Effective December 31st, 2010 I have decided to leave my part time staff position at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA so that I can be full time in the ministry of Soul Shepherding that God has given to Kristi and I.
This is a big step of faith for us. We feel like Peter sitting in his fishing boat when Jesus, standing on the stormy waters, called him to come. In faith he had to step out of the boat and walk on the water to Jesus! He discovered that as long as he kept looking at Jesus, he was indeed able to walk on water!
I have served at the Crystal Cathedral for twenty years, most recently as the Pastor of Spiritual Formation Ministries. It has been an honor for me to work with pastors and leaders at the Crystal Cathedral. The ministry has had major challenges in recent years, but in the midst of that I have been blessed to be part of a spiritual renewal that God is bringing.
In the context of our Soul Shepherding ministry Kristi and I hope to be able to continue to support what God is doing at the Crystal Cathedral by working with pastors and leaders, teaching classes, and leading retreats – the same things that we do for other churches and organizations.
Soul Shepherding is about leverage for the Kingdom of God. Kristi and I seek to be catalytic for God-sized changes in communities of Christ-followers and in the culture of organizations. We do this through counseling, spiritual mentoring, and consulting with leaders, staff teams, and groups.
We are finding that Jesus still multiplies a few fishes and loaves to feed thousands! For instance:
- We’re mentoring a pastor and his wife and we see God working transformation not only in them, but also in their entire church and in over 20 pastors of other churches that they have influence over.
- I provide spiritual mentoring for a pastor who mentors 50 lay leaders in his church who minister to many hundreds throughout the church.
- We’re working with a leadership team at a missions organization to help them become more Christ-centered as a community, organization, and in their person-to-person presentations of the Gospel to over 1/4 million people.
- We create Soul Shepherding resources and offer them for free at SoulShepherding.org and every week hundreds of people like you use them for personal prayer and meditation on Scripture and pass them on to others through sermons, classes, or conversation.
Soul Shepherding is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry governed by an independent Board of Directors that sets the budget and guides the ministry. To help us all be submitted to the Lordship of Christ we have set up a unique balance of power: Kristi and I do not have a vote on Board decisions, but we lead the Board in monthly spiritual formation meetings, helping us to be centered in Christ as a community and to discern God’s leading for Soul Shepherding. (This is the same philosophy that we bring to leadership teams at churches and organizations.)
The Soul Shepherding Board has set a budget for 2011 which provides for all ministry expenses, including for Bill to be full-time and Kristi part-time. Our revenue comes from donations, fees for counseling or mentoring of pastors and ministry leaders, honorariums from churches, and the sale of special ministry resources. To date our monthly revenue is 45% of the 2011 budget.
Would you pray about the possibility that God might want you to invest in the ministry of Soul Shepherding? Might God want you to help us step out of the boat and walk on water to Jesus? To date we have 52 partners and are trusting God for many more so that the ministry of Soul Shepherding can expand God’s kingdom for years to come.
You can learn more about how you can pray for us or make tax-deductible donations to Soul Shepherding.
