Board of Directors

Dr. James Scott, Jr. – Founder & President

Dr. James Scott, Jr. has a unique mix of education, training, and experience to minister to the whole person — body, mind, and spirit. With a B.S. degree in Theology, an M.S. degree in Clinical Pastoral Counseling, and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Dr. Scott has served as an ordained minister for over 37 years and has been counseling for nearly as long. His pastoral ministry has also included planting a church and supporting the planting of additional churches.

Memberships:

• • National Christian Counselors Association (NCCA).
  • Charter member of the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC) and holds memberships in the AACC Divisions of Addiction and Recovery Network; Grief, Crisis, and Disaster Network; Marriage and Family Network; and is also a member of the Society for Christian Psychology.

Licenses & Certifications:

• • NCCA Licensed Clinical Pastoral Counselor – Advanced Certification.
  • NCCA certified Temperament Therapist.
  • NCCA Board Certified in Marriage, Family, Sexuality, and Addiction therapy.
  • Dr. Daniel Amen certified Brain Health Professional through Amen University.
  • Certified instructor in the internationally-acclaimed, award-winning Couple Communication I education program.
  • Certified Principal, Accelerated Christian Education.
  • For several years, Dr. Scott was a Certified Personal Trainer with the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and still maintains certification with dotFit (partner with NASM) as a certified Fitness Professional and is also certified with NASM as a Fitness Nutrition Specialist.

Dr. Scott is also a writer who enjoyed a stint as a newspaper reporter and desk editor. He is the author of 19 books, and has written thousands of articles on a broad array of topics, as well as writing curriculums and original materials for churches and clinical counseling. He continues to write for his own popular blog now on the Scott Free Clinic website and many of his articles are re-published by other popular sites reaching hundreds of thousands of church leaders. His favorite place to be is on a beach anywhere, and he also enjoys any opportunity to be on a sailboat or to travel internationally.

Rev. Mary Carpenter Burt – Chairwoman of the Board

Rev. Mary Carpenter Burt is a minister and teacher who currently serves as founder of Word and Spirit International Ministries, which is based in North Wales, U.K. The ministry vision for Word and Spirit Ministries is to see the lost saved, and the Church maturing and fulfilling its divine purpose in Christ. Mary is American-born and was sent to the UK in 1999 by a church that was involved with the Brownsville Revival outpouring during the 1990’s for several years. She was ordained and commissioned by Christian International Europe Ministries, which she continues to network with. Mary is an internationally respected prophetic conference and seminar speaker and teacher. She conducts training and mentoring programs and also serves in oversight to other ministries and counsel to those on the front lines of ministry. Mary operates “Another Day Christian Prophetic Pastoral Ministry,” and, along with her husband, runs the “Without Measure Prophetic Group” meeting twice a month, as well as speaking and conducting conferences and short/long term missions. Her work with missions focuses on rural mission outreach, mostly to economically challenged areas in Africa, Asia, Indonesia, Middle East, the Far East, as well as in Europe and North and South America. Mary met her British husband, Joseph, in Wales, where they currently reside.

Tony Martin – Secretary of the Board

Tony has a background in missions, planting house churches, and discipleship, and is a man who knows the impact of major life changes. Some of those changes started when he graduated Penn State University in 1988 with a degree in Business Management. Life’s greatest change would come when, while watching The 700 Club on television, Tony surrendered his life to Jesus Christ on August 31, 1993. Tony says he sensed that night that God might want to use him as a missionary, even though he had never opened a Bible before. That “sense” would be confirmed when he would soon meet, “fall in love” with, and marry Gwen, who just happened to be a missionary serving in Sweden. To prepare to serve on the field, Tony spent seven years as a part-time student in seminary, and during that time he and Gwen would adopt their two daughters from China. After seminary, in July of 2012, the family headed to northern Sweden (close to the Arctic circle) where they defaulted the beginning of their mission work to starting house churches since Swedes would not come to church buildings. During this time, they would train several others in how to lead a house church. In May, 2019, tragedy struck the couple when Gwen was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and she died just five months later. This led to Tony returning to the United States where he is currently helping lead Sozo house church network and continues in his role of helping disciple others and build relationships with those who are far from God.

Kurt Erickson – Director

Kurt Erickson is the founder and director of Eleos Ministries and has been involved in full-time ministry for over 30 years as a church planter, pastor, chaplain, and speaker. Traveling to nearly thirty countries, he has lived for the past 28 years in the inner city of London working alongside the most vulnerable including the homeless, elderly, addicted, and terminally ill. He established the Eleos School of Ministry 2002 which has been involved in training and encouraging hundreds of pastors and lay workers. In his travels, Kurt has conducted numerous Hands of Mercy seminars/conferences designed to teach and motivate local churches to be more proactive in mercy ministries. Being a lover of the arts, he leads seminars surrounding topics such as “Christ in Culture” and promoting a “Theology of the Arts.” He has established “Cabarets” where Christian artists can perform their craft while organizing poetry groups and encouraging younger Christian artists.  Kurt has two sons, both serving in ministry.  Wesley is studying for a double master’s degree in Theology and Missions at ACU in Texas and Adam, living in London, is a music producer, ordained minister, and Bible teacher.