Still Mountain Coaching and Spiritual Direction

05/01/2026

I'm excited to co-lead this contemplative backpacking trip on the Hoh River Trail with friends from this September. If you read my essay collection, "A Broad Place," this is the area I wrote about in the essay on silence. Join us for the info session on May 12!

10/01/2025

Are you clear on your true purpose, or do distractions keep pulling you away? Learn what Thomas Merton says we can learn about inner simplicity from the example of a hawk in my latest essay: https://open.substack.com/pub/stillmountain/p/the-hawk-knows-his-business?r=2mlpm5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

08/28/2025

A month ago, I ran a 55k trail race in Western Colorado. Today, I wrote about that experience and how it illustrates the power the people around us have to shape our lives. Read more at https://stillmountain.substack.com/p/who-sets-your-pace

08/27/2025

I’m delighted to share that my Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credential from the International Coaching Federation has just been renewed. Renewing an ICF credential requires at least forty hours of continuing education, including supervision by a mentor coach, all designed to deepen skills and self-awareness. In a field that isn’t formally regulated, an ICF credential represents a commitment to excellence, ethical standards, and accountability. For me, it’s also about continuing to grow so I can serve my clients with greater presence, clarity, and care. I’m grateful to the leaders I coach and to my colleagues who continue to challenge and inspire me.

12/31/2024

A new year brings new opportunities. What will you attempt in 2025?

Whether you're launching out on a new venture, discerning between potential paths to follow, or wondering how to overcome obstacles in your way, coaching can help. Send me a message to schedule a session today and start the new year off well.

10/22/2024

I'm so thankful for the invitation to lead this contemplative backpacking trip. Doing so gave me an opportunity to integrate my vocation and my personal passions. Time in the wilderness is one way God heals and restores us, and I feel privileged and grateful to have accompanied these remarkable leaders as they experienced restoration in God's creation.

In late September, a group of nine leaders of new worshiping communities spent five days backpacking in northwest Colorado through a trip organized by the Rev. Jeff Eddings of 1001 New Worshiping Communities. Read more about the trip here: https://hubs.ly/Q02Tt1k30

09/17/2024

The thirteenth century mystic Meister Eckhart wrote, “Every single creature is full of God and is a book about God. Every creature is a word of God. If I spend enough time with the tiniest creature, even a caterpillar, I would never have to prepare a sermon. So full of God is every creature.”

Inspired by this quote, I wrote and recorded a guided meditation to help us listen for what God says to us through creation. You can find it at stillmountain.substack.com.

02/14/2024

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent during which many Christians choose to engage in practices that renew our love for God. In some circles, people may ask, "What are you giving up for Lent?" - a that question reflects the ancient tradition of fasting during this season. But simply picking something to give up may not be the most beneficial Lenten practice. Here are some questions you may find more helpful for entering into Lent this year:

- What do your soul want from God right now?
- What's standing between you and God, or distracting you from God?
- What would help you hear more clearly what God might be saying to you?
- What would make Lent a time a healing and renewal for you?

Reflecting on these questions led me to Isaiah 30:15 with its invitation to choose rest over busyness, quietness over noise, and trust over anxiety. What invitations do you hear as you ponder these questions?

As a coach and spiritual director for Christian leaders, I enjoy walking alongside others as they discern God's movements in their lives. If you'd like to make coaching or spiritual direction part of your Lenten journey, feel free to send me a message.

12/30/2023

In her book, The Writing Life, Annie Dillard wrote, “How we spend our days, of course, is how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time.”

I discovered the truth of Dillard's words when in 2022 when I started splitting my time between serving my church and starting my coaching business. Knowing I would need to more intentionally design my schedule and track the hours I worked, I started using an integrated planner and journal called the Monk Manual (see monkmanual.com).

Having studied monastic spirituality earlier in my ministry, I was attracted to the ways the Monk Manual integrates spiritual wisdom regarding simplicity, habits, and gratitude. I also recognized echoes of the Ignatian Examen in the Monk Manual’s reflection space for the end of each day. I had never enjoyed using paper planners before, but the seamless integration of spirituality into the Monk Manual made this a natural fit for me.

If you're looking for a new way to steward your schedule and would like to try the Monk Manual, send me a message and I'll share a link with you that will get you $7 off your first order.

12/28/2023

What would make 2024 a year when you feel more fully alive? This isn't a selfish question to ask. In fact, the things that make you feel fully alive turn into your most unique and valuable contributions to the world around you. As Howard Thurman wrote, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Coaching can help you identify what does (and does not) give you life and take active steps to change and grow. If you'd like to take that journey in the new year, I'm accepting new coaching clients. Send me a message to start the conversation.

11/10/2023

Today I'm celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of my ordination. Every year on this date I read the charge which my mentor BJ Woodworth gave me at my ordination service. In it, he quotes a mentor of his who said, "Ministry is what happens in the wake of the pursuit of God."

Just as a boat creates a wake while moving forward through water, our pursuit of God can leave ripple effects behind us that affect and transform others. I need this reminder often. It's too easy to forget that ministry is not about my skills or experience, but about seeking God and God's will in the world.

In the words of Lesslie Newbigin, "The minister’s leadership of the congregation in its mission to the world will be first and foremost in the area of his or her own discipleship, in that life of prayer and daily consecration which remains hidden from the world but which is the place where the essential battles are either won or lost.”

I can't claim to be exemplary in such discipleship in any way, but the pursuit of God is what led me to plant and copastor a church in Pittsburgh for eight years. And it's what's sustained me in ministry in the seven years since I came to Colorado to serve First Presbyterian Church of Berthoud. Most recently, it's led me to be trained in coaching and spiritual direction.

By God's grace, I've been bi-vocational for 10 of these 15 years, complementing my pastoral ministry by working as a barista at a cafe, a program coordinator at a seminary, and now a coach and spiritual director. I've also served at the Presbytery level, including six years on the Council of the Presbytery of Plains and Peaks and one year as the Moderator of the presbytery.

There have been moments of joy and times when I've wanted to quit, but I'm still here. Thank you to everyone who has walked alongside me on this journey, especially my family and my friends among colleagues in ministry. Let's keep making a wake.