About Me

Doug Hester, D. Min      Ministry Leadership Concepts

Doug Hester is a retired Lutheran pastor.  He is also a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Texas, and a Clinical Fellow in the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.  He holds degrees from Texas Lutheran University, Trinity Lutheran Seminary (Columbus, OH), Austin Presbyterian Seminary (Austin, TX), and St. Mary’s University (San Antonio).  He studied with the late Ed Friedman for several years until Ed’s death in 1996, and continued his post-graduate studies at the Center for Family Process in Bethesda, MD for 27 years.  He was a presenter at the Ed Friedman Memorial Conference in 1997 in Bethesda.

Doug has served pastorates in Waller, Texas (St. John Lutheran Church 1980-1985), and San Antonio (Christ Lutheran Church 1985-2001; St. Andrew Lutheran Church 2001-2014).  He has made family systems presentations in six of the fifty states (Arkansas, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington), and internationally at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.  Due to the Zoom format, his classes now extend across the nation.

He has done consulting in Bowen Theory with hundreds of clergy from more than a dozen denominations, and two faith traditions.  He leads classes and retreats on Family Systems Theory with clergy, church leaders and staffs, lay ministers, therapists, social workers, nurses, parents, and professional business people.  He also has a psychotherapy practice in San Antonio working with individuals, couples, and families.

Doug contributed a chapter to the book, "Bringing Systems Thinking to Life:  Expanding The Horizons for Bowen Family Systems Theory," published by Routledge Press in 2011.