Upon hearing the diagnosis that David Powlison’s pancreatic cancer was terminal, many of us began to pray about his eventual replacement at Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF). David served CCEF and all of us well for many years; no doubt God’s plan to take him to heaven meant changes for the organization as well. Since almost the inception of biblical counseling and shortly after Jay Adams’ Competent to Counsel, CCEF has served Christ and His Church through providing biblical counseling, producing resources and training for biblical counselors, and publishing the Journal of Biblical Counseling. As part of my doctoral work at Westminster, I was trained through CCEF and their faculty. As an answer to our prayer, I rejoice in the announcement of their new executive director Alasdair Groves.
CCEF Announcement
The Board of Trustees is pleased to announce that Alasdair Groves has been named to succeed David Powlison as CCEF’s next executive director, effective January 1, 2020. The Board’s Search Committee had been active for some time, and then the Lord moved quickly after David’s passing, which resulted in this exciting development. The Board unanimously felt that Alasdair’s vision and passion for CCEF’s ministry, combined with his experience and obvious love for the Lord, his Word, and his people, were key for the next season of CCEF’s ministry.
For those of you who don’t know Alasdair, he grew up outside of Philadelphia, and is the son of the late Westminster Theological Seminary professor Alan Groves and Libbie Groves, lecturer in Old Testament at Westminster. He was educated at Dartmouth College and then at Westminster and CCEF, receiving a master of divinity degree with an emphasis in counseling. In between Dartmouth and Westminster, Alasdair and his wife Lauren ministered for two years with the Navigators.
After finishing seminary, Alasdair spent a year as a staff counselor with CCEF, and also served as the interim director of pastoral care at Westerly Road Church in Princeton. In 2010, Alasdair became a faculty member at CCEF, and left Philadelphia to found CCEF New England, which sits on the border of Vermont and New Hampshire. Alasdair still lives there with Lauren and their three children, Emily, Adara, and Alden.
In addition to his teaching role, Alasdair has served as the director of CCEF’s School of Biblical Counseling for the last two-and-a-half years. His first book, Untangling Emotions, was released earlier this year by Crossway. He has also published more than half a dozen articles in the Journal of Biblical Counseling, and contributed a chapter to an e-book for pastors published by Covenant Eyes. He has taught dozens of seminars across New England and beyond, hosts CCEF’s podcast, and has produced numerous blogs, videos, and audio resources.
Personal Message from Alasdair Groves
It is an incredible privilege to step into the role of executive director at CCEF. I say that for two reasons. First, I am honored to be trusted with this organization and its mission, which have been so important to the birth and growth of the biblical counseling movement. In particular, being called to step into David Powlison’s shoes is as high of an honor and as high of a bar as I can imagine. The second and more personal reason I am honored is because of the way CCEF has so profoundly impacted my own soul and the way I have come to walk with the Lord.
I am so thankful to be inheriting responsibility for an organization that is in such a healthy place and one whose mission is so vitally important for the church. I believe we are well poised to move forward into an exciting and highly productive season of ministry. Yet, as we do so, I recognize how imperative it is that we remain faithful to our core calling and the great efforts that have led us to such a healthy place. Please pray for me and for all of us at CCEF as we strive to innovate in order to deepen the content and methodology that CCEF has labored for more than 50 years to develop. Pray that we would be both faithful and fruitful, both creative and careful. Pray that our deepest motivation would always be worship of the living God and that we would do our best to serve his people by bringing Scripture to life in fresh, personal, and pressingly relevant ways.
Videos of Alasdair Groves to Introduce You to Him
Here are two small videos from Alasdair that can serve to introduce you to him. I look forward to a more formal introduction at a later time.
KevinCarson.com | Wisdom for Life in Christ Together
