National Christian Counselors Association

What National Christian Counselors Association does

National Christian Counselors Association (NCCA) is a Florida-incorporated non-profit founded in 1981 by Drs. Richard and Phyllis Arno to deliver biblically-based counseling training and credentialing to pastors, ministers, laity, and professional counselors. The organization's flagship product is the Arno Profile System (APS), a proprietary temperament assessment tool developed through seven years of systematic research with over 5,000 individuals, which counselors administer via 18-question or 60-question questionnaires to produce Clinical, Personal, Personnel, Special Personal Profile (SPP), and Youth variants in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. NCCA distributes training through direct distance education (learn.ncca.org) and through over 180 Certified Academic Institutions (CAIs) — ministries, bible schools, colleges, and seminaries — worldwide.

The business model is a hybrid of transactional report sales (per-questionnaire fees, $5 printed packets plus shipping), one-time application/licensing fees ($75 non-refundable application fee), recurring membership/license renewals, specialty certification program fees (Marriage & Family, Child & Adolescent, Crisis & Abuse, Domestic Violence), and annual conference revenue. The operational stack spans multiple domains: apsreports.com for counselor workflow, auth.ncca.org for centralized identity, shop.ncca.org for printed materials, and an interactive member directory with Google Maps integration. Member benefits include access to professional malpractice/liability insurance through Lockton and Healthcare Professionals for continental U.S. members.

Governance and reach: NCCA operates from its Sarasota, FL headquarters (640 Apex Road) with a leadership team anchored by President Rev. Steven M. Baran, who has driven the migration to online member services including newsletters, license renewal, course completion, and APS Online. The organization is structurally linked to the Sarasota Academy of Christian Counseling (SACC), a related degree-granting entity co-founded by the Arnos. Customer acquisition leans on word-of-mouth within the Christian counseling community, the annual rotating conference (Myrtle Beach 2025; Louisville 2026), organic social channels (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Vimeo), and a public counselor directory driving referral flow.

Name

National Christian Counselors Association

Legal name

National Christian Counselors Association

Website

https://ncca.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

NCCA is a Florida-based non-profit founded in 1981 that trains and credentials pastors, ministers, and Christian counselors through temperament-based assessments (Arno Profile System), delivering its curriculum directly online and via 180+ partner ministries, colleges, and seminaries worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Counseling Education and Certification

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Support Services (61171)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Behavioral Health & Counseling (Social Work, Psychology, Substance Use CE) (EDAAALAD)

Keywords

• Christian counseling training
• Pastoral counseling certification
• Temperament assessment tools
• Religious counselor licensing
• Biblical counseling education

Headquarters

HQ city

Temple Terrace

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Training Programs and Certification: Revenue from training programs, licensing fees, and certification. Application fee of $75 (non-refundable). Payment plans available for qualified candidates. Training offered through distance education and Certified Academic Institutions.
2. Arno Profile System (APS) Reports: Revenue from selling APS reports to counselors. Reports include Clinical, Personal, Personnel, and Youth variants. Credit card payments processed through merchant services.
3. Printed Materials and Questionnaires: Sale of printed questionnaire packets ($5 + shipping) and training materials in bound book format.
4. Conference Registration: Annual conference registration fees for in-person and virtual attendance. Includes special event tickets (e.g., sunset dessert cruise at $65/person).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

NCCA provides biblically-based training, certification, and licensing programs for pastors, ministers, and lay Christians called to counsel others. Its core product is the Arno Profile System (APS), a proprietary temperament assessment tool used by trained counselors to assess clients' inborn temperament and deliver personalized Christian counseling. Training is delivered via distance education (online courses and printed materials) directly or through 180+ Certified Academic Institutions worldwide.

