The Contemplative Pastor

Practicing the Way

For the pastor who longs to embody a less hurried, less overwhelmed, less CEO-like form of leadership, and to recover the ancient path of pastoring in the way of Jesus. The Contemplative Pastor invites you into illuminating conversations with guides and sages on spiritual and pastoral formation, and offers guided prayers and reflections to help you sit with the rich wisdom of each episode.  Our aim? To shape a new, yet ancient, kind of pastor—more unhurried, more prayerful, more peaceful—and to see the formational role of the local church flourish once again. Welcome to The Contemplative Pastor. --- 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.

  1. 21h ago

    Becoming a Spirit-Led Self (Featuring Dr. Alison Cook)

    What if extending curiosity towards yourself was not just a path to a deeper understanding of yourself, but also of God? In this episode, join Bryan Rouanzoin and Dr. Alison Cook for a conversation about faithfully tending to the three relationships Jesus named—our relationship with God, with other people, and with ourselves. Drawing from her years of suffering through panic attacks and her decades of clinical practice, Cook describes how understanding the “ecosystem” of our own souls can lead us to be formed by, and united with, God. Over the course of the conversation, Bryan and Dr. Cook address why pastors often neglect their own souls, as well as how therapy and spiritual practice can work together to help us become secure in the “God who gets it.” Dr. Alison Cook is a licensed therapist, psychologist of religion, and bestselling author who works at the intersection of Christian faith and psychology. She and her husband, Joe, have two young adult children and split their time between Boston and Wyoming. 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.

    Becoming a Spirit-Led Self (Featuring Dr. Alison Cook)

  2. Oct 29

    Loosening the Grip of Ambition (Featuring Drew Hyun)

    What does it look like when spiritual maturity, emotional health, and holy ambition exist together? In this episode, join Jay Kim and Drew Hyun for a conversation about living “the mixed life” modeled by Jesus—one of contemplation in the inner life and mission in the outer world. Drew traces his path from an early ministry marked by arrogance and conflict to an ongoing pursuit of emotional health as a leader, pastor, and person. Drew and Jay work through a series of helpful questions for assessing both personal formation and the culture forming in our churches. They also explore the thin line separating holy ambition from selfish ambition, influence as the latest measure of pastoral success, and what it looks like to pursue the “progress and joy” of the gospel while protecting our inner lives. Drew Hyun is a pastor, founder, and author in New York City. He currently pastors at Hope Church Midtown. He is also the President of Emotionally Healthy Discipleship. He and his wife Tina have two children, David and Avery. 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. Mentioned in this conversation: Emotionally Healthy Discipleship by Pete ScazzeroEmotionally Healthy Success by Pete ScazzeroThe School of Emotionally Healthy LeadershipIn the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen

    Loosening the Grip of Ambition (Featuring Drew Hyun)

  3. Oct 15

    The Pain You Don’t Want to Name (Featuring Jeff Hyun)

    What does it mean to be a person who is attended to? In this episode, join Bryan Rouanzoin and Jeff Hyun for a conversation about the potential for pain to become the place of our deepest formation. Jeff shares the story of being left by his mom when he was five years old and how their long-awaited reunion led to a “beautiful unraveling” in his adulthood, one that invited him to receive care after years of giving care to others through his pastoral ministry. Bryan and Jeff reflect on what it means to be attended to, how God’s provision often comes through people, and who pastors need beside them in the most precarious seasons of life. Jeff Hyun is the senior pastor of Living Hope Community Church in Brea, California, and the founder of Barnabas & Co., a soul-care ministry for Asian American pastors and faith leaders. He and his wife Stella have three beautiful 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. Mentioned in this conversation: David BrooksGlenn Packiam1 Kings 19Luke 22:31–32

    The Pain You Don’t Want to Name (Featuring Jeff Hyun)

  4. Oct 8

    Getting Free from the Weight of Secrets (Featuring Gavin Bennett)

    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. Mentioned in this conversation: ​​Pope Benedict XVPeter AbelardThomas AquinasDallas WillardAugustineGertrude of HelftaIn the Name of Jesus by Henri NouwenTeresa of ÁvilaJohn of the CrossRobert Mulholland1 John 1:9

    Getting Free from the Weight of Secrets (Featuring Gavin Bennett)

  5. Oct 1

    Pastoring from the Ground, Not the Mountaintop (Featuring Beau Hughes)

    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. Mentioned in this conversation: Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity by Eugene H. PetersonPete ScazzeroMatt ChandlerSinclair Ferguson

    Pastoring from the Ground, Not the Mountaintop (Featuring Beau Hughes)

  6. Sep 24

    Paying Close Attention to Your Season (Featuring Tara Beth Leach)

    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.

    Paying Close Attention to Your Season (Featuring Tara Beth Leach)

  7. Sep 10

    What Grows When We Stay (Featuring Jess Gracewski)

    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 Grows When We Stay (Featuring Jess Gracewski)

  8. Sep 3

    Discerning Weariness from Woundedness (Featuring Glenn Packiam)

    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 PetersonUnder the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness by Eugene PetersonWorking the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity by Eugene PetersonConnecting: The Mentoring Relationships You Need to Succeed in Life by Paul Stanley and Robert Clinton

    Discerning Weariness from Woundedness (Featuring Glenn Packiam)
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About

For the pastor who longs to embody a less hurried, less overwhelmed, less CEO-like form of leadership, and to recover the ancient path of pastoring in the way of Jesus. The Contemplative Pastor invites you into illuminating conversations with guides and sages on spiritual and pastoral formation, and offers guided prayers and reflections to help you sit with the rich wisdom of each episode.  Our aim? To shape a new, yet ancient, kind of pastor—more unhurried, more prayerful, more peaceful—and to see the formational role of the local church flourish once again. Welcome to The Contemplative Pastor. --- 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.

Information

  • Creator
    Practicing the Way
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    34
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Contemplative Pastor

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