finding God
in the

wilderness

Creating time & space for God for you
to listen and respond to God’s invitation deeper

 

PAYMENT

 

50-Minute
Standard


Session

50-Minute
Seminarian

 
 

FAQ

  • Spiritual direction is creating time and space for God with and on behalf of another person.

    In our busy, distracted, lonely and anxious society, most of us need extra help creating time and space to listen to God’s voice. A spiritual director offers guidance through those things that help and hinder your deeper sense of God. This help is specific to your unique, personal journey as you and a director ask together, who is God for you right now?

    God is everywhere always making himself available to us, always inviting us deeper into his love. The question is if we are able to hear and respond to this invitation. A spiritual director can help you identify how to be attentive to God’s presence and love, his movements in your day to day as well as in the larger movements of your life.

    In spiritual direction we are seeking for you to hear and respond to God.

  • Spiritual direction is not counseling or therapy. It is also not pastoral counseling, teaching, mentoring or discipleship. Spiritual direction may assist but cannot replace the help of a good psychological therapist. It may compliment the ministry of a local church, the gift of a pastor or a mentor, and it may include some bits of teaching along the way. However, the focus of spiritual direction is not the wisdom and insight of the director. The focus of spiritual direction is your unique, conversational relationship with God.

  • Spiritual direction occurs in a session of 50 minutes. The invitation is to a prayerful conversation where we quiet our inner selves, wait patiently, and listen to the Spirit of God in the context of your life.

    We can begin however you would like. Often it is helpful to start our time with silence, a passage of scripture, or a prayer—something to help us turn our attention to the Spirit. You are then free to share from your life, your frustrations, hurts and celebrations as we attend to the question: who is God for you in this? This is to ask, how can you deepen your prayer life…how can you become more attentive to the work and love of God?

    As I listen with you, I sometimes sit with my eyes closed. I also allow for short or extended times of silence. I might turn to Scripture, written prayers or spiritual writings in the course of our conversation all for the sake of developing our conversation with God.

  • Anyone is welcome to participate in spiritual direction. There is no need to be further along in your spiritual journey. There is no need to have anything figured out or for you to be perfect. In fact, you do not even need to consider yourself a Christian or a religious person of any kind! Spiritual direction does require you to have some curiosity about God and the ability to set aside an hour for our meeting together. Some people come to direction a few times. Others continue in direction for years.

  • In considering your prayer life, we are not just interested in your prayers but also perhaps in your prayerlessness. Prayer in its broadest sense, again, is about your relationship with God. When the apostle Paul invites us to pray without ceasing, he means that we might live and walk by his Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5, Romans 8). Jesus gives us an image of this when he invites us to abide in him just as a branch abides in a vine (John 15). This nearness and openness to God is indeed the abundant life that Jesus promised us. Thus this is a purpose of spiritual direction: the fullness and abundance of your life in God.

  • Generally it is recommended to participate in spiritual direction once a month. For people just starting out, it can be helpful to meet every other week for a few sessions as we get oriented.

  • I have a studio/retreat space in Holland, Michigan where I meet with people in person. I also meet with people via Zoom. Once you schedule a session, I will send you specific details, the address or Zoom link.

  • I am asking directees to consider offering a donation of the going rate for direction in West Michigan, $50. Seminarians are encouraged to consider a $25 donation. If you have interest in direction but cannot afford the donation, please inquire anyway. 

  • I don’t ever want money to be a hindrance. If you would need some financial help, please email me to describe your situation and what you can afford: josh@theinvitationcenter.org

Endorsements

“When I look at Josh’s life and what he does, the kind of human being he is, his sense of passion and inspiration, I’m a bit envious because he gets to practice spiritual direction in a prison. Josh chooses to go toward the pain.”

Chuck DeGroat, Professor of Pastoral Care and Christian Spirituality Western Theological Seminary

“The Invitation greatly serves the mission of transformation. Creating a space to hear the voice of the voiceless is a direct response to Jesus’ message of ‘love thy neighbor.’ As Josh leans in to those who live their lives in prison cells, he also leans out to the world with messages and stories that transform our hearts.”

Margarita Solis Deal, Executive Director at Mother Boniface Spirituality Center

“I grew up like Josh as a hyper-churched, evangelical kid, worship leader. All the trappings of church and worship are stripped away when you are sitting in a jail with people who are facing their brokenness, and I was able to pray with a new kind of honesty. I’ve been trying to find connections between the monastery and the prison, and the prisoners with the community and the church. This is what Josh does as a vital bridge between the church and our brothers and sisters who are in hades, in the underground in the prison. This is how we together get to meet Christ.”

Chris Hoke, Author & Director of Underground Ministries

“Practice spiritual direction in a prison? Who does that? There is an incredible thoughtfulness in Josh’s work. You get the sense that he genuinely enjoys people, and his written meditations are born out of his own life of devotion. He comes to the prison with a sense of delight that can cause you to want to go into a prison as well.”


Nathan Foster, Renovaré Director of Community Life

“I immediately recognized within Josh a kindred spirit who is deeply passionate about Jesus, deeply passionate about providing space where people can come into the presence of God and listen deeply. It’s been a privilege to serve alongside Josh facilitating retreats. I always come away from conversations with him enriched. He is a person who has listened deeply to my life. I am thrilled Josh is able to bring out to the rest of us the riches he has received from listening and learning in the prison.”

Sharon Garlough Brown, Spiritual Director & Author

“I was able to go to the prison with Josh and watched him do spiritual direction in a place most of us wouldn’t expect God to show up. I’ve visited and taught in a prison before, but my experience of spiritual conversation in the prison—this was really a profound experience for me, to watch God show up in a way that was healing, that opened my heart in a way it hadn’t been opened before.”

Dr Jared Ortiz, Professor of Religion, Hope College