About Me
My spiritual formation began when a nursery worker from the church my parents attended visited our home seven days after I was born and enrolled me in the Cradle Roll. My father was called into ministry several years later, and church was the context of my life. The first time I remember hearing about God, or Jesus, or the Holy Spirit were childhood experiences in church.
As a young person, I began to encounter major changes and challenges in my life. My college education was interrupted by four years in the Air Force, 1968-1972, where I served in Texas, Japan, and Vietnam. I returned from Vietnam embittered and very spiritually needy. After my discharge from the Air Force, my wife and I moved to Gainesville, Florida, so I could finish my BA degree at the University of Florida. Having been separated a year by the Vietnam tour of duty, we immediately began our church life together again.
The Sunday School lessons were about Joseph in the Old Testament. From my Vietnam experience, I readily identified with Joseph being sold into slavery. I was floored when Joseph said to his brothers, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” How could he say that? How did he know that? Where did he get his faith? It occurred to me one day after much soul-searching, that from his dreams Joseph had realized that God had called him to a higher purpose. All the tragedies had not prevented God’s redemptive purpose for him and, in fact, had him at the very place God needed him to be.
One Sunday afternoon in my living room, the Holy Spirit brought it home to me that I, too, was loved by God, and God had purpose for my life. I didn’t know how Vietnam fit into that, but I trusted God to bring the pieces together. I encountered Christ so personally and profoundly that I felt healing and acceptance fill my being. I began to experience profoundly transforming spiritual growth.
I had entered the University of Florida to go to their Law School. During my last semester, it was time to take the LSAT. During those weeks, I was also reading through the New Testament devotionally. One day in the Spring, between classes, I sat under a pine tree, still very much in prayer about God’s direction for my life, and I turned to the next chapter in the New Testament, which was Ephesians 3. Shortly, I began to read the words, “I, who am less than the least of all the saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” God quickened those words to me in that moment, and I knew God was calling me into the pastoral ministry. To prepare I received the MDiv and ThM degrees from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I have now accompanied individuals and churches for 41 years as a pastor.
When I turned 50, I sensed that God was calling me to a different place in our relationship. I yearned for a deeper intimacy with God, a different language for my spirituality, a more expansive understanding of transformation and spiritual formation, and a more effective usefulness in the Kingdom of God.
I had heard about spiritual direction in seminary, but besides the demands of seminary and pastoring a church, my wife was chronically ill, and I was her primary caretaker. She subsequently died at age 40. Her name was Myra Jane (Janie) Wetherington. The epitaph God gave me for her was: "She was the joyful presence of the suffering God." The journey of being present to her through her illness and death has been one of my most profound walks with God both in questions and assurance. I remarried a couple of years later to Miriam Anne Glover, and we combined our names to Glover-Wetherington.
At the age of 50, I entered the Spiritual Guidance Program offered by the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation and received a Certificate of Completion in 2001.
The spiritual journey begins with an inner longing for God, who is grander than us, to satisfy an emptiness within. We may strike out on a search for God only to discover the wondrous truth that God is already searching for us; that our yearning for God is also God’s yearning for us.
Our journey to God is not something we achieve; instead, it is a response of love to God, who wants a love relationship with us that is real and personal. This relationship is a gift that we receive and a choice that we make. The Christian life is not only a journey to God, but a journey with God, within the embrace of God. It is a life lived out of the continual life-giving presence of Christ around us and within us.
Do you have a deep desire for intimacy with God? Have you experienced perplexing spiritual dilemmas and wanted to talk about it without fear of censorship or someone trying to fix you? Has God been at work in your life, but you didn’t recognize that it was God, or how God was leading? Have you been in a period of time where your prayers seem like the doldrums? Does your spiritual life seem dry and meaningless? Does your life seem incredibly busy and without meaning? Have you been away from God for a long time and are wondering how you can cultivate God’s presence in your life? Are you going through a time of major transition? Do those around you look to you for spiritual guidance, but you need a place to talk about your own spiritual concerns? If you find yourself responding positively to these questions, you would benefit greatly from spiritual direction.
I always begin a spiritual direction relationship with three sessions of discernment. We can then prayerfully discern if we are a good fit for that journey. I would love to explore that possibility with you.
Contact
Phone: 19195646061
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