Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Boyce AACC chapter helps students prepare for future
November 10, 2003
By Ericia Boggs

The Boyce College chapter of the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC) will hold an event Nov. 12 that will give counseling majors an opportunity to explore various ministry and post-graduate career options.

Starting at 3:30 p.m., Leigh Conver, professor of psychology of religion and pastor counseling at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, will discuss the various Christian counseling degree programs offered at Southern.

Although the event is open to all students, counseling majors are specifically encouraged to attend.

“[This] event is very significant in comparison to our other events because of the information that it will provide,” said Heather Skinner, AACC chapter vice-president. “So many of us are in the process of deciding the next step to take in our education, or even if we need a ‘next step.’”

The meeting with Conver “will help to answer the what, where, when, why and how questions that we have,” she added.

This event is one of many that has already been held since the establishment of the AACC organization at the end of the fall 2002 semester.

The start-up of the chapter was the brainchild of Scott Wigginton, department chair for Christian counseling at Boyce. He saw a need to unify the counseling majors and offer them a vision for making the next step after graduation.

Under his leadership and encouragement, the officers -- president Shannon Robbins, Skinner, secretary Ericia Boggs and treasurer Amy Martin -- organized the chapter and immediately began planning for the next semester’s events. Around 50 people attended the first event in January 2003 -- a movie and pizza night hosted by the Wiggintons at their home.

“[Wigginton] has been a very self-giving leader in this organization,” Martin said. “He is always there to assist in any way needed but also gives us the freedom to influence the direction of the group. He has a true desire for this group to be completely for the students, their benefit, and growth.”

Robbins and the other officers saw the necessity for this organization to have a specific purpose instead of simply forming a club “just because.”

The purpose and vision of the chapter is to “magnify Jesus Christ who is our perfect and wonderful Counselor through encouraging one another in our Christian walk and preparation for ministry, through acquiring knowledge and understanding in how we can counsel people toward Christ and [through] recognizing God as the One who is worthy of all these things,” said Robbins.

Each month the chapter holds either a social or an informational meeting. Much time and preparation goes into planning these events, but the officers see the expenditure of their time as a ministry and a labor of love for the student body.

Robbins said that the upcoming event, which will be held in the Carver Patio Room, “will be an opportunity to learn more about Southern’s counseling program and to bring that knowledge before the Lord in how He may want to lead you in it.”