Meet Brad Zook | Citylight Counseling Director

Brad Zook joins the Citylight staff team. Brad brings with him 20 plus years of ministry leadership. Most importantly, Brad loves Jesus and His church. You can say caring for a church is in Brad’s blood. He grew up in a Christian home...Brad’s a PK (pastor’s kid). It was in high school where a dream to serve the Church was formed.

“I grew up as a reserved and shy kid,” Brad shared. “I always looked at my dad preaching and knew I didn’t want to do that. I preferred no crowds. It was terrifying to speak in front of others. We moved around a few times. My junior year in high school we moved to a small town in south central Kansas. It was a big change, but I knew this was a brand-new opportunity for a reset. I didn’t have great friends prior to that. Most of them were not great influences. I thought I could become who I wanted. But who?”

Looking back, that was when Brad chose to live for God. He chose his own faith in Jesus and stopped living under the umbrella of his parent’s faith or the expectations of others in his church. The next two years, Brad’s faith grew. His love for God’s word increased. When he found the book of Ecclesiastes, he asked the Lord in prayer “What are we here for? What do You want from me and for me?”

“I found more meaning and purpose and answers in Ecclesiastes,” Brad confessed. “I found that book refreshing. It starts with “Everything is meaningless.” That is without God. Those words prompted me to take ownership of my faith.”

With new meaning and purpose, Brad set off for college at Grace University in Omaha. Before starting college, he noticed in small towns that the youth groups were small and had no pastors. He thought maybe he could do that. The next four years he worked hard at a degree in youth ministry and completed a youth ministry internship at the same local church he has been serving the past twenty years. The best thing that came out of college was meeting his wife, Leslie. Leslie and Brad have three kids: Chloe, 18; Parker 15; and Callen who is 12.

“I graduated college and came on staff full time,” Brad reminisced. “I was the Middle School Director and then the High School Director. The past seven years I’ve served as the Campus Pastor for our church’s Elkhorn campus. I love being in ministry and caring for people. Within the last six months, my desire to meet with people more one-on-one became apparent. I want to help people heal and walk them through the healing process. I want people to know Jesus and the hope and healing of the Gospel. Life can be hard, and the healing process sometimes can be long. People can feel isolated and lonely. They need help. I want to show them the hope they have in Jesus. I want to help.”

As the Counseling Director, Brad is available for short-term care and counseling. Meeting with Brad is an additional space or middle ground between City Groups and a professional counselor. Brad is available to help talk through things, add perspective, and counsel from scripture and with prayer.

“Often people know if they want professional counseling or not,” Brad described. “I want to be a friend and pastor for others at our church. We are talking as friends and processing life. I want to lean-in with them and help refine them. It’s sitting in the truth of the Gospel together. Knowing that Jesus lived the life that I should be living and died the death that I deserve to die has freed me. It’s not on my obedience but from His obedience. I’m grateful and loved and rejoice in what He has done for me. I have a unique identity in Christ. I’m still sinful and broken and never healed completely, AND I am absolutely loved and accepted by the Lord."

"To surrender to this and to be humbled in this truth gives freedom. I want others to know that they have this and that it is offered to them every day. I want to be a resource and a tool and an instrument for our church to live in this freedom because of Jesus.”

To make an appointment, go to: citylightomaha.org/requestcare.