
Helping shape Christ-centered marriages, families, and individuals.
Choose this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. -Joshua 24:15
MARRIAGE
Marriage is the practical relationship that God provides to us to help us better understand the relationship He desires to have with us. Marriage has less to do with the relationship between husbands and wives and more to do with the relationship between you and Jesus.
We are a resource for your marriage so that you can continue to grow and be the husband and wife God intends you to be.
SYMBIS Assessment
This is a phenomenal tool that helps you better understand your spouse and yourself. It provides some very practical tools for growing your marriage and implementing sustainable practices within your marriage.
At Silverdale, we have a number of certified SYMBIS facilitators that are equipped to walk through each section of the assessment and provide some practical guidelines within each parameter.
Marriage Counseling
Because this relationship is intended to mirror the relationship we have with Christ, it is certainly a relationship the enemy loves to attack. Far too often in our marriages, we get stuck in, what seems to be, dead ends. We get discouraged, hurt, depressed and mad which usually leads to some very unhealthy and dysfunctional places. All of our efforts to climb out of these marital pits of conflict leave us exhausted and feeling very hopeless and sometimes we’re ready to give up altogether.
However, we believe that God has a great deal to say about resolutions and reconciliation! The cornerstone of any family is a healthy marriage and God desires you to have a whole marriage that is reconciled first to Him and then to one another. The heartbeat of our counseling ministry is helping to develop and shape Christ-centered marriages. God’s word is full of instructions that are pragmatic, relevant, creative, and also a lot of fun!
FAMILY
We believe that we, as Silverdale Baptist Church, are helping shape Christ-centered families.
We emphatically believe in discipleship that starts in our homes. As fathers and mothers, it is our responsibility and privilege to raise our sons and daughters into the men and women that God created them to be.
Family Worship
Family Worship is not necessarily a common term and yet we often practice family worship components in our homes. Praying with our families, listening to worship music, engaging in family devotions, all of these practices and more can be family worship if they are done with a worshipful heart, it’s worship! We want to help families grow in such a way that Christ is honored in their homes and that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control are all fruits that are demonstrated in every household.
Meet Me @ Oaks
A place for parents to collaborate, commiserate and celebrate. As parents, we struggle with creativity, discouragement and also victories. Fortunately, we are living in a time where we have more resources available to us as parents than ever before. Join us on Wednesday nights at Oaks Coffee House at 6:30. Meet Me @ Oaks will kick off in August of 2020.
COUNSELING
Our counseling ministry is grounded in the truth and ever-so-relevant coping skills found throughout God’s word.
We all need Godly counsel at times when life has become too overwhelming.
Our counselors are trained clinical professionals that overtly and explicitly use God’s word to discover healthy daily living practices.
Counseling
Silverdale Counseling is a ministry for SBC members. We provide up to six sessions which allows us to better understand the etiology of the issue, behavioral patterns, resources available to the individual, couple or family, and to help develop a treatment plan that is practical and achievable. We work from a nouthetic counseling model as well as including cognitive-behavioral & psychodynamic principles. We also work with a number of community referrals to assist us in any further treatment that might be needed.
Counseling Focus
Our counseling ministry primarily focuses on:
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Couples Counseling (Marriage & Premarital)
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Anxiety
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Depression
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Self-harm
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Teenage Suicidality
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Grief Counseling
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Addictions (substance, sexual, etc.)
Although our counselors are trained and equipped in dealing with childhood and adolescent issues, trauma-related issues including PTSD, psychosis, bi-polar disorders, gender identity issues, and personality disorders, we refer this out to local community partners whose scope of practice is more inclusive and diverse.
To obtain more information about our counseling ministry or to inquire about how to schedule a session, please contact us through our confidential email: counseling@silverdalebc.com.

Dr. Ben Schoening
Ben is our Pastor of Marriage, Family & Counseling Ministries. He has a passion to see individuals, couples and families grow in who they were each created to be. He believes that our struggles, our pain, our pasts, and even our diagnosis do not define who we are. The joy of counseling is to be able to talk through the places that we get stuck and develop practices and techniques which lead to hope and freedom.
Ben has been counseling in ministry since 2002 and has also served youth, college, and worship ministry. He has a variety of professional and clinical experience working with children and teens who have suffered from a wide variety of dysfunctions and diagnosis/ He has worked with children who have been at risk from being removed from their community and worked in an adult psychiatric hospital for a number of years providing individual and group counseling. Ben has a B.A. in Psychology, an M.A. in Marriage & Family therapy, and a Doctorate of Education in Counseling Psychology.
“It is a privilege to be a part of the help and healing in the lives of those I counsel. I consider it both an honor and tremendous responsibility that individuals, couples and families are willing to let me into their lives in the middle of some very difficult and challenging circumstances. It is our duty, as Christian counselors, to provide sound counsel that is founded in strong empirical research and, most importantly, that is rooted in the truth of God’s word. It is a joy to experience an awakening of hope with those who allow me to step into their lives and circumstances.” ~ Ben
To contact Ben, email our confidential email address: counseling@silverdalebc.com
Dr. Bill Belva
Bill has been involved in the employee assistance business for the last 25 years and a pastoral counselor for over 45 years. He is skilled in Critical Incidence Debriefing, Alcohol and Drug Counseling, Marriage and Family and Solutions to employer-employee conflicts.
Dr. Belva is the Coordinator of the Employee Assistance Program at Hamilton Medical Center in Dalton, Georgia received his Doctorate of Ministry from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He also received his Licensed Employee Assistance and Certified Employee Assistance certificates which qualifies him to be a Licensed Certified Employee Assistance Professional. In 2005 he received certification at the Cape Cod Symposium for Alcohol and Drug Abuse.
He formed the Employee Assistance Program because he recognized that employees and their family members may face personal or work-related problems, difficulties, and concerns from time to time. These problems can and do affect the employee’s personal well-being as well as their job performance.
Some of the issues addressed in Dr. Belva’s practice are Job Stress, Marital and Family Problems, Substance Abuse, Finances, Grief, Relationships, Job Satisfaction, Workplace Violence, Job Performance or Co-Worker/Management Conflicts.

Books We Recommend
- Boundaries by Henry Cloud & John Townsend
- Anxious for Nothing by Max Lucado
- Keeping Your Kids on Your Team by Charles Stanley
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Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
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Love & Respect by Emmerson Eggerichs
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The Language of Sex by Dr. Gary Smalley & Ted Cunningham
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The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller
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You and Me Forever by Francis Chan
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Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles by Paul David Tripp
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Intentional Parenting by Doug Fields
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Raising Kingdom Kids by Tony Evans
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Praying Circles Around Your Kids by Mark Batterson
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Kingdom Marriage by Tony Evans
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Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
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Draw The Circle by Mark Batterson
Podcasts We Recommend
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Fierce Marriage
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5 Minute Fatherhood

7236 Bonny Oaks Drive
Chattanooga, TN 37421
info@silverdalebc.com
423.892.2173
Silverdale exists to lead people into an authentic relationship with Christ so they will worship God, grow in their faith, and serve the Lord in our community and world.
CAMPUSES
Bonny Oaks
St. Elmo
North Ooltewah