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[UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

Asa Rogers Sphar III, Ph.D. is the former Baptist Community Ministries Chair of Pastoral Counseling in the Department of Psychology and Counseling at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) in New Orleans, LA. Sphar is the progenitor of Reconciliation-Focused Counseling (RFC), having published Helping Hurting People: A Handbook of Reconciliation Focused Counseling with Argile Smith, Ph.D. in 2003. At the time of publication, Smith occupied the JD Grey Chair of Preaching at NOBTS and was the Chair of the Department of Pastoral Ministries. He currently serves as the pastor of First Baptist Church of Biloxi, MS.

Reconciliation Focused Counseling
Based on the Biblical text of Matthew 22:37-40, Reconciliation-Focused Counseling is a model which assists the therapist with viewing their clients through the lens of their relationship to their distinct, but definitely related systems: the relationship with God, the relationship with others, and the relationship with self.

More on RFC

Former Colleagues
Sphar's former NOBTS colleagues of note include Mack Hubbel, Ph.D. (insert link); _______ Freeman, Ph.D.; C. Jeffery Terrell, Ph.D., the current President of Richmont Graduate University in Atlanta, GA; Philip Coyle Ph.D.,Ed.D, the current Academic Dean at Richmont Graduate University;  Jay A. Alvaro, Ph.D., the current Director and Pastor of the HOPE Network at Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, NC; and Tate Cockrell, Ph.D., the current Family Pastor at Broadmoor Baptist Church in Madison, MS.

Former Students
Sphar's former Ph.D. students have gone on to serve in counseling positions throughout the United States. Jeff Nave, Ph.D. (2002) is the Director of Testing and Counseling and Assistant Professor of Psychology and Counseling at NOBTS. Cara Cochran, Ph.D. (2003) is the Assistant Academic Dean at Richmont Graduate University. Kathy Steele, Ph.D. (2004) is Assistant Professor of Psychology and Counseling at NOBTS. Kristyn Carver, Ph.D. (2004) is Assistant Professor of Psychology and Counseling at NOBTS. Shera Thiele, Ph.D. (2007) is a marriage and family counselor in Nashville, TN.

Three of Sphar's students have further developed the concepts of Reconciliation Focused Counseling by writing academic dissertations validating the attachment inventories proposed by the model. Courtney Putnam, Ph.D. (2007) wrote a dissertation which conducted reliability and validity analyses on the Love of Others Scale, which measures the level of social support a person perceives in their life as well as their current altruistic behavior. Putnam is the current Assistant Director at Counseling Services of Austin in Austin, TX. She also serves as Adjunct Faculty at Tarleton State University-Central Texas. She has presented on the concepts of Reconciliation Focused Counseling at several academic conferences and ministry oriented forums, including the 2008 Annual Conference of the Louisiana Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (LAMFT), the 2009 Annual Conference of the Christian Counselors of Texas (CCTX), and the 2008Women's Leadership Consultation of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Beth Kitzmiller, Ph.D. (2007) conducted her dissertation research on the validity and reliability of the Love of Self Scale, which measures a person's performance of various self-care behaviors as well as their current level of shame. Beth is currently serving as a counselor at First Baptist Church of Kingsport in Kingsport, TN. Louis Breland is currently working on a dissertation to establish the reliability and validity of the Love of God scale, which measures the strength of a person's extrinsic and intrinsic relationship with God.