By Luke Fitzgerald

Keith Palmer was on track to fulfill his lifelong dream.

Since childhood, Palmer had wanted to work for the space program at NASA, and he viewed his studies at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona as the next step in achieving this goal.

But then everything changed.

“When I became a believer, it just turned my world upside down,” he says. “The thought of flying the space shuttle was cool, but serving Jesus was better.”

This fall, Palmer started teaching full-time at The Master’s University — not in the engineering and computer science department, but in the biblical counseling program, which holds an uncompromising commitment to the sufficiency of Scripture to address all soul care problems. His love for counseling draws from a well of 20 years of pastoral ministry.

After the Lord saved him in college, Palmer sensed a call to full-time ministry. He moved to California and earned a Master of Divinity at The Master’s Seminary, teaching as an adjunct science professor at TMU on the side. Later, he earned a Doctor of Ministry in biblical counseling from Southern Seminary and a Ph.D. in biblical studies and biblical counseling from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

For the past two decades, Palmer has pastored at Grace Bible Church in Granbury, Texas, counseling extensively and speaking at events around the world — including at counseling training centers in Russia, the Philippines, Jordan, and Dubai. In 2013, he became a fellow and supervisor for the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).

In 2017, he began teaching part-time at TMU once again — this time in biblical counseling courses. And now, as of this fall, he’s made the transition to teaching full-time in TMU’s graduate and D.Min. biblical counseling programs.

One of Palmer’s favorite courses to teach is called Applied Soul Care. He says he loves the one-on-one design of the course.

“I get to advise students just after they’ve counseled a real person — a hurting, struggling person that they’re trying to care for,” he says.

Together, Palmer and his students examine what the Bible says about their counselee’s struggles, strategize about how to apply it, and pray for wisdom in approaching the situation. In the process, students gain tangible experience in the art of biblical soul care. Palmer also draws from situations he’s faced in church ministry to get his students to think through difficult counseling scenarios.

Through it all, Palmer’s goal is to teach and model what it looks like for a counselor to serve the church well.

“I want to be an example of what it means to walk with God,” he says. “Just humbly walking with Him, depending on His grace, leaning on Him, and watching over my own heart.”

To learn more about TMU’s biblical counseling program, visit this page.