 |
» About • Mission • Leadership • History •
The EMERGE Story
 |
Dr. and Mrs. Richard Dobbins
|
EMERGE has its taproot in a painful chapter of Dr. Dobbins' personal life. When he and his first wife, Dolores were expecting their first child, complications including a Caesarean-section birth caused Dolores to experience severe postpartum depression. This was during the late 1940s, a time when an intense antipathy existed between psychiatry and religion.
Dr. Dobbins recalls that episode in their lives this way:
"When we looked to the medical world for help, they blamed her problem on religion and urged us to get her out of her 'crazy religion,' reassuring us that this would result in her recovery. On the other hand, when we looked to the church for help, her devotional life came under scrutiny. We were told that she needed to spend more time in prayer and reading God's Word every day.
"Dolores was always a very devout person. All during this time, she was spending from 30 to 45 minutes a day reading her Bible and praying, even though she believed she was condemned and abandoned by God. She had no conscious awareness of God's presence in her life. But from her exemplary devotional habits, I knew her symptoms were not the result of neglecting this area of her life.
Many months into this experience, one morning during our devotions, the Lord miraculously healed her. From that time, she and I carried a deep compassion for Christians with mental health problems."
(Note: Dolores Dobbins developed non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1989 and went to be with the Lord in 1992. In 1994, Dr. Dobbins was married to the former Priscilla Adams of West Lafayette, Indiana. The couple met through mutual minstry friends.)
 |
Dr. and Mrs. Richard (Priscilla) Dobbins
|
In 1960, Rev. Dobbins enrolled at the University of Akron to study the behavioral sciences in order to better equip himself for ministry to parishioners with emotional problems. He earned a bachelor's degree, master's degree, and, in 1970, a Ph.D. He is convinced that the Scriptures contain the wisdom for living and the basic principles for managing life's problems. However, the Biblical "ought to's" often needs some practical "how to's" to help Christians apply what they believe to the practical problems of life. This is how he sees the behavioral sciences serving the church: not as a substitute for theology, but as an adjunct to it, explaining how Biblical truths can be applied to everyday life.
The concept of EMERGE Ministries gradually grew out of Dr. Dobbins' pastoral counseling ministry at Evangel Temple Assembly of God, Akron, Ohio. For several years, Rev. Dobbins counseled parishioners from his own congregation and other churches in the northeast Ohio area as word of his unique ministry spread. He also became a popular speaker for ministers' retreats and conventions at state and national levels. At that time, however, EMERGE did not have an identity or name separate from the church.
A church staff member from those days fondly recalls "Doc" sitting on the corner of one of the office desks and thumping his fist on the desktop as he remarked with great conviction, "Someday we're going to have a place where people in emotional pain can come. I don't know yet when or where, or what we'll call it, but we're going to have such a place someday!" The year was 1967.
EMERGE was established as an evangelical Christian mental health center separate from the church in 1973. The therapists and office staff of EMERGE moved into rented facilities a few miles from the church and three employees (2 of them part-time) worked under the direction of by-then Dr. Dobbins. He would continue in a dual role as pastor of Evangel Temple and director of EMERGE until June, 1976. At that time, with a strong sense of God's leading, he resigned from the pastorate to devote his full professional energies to the operation of EMERGE.
From 1973 to 1983, EMERGE was housed on the second floor of the Bryden Building West at 1815 W. Market Street in Akron. During those years, Dr. Dobbins created the "Train While You Travel" cassette tape series which evolved into the 24-lesson Pastoral Psychology Workshop. Dr. Dobbins' first book, "Train Up A Child," was published by The Fleming Revell Company in 1975.
GROW Magazine, the predecessor of EMERGINGS, also began publication in 1975. In 1976, Dr. Dobbins began an on-the-road seminar ministry all across the United States. Pastors of supporting churches assisted in enrolling other pastors from their communities and EMERGE's ministry to pastors took a giant step forward. Dr. Dobbins was also becoming a more popular speaker for local, state, and national conventions and ministers' retreats.
In 1976, the first class in the EMERGE/Ashland Seminary master's program in pastoral counseling enrolled 35 students for this two-year course of studies at EMERGE. Core courses for this master's degree were available through Ashland or at Cleveland or Youngstown State Universities. This vital program is still the core of EMERGE's Education Department.
A 5-minute daily radio program, "Totally Alive," was launched in 1980 and ministered to believers over a number of both AM and FM radio stations for several years.
An EMERGE highlight in 1981 was Dr. Dobbins' ministry at the Illinois District Assemblies of God women's retreat. His messages to the several hundred women assembled there became our "Feminine Spectacular" tape library for Christian women-still available and relevant to Christian women in the 21st century.
"The Believer and His Mental Health," our first film series and the product which really launched EMERGE into mass media ministry, was produced in Willmar, Minnesota, during a howling January blizzard in 1982. Participants braved temperatures averaging -20°F most evenings.
In 1983, a growing EMERGE moved into the Bryden Building East, just one building away at 1795 W. Market Street, to gain more space. Therapists' offices, executive offices, the reception area, and the library were on the third floor. The Development Department was in a small suite of offices on the second floor. The classroom, telemarketing (a new feature!), switchboard operator, and media/materials production were located in the basement.
