YOUR GUIDE
About Dr. Stephen Carter, Sr.
30 years of ministry. 2,000 clinical hours. One conviction: the Bible speaks to everything you face.
MY STORY
Faith That Actually Works
I didn’t plan on being a pastor. At nineteen, I was trying to figure out how ancient Scripture connected to the decisions I was actually facing, what to study, who to marry, how to live. The sermons I heard on Sunday felt disconnected from the life I was living on Monday. I knew God was real. I just couldn’t find anyone who could show me how His Word actually worked in the middle of a real week.
That frustration became a calling. Over three decades, I earned a Doctorate in Ministry with a specialization in pastoral counseling, completed over 2,000 supervised clinical counseling hours, and dedicated my life to one conviction: the Bible was not written for a museum. It was written for your Monday. Your marriage. Your paycheck. Your parenting. Your questions at 2 AM.
That’s why Faith for Life exists. Not to give you more religious information — but to give you theology that transforms your actual life. Deep enough to hold your weight. Direct enough to change your week. And tested every Sunday with a congregation of young couples in their twenties before it ever reaches your screen.
BACKGROUND AND TRAINING
Equipped to Guide
Not just a degree on a wall — every credential here was earned in the room, with real people, in real situations.
Doctorate in Ministry
Specialized cognate in pastoral counseling — combining theological depth with clinical skill for the counseling chair and the pulpit.
2,000+ Supervised Clinical Hours
Four ACPE units of clinical pastoral education. Hands-on counseling with individuals, couples, and families in crisis. Most pastors have zero supervised hours.
Master of Theological Studies
Graduate-level theological training providing the exegetical and systematic foundation for three decades of teaching ministry.
Bachelor of Religion
Undergraduate foundation in biblical studies, theology, and ministry practice.
30+ Years Pastoral Ministry
Three decades of leading churches, counseling families, and walking with people through every season Scripture describes.
Ordained Minister, EACRC
Ordained through the Evangelical Association of Congregational Reformed Churches. Accountable to a body of elders beyond the local church.
CURRENT MINISTRY
Where I Serve Today
I’m the Senior Pastor of New Life Christian Church in Wellington, Colorado. Our congregation is primarily young married couples in their twenties, people building marriages, starting families, navigating careers, and hungry for teaching that doesn’t talk down to them.
They are the reason Faith for Life sounds the way it does. Every topic, every framework, every teaching has been tested with a live audience of the exact people this ministry is designed to serve. When I teach on marriage, I’m teaching people I’ve counseled. When I teach on anxiety, I’m teaching people I’ve walked through it with. When it reaches your screen, it has already been in the room.
Alongside pastoral ministry, I maintain an active pastoral counseling practice, bringing 2,000 hours of clinical experience and three decades of pastoral wisdom to individuals and couples walking through life’s most complex seasons.
PERSONAL
Married 27 years. Father of four children. Family is not just a topic I teach about; it’s the place where everything I believe has been tested and proven.
I hold Scripture as the final authority in all matters of faith and life, and I teach from that conviction without apology. I hold truth firmly and deliver it with the compassion of a man who has learned that truth without love is not truth at all.
MY APPROACH
What You Can Expect
When you engage with my teaching, you’re going to get the real thing. I open the text. I stay in the text. I show the work. And then I show you why it matters for the decision you’re making this week.
Biblically Anchored
Every teaching starts and ends with Scripture. Not my opinions decorated with verses — actual exposition of what the Word says, in its original language, in its context, in its fullness.
Practically Grounded
Truth that stays in your head hasn’t done its job yet. I always bring it to the ground — to your marriage, your finances, your conversations, your Monday morning.
Honestly Delivered
I will say the hard thing when the hard thing needs to be said. But never to wound — always to build. You’ll get a pastor who respects you enough to be direct and cares enough to be gentle in the same sentence.
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