Barbara Finney Benfield is the Founder and Co-Director of Mourning Dove Discipleship Counseling, Inc., a Christ-centered nonprofit ministry devoted to biblical discipleship, spiritual formation, and personal restoration. Her work integrates Scripture-based guidance with structured coaching principles to help individuals grow in clarity, emotional maturity, leadership strength, and spiritual confidence.

Barbara’s walk with Christ has been marked by seasons of personal refinement, deep study of Scripture, and a growing conviction that true transformation flows from the Word of God applied faithfully to daily life. Her own journey of learning to surrender self-reliance and embrace biblical truth as the foundation for growth shaped her passion for helping others move from confusion to clarity and from stagnation to forward movement. She believes discernment and disciplined obedience are essential companions in the Christian life.

Barbara became a counselor and coach out of a long-standing desire to see individuals strengthened spiritually and emotionally. Through years of ministry involvement, discipleship leadership, and structured coaching development, she recognized the need for biblically sound, ethically grounded, and practically structured support systems within churches and recovery environments. This led her to develop organized coaching frameworks that help individuals identify obstacles, clarify goals, and implement sustainable change.

She is a Board Certified Life Coach and has completed the Foundations of Mental Health Coaching through Light University/American Association of Christian Counselors. Her work focuses on discipleship-based life coaching, leadership development, ministry alignment, emotional resilience, boundary formation, and strategic life transitions. Barbara also assists ministry leaders and organizations in building structured discipleship and credentialing pathways that maintain both spiritual integrity and operational clarity.

Her specialties include faith-integrated coaching, executive and ministry leadership coaching, recovery ministry support structures, vision-to-action planning, and discernment in complex life decisions. She is particularly passionate about helping clients bridge the gap between spiritual conviction and disciplined execution.

Barbara serves individuals and ministry leaders in the [insert local region — e.g., Western North Carolina] and surrounding communities, while also providing structured coaching support through virtual sessions when appropriate. She and her husband, Heath, are active in ministry partnership and are committed to serving the local church with humility, biblical conviction, and practical wisdom.

Her approach is Scripture-centered, growth-oriented, and forward-focused — helping clients move toward alignment with both biblical truth and purposeful action.