Year One
Becoming a spiritual director is first and foremost about the formation of the director.
The ministry of spiritual direction requires both formation and training; it involves transformation and education. Participants in this program will acquire the skills of asking good questions, listening attentively, and fostering stillness as they facilitate deep and meaningful conversations. Participants will also read and discuss many of the best books about this focused type of pastoral care. Yet, at the heart of this experience is tending to one’s own spiritual formation.
Our design for renewing the ministry of spiritual direction reflects this primary need for formation. Over the course of two semesters (Fall and Spring), students will participate in six two-day intensives (3 per semester) which will meet from 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. These intensives will meet in idyllic homes, providing an atmosphere for deep personal reflection, discussion and growth. Our gatherings will be a place for experimentation with various contemplative exercises and practice in the skills of spiritual direction.
To receive the certificate of completion, there are seven requirements:
- Participate in all six modules
- Experiment with and engage in chosen spiritual disciplines
- Receive regular spiritual direction
- Offer spiritual direction (five sessions to two directees, totaling ten sessions)
- Submit a recording/verbatim for feedback
- Read the required books
- Submit seven monthly general reports via email
The intensives will also prepare participants for where the best training in the ministry of spiritual direction will occur: in offering spiritual direction to a few others in their own contexts. Hence, the intensives are like laboratories along the way as you learn to provide direction for others. Between the intensives, participants will also receive spiritual direction.
Fall 2025-Spring 2026 Year One Cohorts
The cost of this experience in formation and training is $2,950. Payment in full is due before Module One. Payment plans are available upon request and must be approved by the Director of the Institute for Christian Spirituality.
This price covers your training as well as breakfast and lunch during each of the modules. You will be responsible for the cost of your travel, lodging, books, and any other meals.
The deadline to apply for our fall 2025-2026 cohorts is June 30, 2025. All applications received after this deadline are automatically archived and a new application is required to be considered for the following year.
If you have any questions about our spiritual direction cohorts or anything pertaining to the Institute for Christian Spirituality, please email us at ics [at] lipscomb.edu (ics[at]lipscomb[dot]edu).
Year One Cohorts
2025- 2026 Dates, Locations & Facilitators
This year, we will be providing three Year One cohorts in the greater Nashville area. Both will be overseen by Dr. Kris Miller, the Director of the Institute for Christian Spirituality. Additionally, there will be three Year One cohort facilitators. Choose which set of dates would work best for you.
John Grant
John Grant, D. Min., is the founder of Compassionate Hands, a homeless ministry that offers winter shelter and year-round services to neighbors needing housing in Wilson County, Tennessee. In 2024, he launched Good Neighbor U, a program coaching churches and nonprofits to build friendships across cultural and socio-economic divides. John earned degrees from Lipscomb University and Abilene Christian University, including a Doctor of Ministry in Congregational Leadership and has over 30 years of congregational ministry experience. John completed spiritual director training with ICS and has been a cohort facilitator since 2017. John & his wife Amy have lived in Lebanon, Tennessee since 2005. They have three daughters, two sons-in-law and three grandchildren.
Dates:
- August 22-23, 2025
October 17-18, 2025
December 12-13, 2025
January 30-31, 2026
March 20-21, 2026
May 8-9, 2025
Deborah Jackson
Deborah is a spiritual director in the Nashville, TN area. Her formation includes training through Lipscomb University’s Institute of Christian Spirituality 2-year training program and serving an apprenticeship as a spiritual direction cohort facilitator with four cohorts in the Lipscomb program. The Ignatian Spirituality training included in Year 2 of the Lipscomb program led her to take an additional year of training through the School of Ignatian Spirituality program of Sustainable Faith to be certified to lead others through the Ignatian Exercises. In addition to offering spiritual direction, Deborah is the Operations Pastor of Christ is Love Church in Hendersonville, TN. She holds an M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from Nova Southeastern University; her undergrad work was done at Southwestern Assemblies of God University.
Dates:
- August 15-16, 2025
October 3-4, 2025
December 5-6, 2025
January 16-17, 2026
March 6-7, 2026
April 17-18, 2026
Lance Bolay
Lance and his family live in Tyler, TX, where, after serving in pastoral ministry for 20 years, he is now the Director of Mission Impact for the Mosaic Counseling Centers of East Texas. His formation includes two years of formal training in spiritual direction and an apprenticeship as a spiritual direction cohort facilitator through the Institute for Christian Spirituality (ICS) at Lipscomb University. He also received formal training in leading contemplative prayer groups and retreats from the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation. He is a certified Enneagram Spectrum Method teacher and experienced in inner healing prayer and Ignatian spiritual formation. He completed his Doctor of Ministry degree in Missional and Spiritual Formation from Lipscomb University. Lance has been offering spiritual direction since 2010 and facilitating cohorts for ICS since 2018.
Dates:
- August 29-30, 2025
October 17-18, 2025
December 5-6, 2025
January 16-17, 2026
March 6-7, 2026
April 24-25, 2026
Kris Miller
Kris joined the faculty of the College of Bible and Ministry in 2015, serving as assistant professor of Christian theology and spirituality. He is also the director of Lipscomb’s Institute for Christian Spirituality. He has over 30 years of ministry experience as a pastor, professor, and administrator. He has been a spiritual director since 2006 and has been training other spiritual directors since 2010. Before joining Lipscomb’s faculty, he taught systematic theology for Fuller Theological Seminary’s regional campuses. Kris holds a B.A. in biblical studies, a M.Div., and a M.A. in history and theology from Abilene Christian University, and a Ph.D. in systematic theology from Durham University (U.K.) In addition to teaching spiritual direction, he currently teaches courses on human flourishing, spiritual formation, and the history of Christian spirituality. He freely draws from the breadth of 2,000-year-old Christian tradition--Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant--as he joyfully pursues his calling: flourishing in union with the Triune God and helping others do the same.