The Northwest Voice

All > Having Faith
From Advertising to Counseling with God's Word
Topics: counseling, business, college
Posted by portersummit Wed Apr 2, 2008 09:11:12 PDT
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Like many Summit Bible College students, graduate Dr. Michael Mannia has traveled a long road to find his niche in God’s plan.

His journey began in the corporate world of advertising in Texas, where Mannia says he found himself merely drifting… until 2001, when he heard from God what he was to do with the rest of his life.

“God told me in a calm voice that He wanted me to help the members of His body who were hurting both spiritually and emotionally,” Mannia said.  “God’s voice sounded so real to me, I think if others had been in the room, they’d have heard it too.”

After that, Mannia started a home Bible study, where participants praised his counseling skills, thus confirming God’s call in his mind.

In time, Mannia moved his family to Bakersfield, where the direction of his life turned to education in 2003. 

“I felt God was calling me into the ministry to counsel,” he said.  “I looked at several counseling programs, but kept coming back to SBC.  For me, it was very instrumental in rooting me in the Biblical counseling approach.  The professors who taught counseling were practicing what they were teaching… they were professionals in the field.” 

While earning his Bachelor-Master Concurrent degrees, Mannia felt the need to get more involved in the Christian community, so he helped with the 2004 Franklin Graham Festival in Bakersfield. 

He says these new ventures helped him switch gears both mentally and spiritually, but one more big change was needed to focus his time and form him up for a future career in Christian Counseling. In a bold move, he opened a fulltime Daycare Center with his wife Jeannelle.  Working from a home-based business gave him flexibility for study time and serving the Lord. 

“This was both humbling and good training, going from Corporate America to changing poopy diapers,” Mannia said with a smile.                         

The work began paying dividends in 2005, when Mannia earned both his Bachelor and Master degrees.  Then it was on to getting his Doctorate in Christian Counseling,  which he earned in June 2007, as well as becoming a minister licensed by SBC. 

In August, Mannia opened his long-awaited Kingdom Community Ministries, where he counsels the total person.

“There are very few people in Bakersfield offering true Christian counseling,” he said.  “You have a lot of Christian counselors who don’t bring their beliefs into their counseling.  Then some focus only on the spiritual, not taking the physical or mental aspects into consideration.  We need to be able to look at all facets of our humanness, the physical (mind and body) and the spirit.”

To help get things started, Mannia sent out flyers and held a meeting for pastors.  And so far, it seems to be working.  He has over 20 counselees coming on a regular basis, with room for more. 

“My ministry is very rewarding.  When you’re fulfilling your calling from God, you’re fulfilling a strong, God-given desire.  It’s very humbling to do what I do, to have counselees open up their personal lives to me.”

If you’d like to contact Dr. Mannia to discuss a counseling issue, you can call him at 661-616-0247 or email him at      drm@bak.rr.com.    

 

 

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