An understanding of how spiritual and psychological development generally progresses is crucial to personal faith and the ministries of spiritual direction, pastoral care, and Christian counseling. But many Christians, even pastors and leaders, have not studied this. In The Divine Conspiracy Dallas Willard shares some key thoughts on a developmental model of spiritual formation in…
To grow spiritually and become more loving like Jesus Christ we need to understand the stages of our development and how to resist the temptations that thwart our progress.
Featuring excerpts from The Joy of Following Jesus by J. Oswald Sanders Paul says, “It is my constant ambition to please Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:9) Or “I make it a point of honor to please Christ.” My heart leaps in response! Yes, me too! I want to please the Lord in all I do! Recently,…
If I could have anyone lead me on a spiritual retreat with Jesus it’d be Brennan Manning. I wish I could do that and invite you to join me, but he died in 2013. But we can imagine what it’d be like to have Brennan guide us on retreat. That’s what we’ll do in this…
With Insights From Pastor Joe Johnson with Heart of the Father Ministries* Kristi and I were fortunate to receive instruction in healing and deliverance ministry in college. Many Christian pastors, counselors, and lay ministers today have not received this training and so they don’t know how to use the authority that Jesus gave them to pray…
As a Christian psychologist it’s been important for me to look to the Lord Jesus Christ as the perfect psychologist. I look to him as my counselor. I study him and his ways to learn how to be a better counselor. I rely on his Spirit present in my counseling office as I care for…
We have loved ones that die. We suffer losses that hurt. Do we grieve or repress our emotions? Here are the stages and process of good grief with insights from the Bible and psychotherapy.
This article features simple, step-by-step instructions on how to lead a Lectio Divina group. These instructions are meant to go along with Soul Shepherding’s library of Lectio Divina Guides, each of which provide the format we use. I’m assuming that you have some knowledge and experience of with Benedict’s 6th Century way of reading and…
The best and most helpful book you’ll find on leadership has never been on a best-seller list. It was written way back 1896 by a famous South African pastor and teacher. It’s only only 76 pages long, but it’s chock full of inspiring Biblical wisdom. It trumps all the highly touted successful leadership strategies of our day —…
How do the people you lead experience your ministry? Have you ever asked them for feedback in order to learn how you might improve? Probably there are people who look to you as a Christian leader — even if you don’t think of yourself as a “leader.” You don’t have to preach to 1,000 people…