Founder of Daymark Pastoral Counseling Named Beeson Divinity School’s Associate Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling

Published on April 15, 2022 by Kristen Padilla

Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School has named Gordon Bals associate professor of pastoral care and counseling. Bals, who is the founder of Daymark Pastoral Counseling in Birmingham, will begin in this new role in the fall.

A board-certified pastoral counselor, Bals started Daymark in 1997. He previously worked as an adolescent and family counselor and as an assistant pastor at Shades Valley Community Church in Birmingham. In addition to his counseling, Bals leads training workshops for pastors and congregational leaders and various enrichment and training events for local churches.

Since 2013, Bals has been teaching courses in pastoral care and counseling, marriage and family counseling, and sexuality and pastoral care at Beeson Divinity as an adjunct instructor.

“We are excited to have Gordon Bals joining us in a full-time capacity at Beeson Divinity School,” said Associate Dean Thomas L. Fuller. “Dr. Bals has been such a blessing to our students, both inside and outside the classroom. He brings a wealth of experience to this work, ranging from local church ministry to private counseling practice to teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels.”

Fuller says the impact he will have on Beeson’s students will be essential to their education and future endeavors.

“Gordon has a passion for seeing students shaped deeply by God’s grace, grounded firmly in God’s Word and equipped well to serve God’s people,” Fuller added. “He models so well what we strive to do at Beeson: to prepare men and women for faithful ministry by coming alongside them in intensely personal ways in worship, in discipleship and in their studies.”

With the addition of Bals to the faculty, Beeson Divinity looks forward to providing students with a broader range of learning opportunities in pastoral care and counseling. As the school seeks to prepare pastors, chaplains, Christian counselors and other ministry leaders, Bals will play a key role in helping Beeson Divinity strengthen its existing programs and develop new programs to meet the needs of the church and the world.

“I am overjoyed at this opportunity and excited to focus my energy on teaching, training and mentoring students to provide theologically-informed pastoral care and counseling,” said Bals.

Bals is the author of Grace from Head to Heart: Experiencing God’s Kindness in a Fallen World and Common Ground: Discovering God’s Redemption in Your Marriage. He is affiliated with the Christian Association for Psychological Studies and the American Association of Christian Counselors. Bals holds an Ed.D. in Pastoral Community Counseling from University of Sarasota, an M.A. in Biblical Counseling from Colorado Christian University and a B.S. from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Gordon is married to Dawn, and they have three daughters.

Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.