Suffering is hard. When we face an unexpected stretch of illness or other difficult circumstances, we may feel disoriented and lost. Yet in the pause from our normal rhythm of life, God is doing a deep work. 

Join us for this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi discuss a recent experience of suffering. Even in the trial, there is intimacy and sweet companionship to be found in a greater understanding of Christ’s sufferings for you and his presence with you.

Resources for this Episode:

• Earn a Certificate in Spiritual Direction
• Earn a Certificate in Coaching
• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Donate to Support Soul Shepherding

How can the Enneagram help your marriage? The Enneagram is a beautiful tool for growth when it’s used in the right way. Increasing your understanding of yourself and your spouse strengthens your relationship so you can grow together.

Tune in to Soul Talks as Kristi interviews author, Enneagram coach, podcast host, and experiential specialist Jackie Brewster as they discuss her new book, The Enneagram and Your Marriage. When you understand behavior patterns in your relationship, you can take responsibility for your own challenges and grow in empathy and compassion for each other.

Resources for this Episode:

• Become a Spiritual Director
• The Enneagram and Your Marriage: A 7-Week Guide to Better Understanding and Loving Your Spouse
• Thoughts to Ponder- Download by Jackie Brewster
• Healthy Feelings, Thriving Faith: Growing Emotionally and Spiritually Through the Enneagram
• Donate to Support Soul Shepherding

Older devotional classics enliven our hunger for God and help us recognize our desperation for Jesus.  Reading stories of average people powerfully transformed and used by God encourages our faith and deepens our intimacy with Jesus.

Join us for this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi share insights gleaned from a Russian spiritual director in Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude and Prayer. This expression of spiritual direction will inspire you to view your soul as a private prayer space for the Lord (a poustinia) where you receive others with hospitality and love.

Resources for this Episode:

• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Earn a Spiritual Direction Training Certificate
• Donate to Soul Shepherding
• Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude and Prayer

Are you longing to go deeper with Jesus in emotional health and loving leadership? Joyful, anointed by God, overflow ministry goes beyond techniques. It’s a rhythm of life and a way of being with God and others in relationship.

Tune in to this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi talk about their journey of growth through spiritual direction and answer common questions about Soul Shepherding’s certificate in spiritual direction. No matter what your background or life stage, whether this is for your own formation or to pursue working as a spiritual director, this accessible and practical training will equip you to joyfully follow Holy Spirit’s leading in all of your relationships and ministry.

Resources for this Episode:

• Journey of the Soul CHRIST Stages Assessment
• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Earn a Certificate in Spiritual Direction
• Donate to Soul Shepherding
• Healthy Feelings, Thriving Faith: Growing Emotionally and Spiritually Through the Enneagram
• Earn a Certificate in Coaching

Do you long for more in your relationship with God and from your relationships in ministry? Spiritual direction can foster your formation in intimacy with Jesus, and out of the overflow of your own growth, help others experience the same thing.

Join us for this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi talk about earning a certificate in spiritual direction. If you long for time to focus on your own discipleship to Jesus, meet with a spiritual director, process with soul friends, be guided by Holy Spirit, and train in soul care and spiritual disciplines, consider entering our spiritual direction training program. It is a powerful time of growth for your own journey that will bless others as well.

Resources for this Episode:

• Earn a Certificate in Spiritual Direction
• FAQ for Certificate in Spiritual Direction
• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Meet with a Soul Shepherding Sr. Spiritual Director
• Journey of the Soul CHRIST Stages Assessment
• Donate to Support Soul Shepherding

In life, the journey is as important as the destination. While goals and resolutions are important, focusing so much on outcomes can cause us to lose sight of God’s work around us.

Tune in for this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi discuss the joy of living in perpetual wonder. Remembering what God has done in the past feeds our hope and faith as we adventure with Holy Spirit and leave the outcomes to him.

Resources for this Episode:

• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Journey of the Soul CHRIST Stages Assessment
• Your Best Life in Jesus’ Easy Yoke
• Join our devotional email list
• Donate to Support Soul Shepherding

In a culture full of wishes for a better life, true hope is much more than wishful thinking. Robust, Biblical hope is the anticipation of the goodness and truth of God in our lives.

Join us for this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi explore the impact of living with real hope. This honest exploration of hope, reflection, circumstances, trials, and transformation will encourage your heart as you look to the year ahead. 

Resources for this Episode:

• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Journey of the Soul CHRIST Stages Assessment
• Earn a Certificate in Spiritual Direction
• Earn a Certificate in Coaching
• Healthy Feelings, Thriving Faith: Growing Emotionally and Spiritually Through the Enneagram
• Donate to Support Soul Shepherding and Soul Talks

God entrusts us with an eternal soul and we need to strengthen our souls in the Lord. To serve out of the overflow of God’s grace to us rather than our own strength, we need to cultivate our intimacy with God and pursue cycles of spiritual renewal.

Join us for this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi unpack how to care for your soul as a leader. Through practical and specific guidance, you’ll understand the components needed to steward your soul for God’s glory and fruitfulness in ministry.

Resources for this Episode:

• Meet with a Soul Shepherding Sr. Spiritual Director or Coach
• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Earn a Certificate in Spiritual Direction
• Explore Soul Shepherding Enneagram Resources
• Take the CHRIST Stages Assessment
• Donate to Soul Shepherding

Advent is a time of looking back at Jesus’ first coming and ahead to his second coming. But some aspects of the end times may feel frightening when we consider possible future suffering or lack of control. How do we draw on Jesus’ empathy and hope?

Tune in to this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi help us understand how to manage our emotions during a potentially traumatic time and keep our perspective on heavenly things. Rather than feeling consumed with worry for the future, we can train with Jesus now to find sufficiency and sweetness in God’s presence even in injustice and difficulty. 

Resources for this Episode:

• Share a Question or Idea for the Soul Talks Podcast
• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Donate to Support Soul Shepherding

Seasons of unanswered prayers, difficulty, and confusion can feel like walking through the mist of an unknown future. But joy, peace, love, meaning, and purposefulness are possible even when our future is unclear if we center our confidence in Jesus.

Tune in to this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi share a devotional reading — In a Great Mist, Follow-on Right Behind Jesus — from Amy Carmichael, an Irish missionary who gave her life to help children in India. Her story of learning to follow Jesus while bedridden after a serious accident will strengthen your heart to trust in Jesus and encourage others during days of uncertainty.

Resources for this Episode:

• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Donate to Support Soul Shepherding