In early 1984, EMERGE began developing the Institute of Pastoral Counseling, a distance-education program with optional one-week workshops at EMERGE. The primary market for this program was and remains pastors, their spouses, and other church staff in need of additional training in the behavioral sciences without a degree. This very popular program incorporated
Dr. Dobbins' ministry philosophy and EMERGE's seminars on various ministry topics with his existing and new lesson material in three specific areas:
Level 1: Basic theological and philosophical issues in Biblical and Christian pastoral counseling; basic diagnostic work; and how to develop a treatment plan for pastoral counseling work.
Level 2: Psychological and spiritual issues of human development; basics of premarital and marriage counseling for pastors; working with remarried and blended families.
Level 3: Specific issues including divorce and remarriage, homosexuality, the deeply disturbed, crisis counseling, ethics, and the pastoral counselor's spiritual and emotional health.
On Thanksgiving weekend, 1984, a dentist's office directly above EMERGE's basement office area suffered equipment malfunction and EMERGE staff arrived Monday morning to find valuable recording, typesetting and other office equipment, hundreds of cassettes, books, supplies, and furnishings ruined - covered with water or waterlogged ceiling tiles which had fallen. The water was about an inch deep on the floor. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because some of the equipment was so old an exact replacement could not be found and it was thus updated at no expense to EMERGE.
The need for additional therapy, support service, and classroom space soon made it obvious a much larger facility was needed. A search for property produced several available acres nearby at 900 Mull Avenue, which is EMERGE's current home.
 |
Groundbreaking 1985 L-R: Dr. Dale Berkey, Rev. Robert Crabtree, Dr. Richard Dobbins, Dr. Ed Decker, Mr. Kenneth King, Dr. Joseph Shultz, Rev. David Snyder, Rev Robert Graber.
|
Official fund-raising began at EMERGE's banquet in November 1984. A member of EMERGE's Official Board offered a $250,000 double-matching grant, stipulating that EMERGE's friends and ministry partners must match it with double that amount in pledges in a given time period. God performed a miracle and the goal was 90 percent reached within 60 days.
Construction got underway with a groundbreaking ceremony in March, 1985 and the facility was "home" to the EMERGE staff within eight months. Dedication ceremonies were held November 6, the same day as the 1985 EMERGE banquet.
Once in the new building, enrollment in the EMERGE/Ashland program more than doubled due to increased classroom space: there was comfortable seating for 70; 80 could be managed. Since 1987, a number of free half-day seminars has been offered to the Christian community. Some topics are developed especially for ministers and/or pastoral counselors; others for the general Christian community. All are designed to teach and to acquaint area pastors and believers with the wide range of mental health services offered by EMERGE.
In 1988/89, the Institute of Pastoral Counseling was overhauled and a more aggressive marketing program adopted. Since that time, enrollment has grown to over 700 students in several countries. Many of these students are Assemblies of God missionaries who have heard of EMERGE and IPC through various Assemblies of God Department of Foreign Missions functions. Dr. Dobbins and other members of the clinical team at EMERGE are regular featured guests at the Department of Foreign Missions' annual 3-week School of Missions in July for missionary couples on furlough.
In 1990, Berean University of the Assemblies of God inquired about using several of EMERGE's seminars in an undergraduate program for pastoral counseling. By early 1992, the program was in place and the first students enrolled. This program (recently made part of the Global University of the Assemblies of God) continues to be an active ministry of the Education Department.
On March 4, 1991, a long-time goal of EMERGE's leadership was fulfilled with the opening of a 14-bed Christian-oriented inpatient psychiatric program within the larger psychiatric unit of Cuyahoga Falls General Hospital, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. This program enabled EMERGE to provide a full range of inpatient psychiatric services to the Christian community. The program as initially conceived was discontinued in 1998, although clients are still referred to area psychiatrists who respect their faith.
In 1992, another long-term goal was realized when EMERGE was accepted for membership into APPIC (the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers). This membership opened EMERGE as an acceptable internship site to students wanting to complete that level of their psychology training in a Christian mental health organization. Two APPIC interns are selected each year.
In 1993, groundwork was laid for what remains a major ministry emphasis: "Children of Divorce." This program has already provided sound mental health help for hundreds of children and/or their parents, to minimize the destructive effects of this experience on young lives.
In 1994, plans were developed and introduced at the November 4 banquet for a 50 percent expansion of ministry space to accommodate a new Children's and Learning Center.
Additional space for work with children, a larger classroom, and additional therapy/counseling rooms were desperately needed. Construction was completed and the new facility dedicated in 1996 and includes a play therapy area as well.
In 1995, The General Council of the Assemblies of God placed in operation and began promoting the use of a confidential toll-free "HELPLINE" for all Assemblies of God ministers, missionaries in the United States on furlough, and their immediate families. Those calls are directed to EMERGE's facility and answered by a staff member with experience in counseling and pastoral ministry, who in turn offers prayer and professional guidance.
In 1998, plans were laid for a new radio ministry to share the good mental health news of the gospel, co-sponsored by EMERGE and Media Ministries of the Assemblies of God, "From This Day Forward" with host Dr. Richard D. Dobbins and co-host Rev. Jerry Qualls began airing January 1, 1999, on stations across the United States and in several other countries. This very successful and practical mental health ministry brought hope and healing to listeners in many nations for three years.
EMERGE has grown from its initial staff of four to a current staff of over 40 permanent employees (including 10 clinical staff members) plus four interns.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
