link to us, or for other ministries that provide products on this website:
www.logos.edu Link to LOGOS Christian College and Graduate School located in Jacksonville, Florida, who grant our Bachelor and Master Degrees in Christian Counseling and who use some of our materials and curriculum. They also offer extended learning degrees in many other areas of Christian ministries. Word of Life Institute belongs to the LOGOS Educators Network.
www.lcus.edu Link to Life Christian University located in Tampa, Florida who use our materials and curriculum and grant Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Christian Counseling. They also offer degrees in many other areas of Christian ministry at about 100 network campuses. In addition to our curriculum they use some course material from The American Association of Christian Counselors.
www.mcgeepublishing.com Link to Rapha Search Resources who provide our books for our addiction and codependency courses.
www.SelfGrowth.com Link to a website that lists numerous secular and Christian self-help growth websites including us.
www.theophostic.com Link to the Theophostic Prayer Ministry website where additional material on Theophostic Minisitry and products can be found. We use their books and DVDs for our course in the counseling curriculum on inner healing.