Hi, my name is Frank Tomlinson, the founder and president of Hope Coming Ministries. I have had a biblical counseling ministry in Simi Valley for over 25 years. I left my career in law enforcement in 1982 to investigate Christianity, while also operating a private investigation business with my homicide partner from LAPD. During my investigation of the Scriptures, I was privileged to meet four men who became mentors: Anthony Shepherd, Counseling Pastor at Grace Community Church; Drs. Larry Crabb and Dan Allender, founders of the Institute of Biblical Counseling; Dr. Charles Smith, Dean of The Master's College. My formal education included stints at Logos Bible Institute, Biola, The Master's Seminary and the Institute of Biblical Counseling. I have spent years and hundreds of hours with my mentors.

I came into Christianity and my study of the Bible after living through many experiences that most people would not know. I had lived through a career in law enforcement that allowed me to experience government systems and the deception of it all, from corruption to incompetence to those who worked hard for the people they served. I lived through the death of loved ones and the death of marriage (divorce), through being a single parent, to having contracts placed on my life. I was ambushed, shot and left for dead. Ambushed again when I walked into a trap. I was given the best police partner imaginable. Together we solved the maximum number of murders possible for a homicide team, assigned to LAPD's Robbery Homicide Division. So I had knowledge and experience when it came to many of the systems of life. I have often heard people comment at what they perceived to be opposite ways of life: from homicide detective to biblical counselor. Actually, I have found them to be similar experiences. The biggest difference is that one is destructive physically, while the issues of life, especially as they occur in relationships, can be destructive personally. Both can be murderous.

I have spent my life trying to figure people out. As a son who idolized his father, I worked hard to figure out how to fit into his world in order to become someone he would accept and be proud of. I never accomplished that, so I became a police officer to prove to my dad, myself, and my world that I had what it took to be a man. I was obsessed with figuring out criminals so I could chase them down and exact justice. I was a profiler before the label was attached to police work. Finally, as a pastor/counselor, I have tried to understand biblically who God is and why people, especially those who claim to be Christians, live the way they do. Phillip Yancey wrote that there might be many more Christians in the world today if it wasn't for Christians. That was my experience. The very thing that kept me from wanting to be identified with Christ was the Christians who appeared to be naïve and superficial in the way they dealt with life.

After 25 years in law enforcement, I have now spent 25 years as a biblical counselor. I do not know how many thousands of people I have seen, but I have heard an almost universal complaint about life: something's missing! Both Christians and non-Christians seem aware that something is missing in their love lives, in their families, in their work and in their pleasures, including their sexual relations. For Christians, it carries into an awareness of something missing in their churches and between them and God. Few seem able to identify the missing part; they just know that when they pay attention, it is very unsettling. I believe the Scriptures clearly identify the missing part and how it shows up in our relationships as husbands, wives, parents and friends.

The missing part has an effect on all of us, no one escapes. It applies to those who are warriors in our midst: military, law enforcement, fire fighters, EMT's and the families of each. I suffered permanent wounds in street combat situations, enduring criticism from the media and some within my agency who attempted to prevent me from returning to duty. My family was not spared the trauma. These are common experiences for folks who face severe trauma. My study of the Scriptures supplied the information to work through these tragedies to a better quality of life than I had before the wounds occurred. Part of the mission of HCM is to assist warriors who are having difficulties with the issues that arise from facing the realities of life in battle-zones.