The Contemplative Pastor

What if confession could be a place of healing, not just pardon?
In this episode, join Bryan Rouanzoin and Gavin Bennett for a conversation about the practice of confession—why we're afraid to embrace it, and the belonging that waits for us when we do. Gavin shares how his years-long practice of confession has freed him from the burden of image management and given the people closest to him the chance to stay. Together, Gavin and Bryan explore a simple but perspective-shifting framework (sin belongs to God, shame belongs to our community, and secrets belong to us) and offer an approachable starting place for pastors who want to enter into confessional relationships of their own.
Gavin Bennett serves as the Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon. He deeply cares about helping people hear and experience God in the ordinary parts of their lives as they learn to consent to the Spirit’s beautifully slow transformational desire.
To find more resources and experiences tailored just for you—the pastor—visit practicingtheway.org/pastor.
John Mark’s newest book Into The Quiet is now available for order at your book provider of choice. You can join John Mark in person for the Into the Quiet Experience, coming to a city near you between now and November 12. Purchase your ticket at intothequietexperience.com.
This podcast and its episodes are free, thanks to the generosity of The Circle and other givers. You can learn more about The Circle or contribute toward future resources like this podcast at practicingtheway.org/generous.

What formation might we experience in choosing remaining over constant reinvention?
In this episode, join Jay Kim and Beau Hughes for a conversation about choosing to keep showing up—to a church, to a practice, and to the pain of the people in our care. As his 19 years at The Village Church Denton comes to a close, Beau reflects on the ways in which his lifelong experience with depression has invited him to pastor from a place of humility “on the ground," rather than from the spiritual mountaintop. Jay and Beau also explore “the delight” of holding conviction and curiosity together as we intersect with other streams of the church as well as the complicated work of detaching identity from pastoral ministry.
Beau Hughes is the Associate Director of Church Formation at Practicing the Way and former lead pastor of The Village Church Denton in Denton, Texas, where he served for 19 years. Beau and his wife Kimberly have four children.
To find more resources and experiences tailored just for you—the pastor—visit practicingtheway.org/pastor.
John Mark’s newest book Into The Quiet is now available for order at your book provider of choice. You can join John Mark in person for the Into the Quiet Experience, coming to a city near you between now and November 12. Purchase your ticket at intothequietexperience.com.
This podcast and its episodes are free, thanks to the generosity of The Circle and other givers. You can learn more about The Circle or contribute toward future resources like this podcast at practicingtheway.org/generous.

What would it look like to build rhythms that respond to lives that are always changing?
In this episode, join Bryan Rouanzoin and Tara Beth Leach for a conversation about shepherding through the ups and downs of real life—our own and the lives of the people in our care. Tara Beth recalls how navigating the emotional requirements of pastoral ministry while caring for her aging parents created a desperate need for new rhythms in her life, and specifically her mornings. Drawing from her lived experience as a mother and caregiver, Tara Beth shares how she’s approaching pastoral ministry as a way of nurturing people toward maturity in every season. She and Bryan close by exploring what it means to wait on God actively rather than passively and why the same rhythms that steady us are often the very ones we end up offering to those in our care.
Tara Beth Leach is a pastor and author who wants to see the church formed into Christ’s most faithful witness. She currently serves Good Shepherd Church in Naperville, IL. She’s the mother to two sons and married to Jeff.
To find more resources and experiences tailored just for you—the pastor—visit practicingtheway.org/pastor.
John Mark’s newest book Into The Quiet is now available for order at your book provider of choice. You can join John Mark in person for the Into the Quiet Experience, coming to a city near you between now and November 12. Purchase your ticket at intothequietexperience.com.
This podcast and its episodes are free, thanks to the generosity of The Circle and other givers. You can learn more about The Circle or contribute toward future resources like this podcast at practicingtheway.org/generous.

What might happen if we decided to stay—in a place, in a community, in a calling?
In this episode, join Bryan Rouanzoin and Jess Gracewski for a conversation about what we might gain—and risk—by choosing to commit to a community and a place. Jess describes how she’s building spaces of belonging in one of the most transient cities on earth and choosing to steward people with intention for as long or short a time as they’re in her care. Drawing from her own story, she shares why calling is the work of a community and what it means to discern the voice of God when it's coming from the people around us. Throughout the conversation, Bryan and Jess explore what it means to pastor people to feel known, rather than counted.
Jess Gracewski is a spiritual director and Associate Pastor at Reality San Francisco, where she oversees ministries focused on community and spiritual formation, helping others find their place in God's story.
To find more resources and experiences tailored just for you—the pastor—visit practicingtheway.org/pastor.
This podcast and its episodes are free, thanks to the generosity of The Circle and other givers. You can learn more about The Circle or contribute toward future resources like this podcast at practicingtheway.org/give.

What happens when we make peace with the reality that there are no ideal conditions in which to pastor?
In this episode, join Jay Kim and Glenn Packiam for a conversation on finding “your little patch of the world” to be the pastor God has called you to be. Glenn traces the through line of his “misfit” ministry career and the crisis that led him into Eugene Peterson's mentorship, where he first heard the words he would return to again and again : "there are no ideal conditions in which to live out this vocation." He shares the ebb and flow of spiritual practices that sustain his hidden life with God, the radical approach he took entering a new church, and the "constellation of relationships" he believes every pastor needs to flourish. He and Jay unpack the essential difference between weariness and woundedness—in ourselves and in the people we pastor.
Glenn Packiam is the Lead Pastor of Rockharbor Church in Costa Mesa, California. Glenn is the author of several books, including The Resilient Pastor, Blessed Broken Given, and a recent title, What’s a Christian, Anyway? Glenn and his wife Holly live in Orange County, California, with their four children.
To find more resources and experiences tailored just for you—the pastor—visit practicingtheway.org/pastor.
This podcast and its episodes are free, thanks to the generosity of The Circle and other givers. You can learn more about The Circle or contribute toward future resources like this podcast at practicingtheway.org/give.
Mentioned in this conversation:
Job 4:5 (MSG)
The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction by Eugene Peterson
Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness by Eugene Peterson
Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity by Eugene Peterson
Connecting: The Mentoring Relationships You Need to Succeed in Life by Paul Stanley and Robert Clinton