Our Team
Professional, Compassionate, Ethical, Pastoral Christian Counselors: Pastor Jack Hammans, and Pastor Tom Coker.
Pastor Jack Hammans and Pastor Tom Coker are professional, National Christian Counselors Association Licensed Pastoral Counselors. They have extensive training in counseling and ministering to the emotional and spiritual wounds caused by broken relationships, fear, abuse, rejection, loss, and life circumstances. They are also trained as Certified Temperament Counselors.
As Christian counselors we believe that hiding our beliefs and trying to do value-free counseling is both unwise and impossible to do.
Like most counselors, we recognize that personal problems can result from physical problems, social-environmental influences and psychological pressures.
We believe that many problems can be spiritual in nature, resulting from not understanding biblical truth, sinful behavior, and living in a fallen world. We believe that individuals are created in God’s image and can only feel compete and fulfilled through relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. Thus Christian counseling, as opposed to other kinds of counseling, is deeply concerned with the spiritual as well as the emotional and physical needs of clients. The main goal of Christian counseling, like the goal of Christian living, is to enable clients to move toward greater emotional and spiritual health by becoming more like Jesus Christ.
As Christian counselors, we are not limited to psychological techniques or our own human efforts and wisdom. We believe that God is the ultimate authority in counseling and He gives us the resources to change. We believe that counseling without the Jesus Factor is about as effective as applying a band-aid over a bacteria-infested wound. We believe that counseling should involve praying about the client’s difficulties and looking to the authority of the Bible for guidance. In this way, we seek to encourage clients to build a dependency on God. The client can find forgiveness for the past, strength and comfort for the present, and hope for the future by trusting the Lord to daily meet needs and heal emotional wounds. We seek to reflect the character of Jesus Christ. While we do not try to force religion on our clients, we unapologetically urge them to develop a relationship with the only true Healer of our mind, body, and emotions, Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 43:18 and 19 reads, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Through the ministry of pastoral counseling, a way is made in the wilderness, rivers spring forth in the desert places in people’s lives and hearts are restored.
Counselor: Pastor Jack Hammans
Jack Hammans is a native of Oklahoma, and was ordained to the Christian ministry at age nineteen, Jack has been involved in the pastoral ministry for over forty years. He has served as lead pastor of churches in Oklahoma, Illinois, and Texas. He has lived in the Austin, Texas area since 1977. His most recent senior pastorate was at New Hope Community Church of Round Rock. After serving there for fifteen years, he stepped aside from the position of lead pastor in January 2010. He has remained on staff at New Hope as an associate pastor.
In June of 2010, Jack was invited to serve as a pastoral counselor in Head to Heart Restoration Ministry.
Jack has served as a member of the Board of Directors for several ministries including Good News to Mexico, the Austin Crisis Pregnancy Center, Church of the Hills, and the Austin Center for Hope (a local counseling center).
During his decades of ministry, Jack has spent countless hours in pastoral counseling. When he served as an associate pastor for Redeemed Christian Fellowship in Austin (1990-1992) he functioned primarily as a pastoral counselor and as the director of a lay counseling ministry.
Jack is experienced in pre-marital and marriage counseling, crisis counseling, and inner healing prayer ministry. He has a special burden for members of the body of Christ who suffer from depression. Because of his long career in pastoral ministry Jack has a special desire to minister to the unique needs of pastors and their families. He is committed to setting people free from emotional and spiritual bondage so they can move steadily forward in their personal journey toward wholeness in Christ.
Pastor Hammans’ Education and Pastoral Counseling Credentials Include:
- Attended Johnson Bible College; Knoxville, Tennessee
- Graduated from Midwest Christian College; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with a BA in Pastoral Ministry
- Graduate studies from Lincoln Christian Seminary; Lincoln Illinois
- Founder of City of Hope Counseling Center
- National Christian Counselors Association Certified Temperament Counselor
- National Christian Counselors Association Licensed Pastoral Counselor
Professional Affiliations:
- Member: National Christian Counselors Association
Counselor: Pastor Tom Coker
Tom Coker was born and raised in the Big Thicket of Southeast Texas. He grew up in a Christian home and attended the local Lutheran Church where he served as the president of the youth group.
During his high school years, God called him into the ministry of counseling. Despite the calling, Tom had dreams of making it big in the business world by having his own business. Upon graduating high school, Tom attended Concordia Lutheran College in Austin, Texas.
During his freshman year, he met his wife Kim. They were married in 1995. Like most marriages, Tom and Kim found out early that marriage is not easy. They attended marriage counseling, a “Christian Counselor,” who only wanted to help them mediate a divorce rather than lead them to the healing power of Christ. This experience soured his taste for counselors, but ended up playing a wonderful part in shaping the counselor that he is today. Despite the horrible experience of that particular counselor, Tom and Kim were able to find healing for their marriage and now have two wonderful children, Hannah and Noah.
Upon graduating from college, Tom moved to Dallas and experienced the failure of business and the success of promotion in the corporate world. Tom’s promotion ended up moving his family to Connecticut, but after five years in the Northeast, Tom had a new business opportunity and decided that this was his chance to move his family back to Texas. They settled on Round Rock where they still live today. Two years into the business, the economy took a downturn and he made the difficult decision to close the doors. It was also during this time that he and his family were struck with devastating news. As a result, Tom began to re-examine his life and whether or not his goals were God’s goals. After being on his knees in prayer, God reminded Tom of the calling that He put on his life as a teenager.
Tom is now a National Christian Counselors Association Licensed Pastoral Counselor and uses his professional training and personal life experiences to bring the healing power of Christ to those who are wounded and broken.
Tom Coker’s Education and Pastoral Counseling Credentials Include:
- BA in Business Management – Concordia Lutheran College
- Head to Heart School of Pastoral Counseling
- National Christian Counselors Association Certified Temperament Counselor
- National Christian Counselors Association Licensed Pastoral Counselor
Professional Affiliations
- Member National Christian Counselors Association