Product overview

The National Christian Counselors Association (NCCA) operates a platform-plus-products architecture centered on the Arno Profile System (APS), a temperament assessment tool used by Christian counselors. The APS generates multiple report types (Clinical, Personal, Personnel, and Youth variants) that counselors use to assess clients' inborn temperaments. Supporting the core assessment system, NCCA provides the Learn Online distance education platform for counselor training and certification, offers a Member Directory for counselor discovery, and hosts an Annual Conference for professional development. Training programs range from licensing to advanced certifications, with curriculum delivered through online courses and printed materials including the signature Creation Therapy textbook.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• NCCA Temperament Training Program Comprehensive biblically-based training and certification program for pastors, ministers, laity, and professional counselors seeking credentials in Christian counseling. Programs range from licensing to advanced-level certifications including Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate degrees, delivered via online classes and printed/bound materials.
• Arno Profile System (APS) Proprietary temperament assessment platform developed by Drs. Richard and Phyllis Arno that identifies a person's inborn temperament (spiritual genetics). Generates multiple report types for counselors including Clinical, Personal, Personnel, Special Personal Profile (SPP), Youth Clinical, and Youth SPP reports in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Accessed via apsreports.com.
• Learn Online Online learning management platform (learn.ncca.org) delivering NCCA's distance education courses for Christian counseling certification, licensing, and continuing education. Hosts self-paced training programs and course completion tracking.
• NCCA Annual Conference Annual professional development conference for NCCA members and counselors, featuring speaker sessions, special events, certification opportunities, and networking. Rotates locations (Myrtle Beach 2025; Louisville, KY 2026) with both in-person and virtual attendance options.

Quantifiable outcome

• 90%+ success rate - NCCA trained counselors are usually able to help more than 90% of those who turn to them for counsel
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered support and core.

• Lockton MedicalsupportOthersLockton provides professional malpractice/liability insurance coverage for NCCA members residing within the continental United States. Some restrictions apply (e.g., persons convicted of felony). Insurance is a member benefit.
• Healthcare ProfessionalssupportOthersHealthcare Professionals provides professional malpractice/liability insurance coverage for NCCA members residing within the continental United States. Part of member benefit package.
• Christian Colleges and SeminariescoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNCCA partners with several Christian colleges and seminaries that have approved programs. NCCA's licensing and degree programs are often approved for education assistance through churches, companies, and state rehabilitation departments.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC): ACBC is a faith-based counseling certification body that trains and certifies biblical counselors, with similar distance-education curricula, examination-based certification, and a member directory — directly comparable in mission and delivery model to NCCA.
• International Association of Biblical Counselors (IABC): IABC is another certification and training association for biblical counselors, providing comparable credentialing, member benefits, and educational programs targeting pastors and Christian lay counselors.
• American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC): AACC is the most direct peer — a faith-based association that trains, certifies, and provides continuing education to Christian counselors. Like NCCA, it offers conferences, member directories, and degree-aligned training, but operates at significantly larger scale.
• Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF): CCEF provides biblical counseling training, certification, and educational resources to pastors and laypeople — closely overlapping NCCA's core mission of equipping Christians to counsel, with a comparable academic publishing and conference model.

Others

• Psychology Today — Counselor Directory: While not a training provider, Psychology Today operates a large counselor discovery directory — overlapping with NCCA's Member Directory product and serving as the dominant secular alternative for counselor visibility.

Broad incumbents

• Colorado Christian University — Counseling Programs: CCU offers CACREP-accredited counseling degrees with a faith-based integration framework, representing a broader-accreditation alternative to NCCA's ministerial credentialing pathway for aspiring Christian counselors.
• Regent University — School of Psychology & Counseling: Regent University offers accredited online counseling and psychology degrees integrating Christian worldview, serving a similar target student as NCCA's degree pathways but through a regionally accredited university structure.
• Coursera — Counseling & Psychology Courses: Coursera is a broad online education platform offering counseling, psychology, and mental health courses from accredited universities — a secular, scaled alternative that competes with NCCA for students seeking flexible, low-cost counseling education.
• Liberty University Online — School of Behavioral Sciences: Liberty University is a large accredited institution offering online Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees in Christian counseling and psychology — competing for the same student demographic but at university scale with formal accreditation.

Emerging players

• Light University: Light University offers online Christian counseling continuing education courses and certificates, overlapping with NCCA's distance-education training segment but with a broader set of electives and an academic rather than ministry-affiliated orientation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubevimeo.com/channels/1009524
• Facebookfacebook.com/NCCA1
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/florida-transportation-engineering-inc.
• Instagraminstagram.com/nccaministry

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about National Christian Counselors Association