To purchase a copy of Learning to Listen or for more information, click here.

Evan: Tell us about yourself?

Joseph: My name is Joseph Hussung. I live in a small town in southwest Kentucky, Hopkinsville. My wife Sarah and I have been married for 18 years and have three children. Sophia (14), Liora (12), and Alistair (8). I have worked in some form of ministry since I was about 18 years old. Most of those years have been spent on staff at churches doing about everything you can imagine. From leading worship, running Sunday School, Youth, etc… Currently, I am the Director of Ministry Partnerships and Recruitment and a Senior Counselor at Fieldstone Counseling. I get to counsel there as well as run our Residency program for new graduates coming out of their Masters in Counseling degree programs. Finally, I hold an MDiv and DMin from SBTS. 

Evan: What led you to work on this project? 

Joseph: There are several reasons for working on this specific project. The first one, is that I just struggle listening at times. Not just in counseling but in my personal life.  I can “zone out” and be thinking about other things while people are talking to me. I can just not be listening with intent, and forget quickly what they have said. So, in lots of my relationships this has been an issue I have needed to work through to grow in the way I love the people around me. Second, it is just an extension of my doctoral thesis at SBTS. I wrote a biblical grounding for empathy in a biblical counseling context and in the final chapter I applied empathy to the counseling room. Without getting into the weeds of that, empathy will always be attached to what counselors call “attending” skills, which include listening and early stages of responding to what we are hearing. So this book flows from that earlier work on empathy. 

Evan: Who should read this volume?

Joseph: Really anyone can read the book. I tried to write it in a fairly accessible way and not make it a “technical” counseling book. It is written to and for counselors but I would hope the principles would be helpful for anyone who has important conversations with others. Pastors in particular could be helped even if they don’t see themselves as counselors. Church members often seek counsel from their pastors and a pastor may benefit from thinking about developing this skill as they attempt to meet the needs of their people. So, whether one is formally counseling or not, everyone will benefit from my purpose and posture of listening sections in the book, and the practical side has helpful principles of listening that everyone could apply to their own contexts. 

Evan: What do you hope readers will gain from Learning to Listen? 

Joseph: Over and above everything I hope that people who read Learning to Listen will catch a glimpse of the kind of God we serve. We serve a God who loves us so much that he would incline his ear toward us. Our relationship with God began because God didn’t leave us to our own devices. He looked on us with compassion and sent his son to save us. When we are wanting to help anyone, we must be able to pattern God’s listening. We must be gentle, humble, and patient with people as they tell us their stories and then skillfully help them in their times of need. 

Evan: How do you think this instant gratification age has affected listening skills inside the church and in the culture at large? 

Joseph: That’s a great question. One I have really thought much about. I think modern people struggle to listen for a variety of reasons.  Maybe if in our desire for instant gratification we have lost our ability for process, this has affected our ability to listen. Listening isn’t something that bears fruit quickly. Listening and building a relationship with someone takes time, attention, focus. These are all things that are more difficult if we are looking for quick fixes and simple answers. Maybe one other way that an instant gratification age could negatively affect our listening skills is because in an age where we want everything done quickly we don’t reflect deeply about anything. Listening well requires us to think about what we have heard. It takes an ability to try and think about what not just what we are hearing, but how a person is and how they may or may not react or think in given situations. We are trying to get a feel for who they are as a person and that takes time and reflection. These seem fairly counterintuitive in an age of instant gratification. 

Evan: Thank you, Joseph! May the Lord bless you and your ministry. To purchase a copy of Learning to Listen, click here.

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Evan Knies is an elder of North Hills Church in West Monroe, LA. He serves as the publisher for Courier Publishing and teaches at Claiborne Christian School. He is the husband of Lauren and father to Maesyn and Josiah. He is a graduate of Boyce College and Southern Seminary.