Counseling For Individuals, Couples & Families
Cornerstone Chapel’s counseling ministry allows the needs of individuals, marriages and families within our church body to be met. Personal loss, emotional pain, sin issues, spiritual growth and discipleship are all areas in which our Christian counseling ministry could be helpful. Secular counseling attempts to make life more manageable by creating personal wholeness apart from God. In contrast, the Christian counseling at Cornerstone Chapel encourages reliance on the resources that God has provided, including His love, grace, mercy and truth of His Word to glorify Him in the midst of our circumstances.
Our church’s approach to counseling is predominantly determined by an understanding of Scripture, which shapes our view of man, pain, and hope in relation to God. The church’s desire is that the counseling ministry would help develop the spiritual community of believers that exists at Cornerstone Chapel.
Weddings & Premarital Counseling
Cornerstone Chapel offers premarital counseling and officiates weddings for brides and grooms who know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, attend Cornerstone Chapel, and are committed to living within the boundaries God has set for marriage.
Premarital Counseling Requirements
- 1 initial appointment with a premarital coordinator
- 4 sessions with Pastor Kelley or Pastor Andy
- 8 sessions with Pastor Kelley if stepparenting is involved
Chris Cole, MA, LPC
Chris Cole is a counselor on staff at Cornerstone, the founder of Emmaus Family Counseling Center in Ashburn, Virginia, and serves as a network counselor with New Life Ministries. Chris served for 14 years as the Director of Counseling and then as the Director of Congregational Care at Christian Fellowship Church in Ashburn. He also worked as an elementary school guidance counselor in the Fairfax County school system for four years.
Chris utilizes a Biblical framework to think through the issues that people seek help with. He brings many years of pastoral experience and counseling together to effectively bring healing and restoration to people in relationships. Areas of experience include working with men in recovery from sexual addiction, marriage counseling, as well as individuals with anxiety and depression. He also works with children and adolescents. He has trained lay facilitators and implemented support and recovery programs in the church setting. He enjoys speaking to church groups on a variety of topics. He and his wife Helen have four children and live in Ashburn.
Laurie Hesler
Cornerstone counselor Laurie Hesler is a licensed marriage and family therapist. With over 30 years in the field, her clinical focus is children, adolescents, couples, singles and families dealing with a variety of life challenges. She has extensive experience working with families who have children with developmental, behavioral and/or emotional concerns.
Laurie married her husband in 1984 and they have four children. They have lived in southern California, Australia, Maryland and Virginia while serving in youth ministry, missions and pastoring in a wide variety of churches. Laurie is passionate about the difference Christ makes in people’s lives when dealing with ordinary or extraordinary circumstances, and she seeks to challenge those in her care with words from her life verse, Roman 12:2: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Pastor Andy Wagner
Pastor Andy Wagner is the Executive Pastor of Ministries and Church Operations at Cornerstone, and oversees Cornerstone’s Counseling Ministry. He is a licensed professional counselor and a certified mediator. Pastor Andy received his bachelor’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Indiana Wesleyan University (where he met his wife, Darla) and his master’s degree in Professional Counseling from Liberty University. He and Darla live in Leesburg and have two children, Kendra & Logan.