Confessions of a Spiritual Formation Pastor

I’m Casey and I’m a spiritual formation pastor.

(Hi Casey)

I don’t know what I’m doing.

Okay, so let me unpack that. When you look at spiritual formation, we’re basically talking about how people grow in their relationship with an all-knowing, all-seeing, mysterious, beautiful, creative, sometimes wrathful, always graceful, passionate, incomprehensible God who works large and small miracles throughout the whole of creation on a millisecond by millisecond basis.

And I’m supposed to help facilitate that. I’m heading back to bed because I’m in over my head.

Okay, so this isn’t completely true: I have a plan. I have some ideas. I know how drawing closer to God through setting myself in places where I’ve had to depend on him goes – and I know how to encourage people toward that. I know how important the Bible is to keep us alive and walking straight. I know how important prayer is to keep us connected to God and learning what He has in store for us.

But Casey, what about anger? What about my ex? What about my kids, who seem obsessed with giving me an ulcer? What about this economy and my job? What about the everyday stuff where I really can’t see God at all? What do I do to become the person God built me to be? God’s best version of me?

As just one frail human dude, I don’t get to go with my Parkview friends every day, every moment, and help remind them of where God is and what He is doing. I don’t get to see everything or know everything – that’s the job of the Holy Spirit and not me – but how do I help people connect with this Spirit in the middle of the life stuff from above?

There is a great starting point we’re going to explore at Parkview – an online spiritual formation guide that takes each individual person’s personality and builds a plan for how they can open up their lives to God doing crazy, beautiful stuff every single day.

Are you interested in having access to this guide that could radically change how you grow?

Email me or comment below and I’ll get you started.

And don’t tell anyone at Parkview I don’t know what I’m doing. Trust me they already know.

Coming soon…

 

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Life is…Spiritual?

Several conversations in the last few days about spiritual growth – if that term doesn’t make sense, it’s basically our intentional movements to become completely consumed by God’s Spirit. In other words, it takes a while.

Like, from now until we die. Hope that’s more encouraging than it sounds.

If I could summarize those conversations I’ve had, they would all pan out to this:

Life IS spiritual.

What does that mean to you? If it’s true, what does that look like? We talk a lot about a “spiritual life”, but what if “life is spiritual” whether you have a relationship with God or not? Is it possible to be experiencing a life of “bad spirituality?”

Why does it seem like spirituality only addresses things that WE d

efine as specifically pertaining to God? Can playing board games with our kids be “spiritual”? Can building shelves be

“spiritual”? Can napping when there are other seemingly essential things to do be “spiritual”?

Why or why not?

 

 

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