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About Us
Our Mission
The mission
of The W. Burney Overton Institute of Practical Theology, Inc., a
not-for-profit, charitable Georgia corporation, is to contribute to building
strong communities by facilitating the development of healthy relationships
among individuals, couples, families, organizations and congregations. Our
mission is accomplished through education programs and counseling services
based on the practical theology of the unconditional love of God.
Our
Vision
Our vision
is the “Community of God,” formed by individuals and organizations that
recognize and acknowledge the inherent value of each person and all of God’s
creation, thus treating each person and all of creation with respect and
caring.
Formation
of The Overton Institute
A small
study group that was formed in the late 1970’s met with Burney every fall and
spring for nearly 20 years. Several people in that group realized that the
Relational Communication™Program, and the practical theology (both
pastoral counseling and religious education) by which it is informed, would be
lost to future generations if moves were not made to preserve it within an
organization. This group of “Burney people” had experienced the life-changing
impact of Relational Communication™and the theology of the
unconditional love of God. They recognized the efficacy of the program for
contributing to building strong, healthy individuals, families and
communities, and they wanted to assure that the Relational Communication™Program
would continue to be offered in the future. Further, the group recognized the
need to archive and publish Burney’s papers and sermons, along with his book,
in order to assure that his work proclaiming the theology of the unconditional
love of God would be available to future generations.
The Reverend W. Burney Overton
and Miriam C. Overton
A Brief
Biography
The Reverend W. Burney
Overton
June 13, 1916 - December
16, 1998
Wilson
Burney Overton was born in 1916 in Alabama and grew up in the mountains of
East Tennessee. He often talked about the influence the Great Depression had
on his formation as a teenager and young adult. He graduated from Tusculum
College and Princeton Theological Seminary. He was ordained in the
Presbyterian Church in 1942, and served as the pastor of several parishes in
New York and Tennessee before making the decision to focus his ministry in
pastoral counseling. After completing a training program in Knoxville, TN,
under the direction of Dr. William Crane, he began working at the Pastoral
Counseling Institute (PCI) in Athens, GA in 1968. During his several years of
full-time counseling at PCI, Burney began to develop and establish the
Relational Communication™ Program. In 1971 he joined the staff at
the Institute of Church Renewal (ICR) in Atlanta. After several years at ICR,
he was named the Director of the Counseling Center at Peachtree Presbyterian
Church in Atlanta.
In 1981, at
the invitation and support of the Rev. Tom Are, the Senior Pastor at Shallowford
Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Burney established Shallowford Training and
Counseling Service (STACS), where he could expand his concept of "grace
theology" and offer the Relational Communication™Program. Burney
served as clergy on the staff of Shallowford Church as the Director of STACS,
with a full schedule of counseling, group facilitation, workshops, retreat
leadership and service to the Greater Atlanta Presbytery of the Presbyterian
Church (USA), until his retirement in the spring of 1998.
Throughout his work as a pastor and counselor,
Burney focused particularly on the process of communication, observing how
communication between people serves either to build or block relationships.
Realizing that relationships are the key to healthy and enriched lives, and that
effective communication is the key to satisfying and fulfilling relationships,
Burney developed a program he named Relational Communication™in order
to teach others the principles and skills necessary for effective communication.
In the mid-1980’s Burney made an intentional
shift in his language from talking about “grace theology” to talking about “the
unconditional love of God,” and expanded his Relational Communication™program
based in the theology of the unconditional love of God. Burney believed deeply
that God loved him with no conditions attached to that love, and therefore, he
was called to love others with no conditions attached. Burney not only taught
the unconditional love of God, he lived it out. The experience of being loved
unconditionally by him was saving grace for many who were blessed to know Burney
and build a relationship with him.
Burney was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in
the spring of 1998 and decided to close STACS soon after. Fighting the extreme
fatigue brought on by the disease, he continued to write his "Burney's Papers,"
sharing with us his experience of dying, and to meet with people to offer his
wisdom and support until several weeks before he died. Burney preached his last
sermon in the All Saints’ Day Service of Healing at Shallowford Presbyterian
Church the first of November, based on the text of his favorite Scripture
passage, the 23rd Psalm. Surrounded by his wife, Miriam, and their children,
Burney died in his home in the early afternoon of December 16, 1998. He lived
fully, wholly, completely – “eternally.” Burney’s life is honored when we love
each other as God loved him, and he loved us – unconditionally.
The Overton
Institute
3285 Paces Landing Drive
Lawrenceville, Georgia 30044
Phone: 404-226-5129
E-mail: info@the-overton-institute.org
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