Each faculty member has been trained by, studied under, or worked closely with Dr. Adams for many years. All are experienced counselors and widely recognized as leaders in Biblical/Nouthetic counseling circles. We are thankful to be able to assemble a faculty that is not only committed to the sufficiency of the Scriptures to meet the needs of God’s people, but who are also able to teach others how to skillfully use the Word in the counseling room.
For over 50 years Dr. Jay Adams called God’s people back from their alliance with unbiblical psychological theory to a renewed confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit and the sufficiency of God’s Word to equip the man of God to help his people with problems of living and relationship. Happily, many have heeded his call and over the years a movement, both deep and wide, has developed, consisting of pastors and other Christian workers who have been trained in and are practicing the kind of truly biblical counseling God intended for His people to receive.
Jay Edward Adams was born in Baltimore on January 30, 1929, and was born again about 15 years later as a result of reading a New Testament that was given to him by a friend. He received his formal training at Reformed Episcopal Seminary (B.D.), Johns Hopkins University (A.B.), Pittsburgh-Xenia Seminary, Temple University School of Theology (M.ST.), and the University of Missouri (Ph.D.). He pastored churches in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, served as a denominational official, a professor at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, the director of the Doctoral program at Westminster Theological Seminary in California, and then as a church planting pastor in South Carolina. He was also the founder of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation in Philadelphia, the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors, and the Institute for Nouthetic Studies.
In 1999 Dr. Adams retired from the pastorate of the church he had planted in South Carolina and has devoted his time to writing and lecturing. In the fall of 2001, the Redeemer Biblical Counseling Training Institute (RBCTI) was established at the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Moore, SC to provide a vehicle by which Dr. Adams could continue teaching and training Biblical/Nouthetic counselors.
When word got out that Dr. Adams was lecturing regularly again we began to get requests for tapes and inquiries about studying by extension. While many of the lectures Dr. Adams has given over the years are available from a variety of sources we have concluded that it would be a blessing to God’s people if we could make a quality, structured, course of video study available for those who desire to be better equipped to minister the Word of God. Thus INS was born.
Though we no longer have our dear brother in this life, we are thankful that computer technology and the internet allow him to continue to teach, write, blog, and minister to God’s people.
Dr. Adams is the author of Competent to Counsel, The Christian Counselor’s Manual, Theology of Counseling, Christian Living in the Home, How to Help People Change, Handbook of Church Discipline, Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage in the Bible, and over 100 other books dealing with counseling, preaching, theology, and pastoral ministry. Dr. Adams has produced his own original translation of the Greek New Testament which is available as The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and The Christian Counselor’s Commentary, a commentary on the entire New Testamant and Proverbs.
Donn R Arms lives joyfully with the wife of his youth in the Greenville suburb of Simpsonville, SC. He is a native of Waterloo, Iowa where his dad helped build John Deere tractors. Donn is a graduate of Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, Iowa and Northwest Baptist Seminary (now Corban Graduate School of Ministry). He pastored churches in Iowa and Florida before moving to the upstate of South Carolina. Along the way, he has also been a school bus driver, an EMT with a small-town hospital, a Pepsi delivery truck driver, a hub supervisor at UPS, a grocery warehouse employee, and the office manager of a staffing agency. For the past fifteen years, he has been working closely with Dr. Adams as the Executive Director of the Institute for Nouthetic Studies. Donn is a Fellow with the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC) and also teaches at the Redeemer Biblical Counseling Training Institute.
Donn is married to a trophy wife, Sandy, who is retired after a career as Customer Service Manager of a large grocery store (Publix). They have four children (so far) and ten exceptionally precocious grandchildren.
Martha Peace was born, raised, and educated in and around the Atlanta area. She graduated with honors from both the Grady Memorial Hospital School of Nursing 3 year diploma program and the Georgia State University 4 year degree program. She has thirteen years of work experience as a Registered Nurse, specializing in pediatric burns, intensive care, and coronary care. She became a Christian in June 1979. Two years later, Martha ended her nursing career and began focusing her attention on her family and a ladies’ Bible study class. For five years she taught verse-by-verse book studies. Then she received training and certification from the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors. She teaches counseling classes and counsels in her church’s Certified Counselor Training Center.
Martha is a gifted teacher and exhorter. She worked for eight years as a biblical counselor at the Atlanta Biblical Counseling Center on Old National Highway, College Park, Georgia, where she counseled women, children, and teenagers. For the past several years she has presented workshops on various biblical counseling issues for women at the national conference for N.A.N.C. She also instructed for 6 years at Carver Bible Institute and College in Atlanta where she taught women’s classes including “The Excellent Wife,” “Raising Kids Without Raising Cain,” “Introduction to Biblical Counseling,” “Advanced Biblical Counseling,” “Personal Purity,” and “The Book of Esther.” Martha has authored a workbook, Raising Kids Without Raising Cain, and books entitled The Excellent Wife, The Study Guide to The Excellent Wife, Becoming a Titus 2 Woman, Tying the Knot Tighter (co-authored with her Pastor, John Crotts), Damsels In Distress, and a parenting book co-authored with Stuart Scott “The Faithful Parent.” She has several CD and DVD video albums.
Martha is active with her family in Faith Bible Church located just outside Peachtree City, Georgia, where she teaches ladies Bible study classes and counseling classes as well as counseling in the church counseling center. In addition, she travels extensively all over the world and conducts seminars for ladies’ groups on topics such as “Raising Kids Without Raising Cain,” “The Excellent Wife,” “Becoming a Titus 2 Woman,” “Having a High View of God,” and “Personal Purity” as well as other topics.
Martha has been married to her High School sweetheart, Sanford Peace, since September 24th of 1966. He is a retired air traffic controller with the FAA. They have two children: Anna Maupin, who lives with her husband, Tony, in Sharpsburg, Georgia, and David, who lives with his wife, Jaimee in Sharpsburg, Georgia. Martha and Sanford have 12 grandchildren, Nathan, Tommy, twin girls — Kelsey and Jordan, Caleb, Cameron, Carter, Matthew, Noah, Kylee, Emma and Kaylyn.
Bill Slattery started Redeemer Presbyterian Church in 1995, as a mission church under the auspices of Outreach North America, the home missions agency of the ARP Church. Previously, he helped Jay E. Adams, his father-in-law, start Harrison Bridge Road Presbyterian Church, in Simpsonville, SC (now, The Bridge). In addition to being the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Bill is the Executive Director of Redeemer Biblical Counseling Training Institute (RBCTI). He and his wife, Heather, have four children and live in Enoree, SC.
Robert Smith was a retired physician who practiced in St. Elizabeth’s Hospital’s ER and Arnett Clinic’s Urgent Care Center. Bob was a member of the Academy and board of trustees of NANC. He was an instructor and counselor for Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries, where he oversaw the training certification of several counselors. He is the author of several books including The Christian Counselor’s Medical Desk Reference. Bob taught several adult ministry classes and served as the Chairman of deacons for Faith Church. Dr. Smith went to be with the Lord in 2021. We are grateful to the Lord for Bob’s life and ministry.