Thank you for joining the ALCS team as we celebrate 20 years of serving Central Texas! Some of you have sought services here and referred people you love to us. Others are pastors who have created unique opportunities for partnership and ministry. Still others join us from the trenches of counseling, connecting with us through shared expertise. All of us, together, have made possible a dream bigger than I could have possibly imagined.

In 2003, 20 years ago, I began ALCS in a borrowed office with a desire to meet people in the inevitable mess of life. I knew firsthand the power of pain to shape our behavior and relationships, holding us back from being loved and loving the way we long to. I wanted to continue serving as a counselor, the way I had for nine years, but I wanted something more. I wanted to practice, and ultimately to develop a team, that could serve the community in a way that was reflective of my heart: providing services that were clinically excellent and foundationally Christian.

The words of John 10:10 and Matthew 22:37-39 became my true north, the guiding focus for enlisting others to come alongside me in navigating the work of helping people and relationships heal. We’ve sought to become a refuge for weary, fearful, depressed, lonely people. A place where all people, regardless of faith or background, could be seen, heard, and helped. A place safe from society’s stigmas. A place where we could fulfill a shared mission: “To help people live and to help people love.” And it happened.

Over the years, we grew. New staff strengthened the common heartbeat of ALCS while expanding our capacity to serve by contributing unique expertise. We witnessed the impact. Couples and marriages found relief from persistent patterns, experiencing connection emotionally, spiritually, and sexually. Families discovered the capacity of conflict to strengthen relationships, not just damage them. Young children expressed their pain through play and found their language understood. Men and women brought sexual issues out of hidden, lonely places and found the light of acceptance. People were liberated from the painful grip of trauma through specialized care—and, above all, patient love. Growth gave way to more growth. We opened satellite offices in Kyle and Georgetown, increasing our impact, convenience, and accessibility. We’ve delighted in serving new communities with the same faithfully integrated heart.

20 years later, we stand together as a flourishing team of twelve therapists and two administrators. And we stand overwhelmed by gratitude. We can simply say: Thank you. Thank you for trusting us with your hearts, with your stories, and with the people you love and lead. Thank you for joining us as we pursue what is, I believe, our highest calling: to love God and others with our whole selves.

It’s a calling that leads, inevitably, to more abundant life.