“Jesus’ promise ‘I am with you always’ is the eternal source of our daily life of prayer. This is no technique. We are in deep waters of the most intimate of all possible relationships that flow to us – forever fresh and new – from minute to minute. And, as with all that lives, our relationship with the ultimate Person (Jesus) is organic, open-handed, unexpected, and unfolding…You might think of or picture yourself walking with Jesus or sitting across from him. Ask him as you might a beloved friend: What can I do each day to respond from my heart to your presence? How can I best experience your transforming friendship today?” (excerpt from Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God, p. 176-177 and written by Flora Slosson Wuellner)

Is it your hearts desire to experience God’s transforming friendship today? All it takes is to lean fully in his direction and what you will receive is the loving comfort, guidance, joy, and peace that God alone can provide. At LTi, we are convinced that in order to discover intimate fellowship with the Triune God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - we need to acquire spiritual practices that will aid us in this journey toward the heart of God. This is our pathway to holiness. In all that we do with leaders and teams, those practices are rooted in the threefold priorities of Scripture, prayer and reflection. Our one-on-one spiritual direction sessions, soul care retreats, team intensives, teaching, training and consultative services all point leaders to these life-giving practices. There are a plethora of options to consider, but I want to urge you to consider the growing needs of your soul as you enter the summer months. Select practices that will bring you back to the places where your heart can be at home once more…in the arms of God.

Are you one of our Guide to Prayer For All Who Seek God companions? If so, I’d love to hear how the Guide is being used of the Lord in your life, relationships and/or ministry. Want to join the LTi family in this endeavor? Then click to order your copy and pick up the trail with us (the Guide follows the church calendar so we’re all in sync on what we’re reading week to week).

Spiritual Leadership Communities completes a second successful year. What an amazing journey the Spiritual Leadership Community participants have experienced these past two years! Initially we began with 6 men and 6 women expanding this past year to 8 men and 7 women. Coming together five times a year for an overnight retreat allowed plenty of time for attentive listening, worship, solitude, fellowship, teaching, and discussion on the current topic as we yearned to deepen our attentiveness to God’s presence and movement in our lives. One very powerful practice to start our time together was writing and sharing our spiritual autobiographies. Learning to listen reflectively to each story allowed a very precious bond and deeper knowledge of each other that enable our supportive prayer between our gatherings. Truly we learned to “love one another deeply from the heart” (1 Peter 1:22) as we shared victories, times of desolation, and the steadfast love of our Lord. We are grateful to God for the privilege of serving these ministry leaders in this life-transforming experience trusting that the impact of soul care and spiritual formation will infiltrate not only their lives, but the spiritual lives to whom they minister.

Congrats to Selah graduates! This past weekend LTi awarded Certificates of Completion to our first cohort of spiritual directors! Having gathered together over the past two years as a whole community in various retreat settings, and for one-to-one and peer group supervision with Selah faculty, the 15 fledgling directors have undergone a course of instruction and practice in Christian spiritual direction. Lectures, readings, and reflective practices have shaped the curriculum, examining spiritual direction’s underlying spiritual formation theology, grounded in a Biblical theology of the Trinitarian God and his ways of forming us into the image of Christ, and learning the art of its contemplative practice, noticing and responding to the Holy Spirit’s presence in and with us.

One intern summarizes, “What I'm most thankful for about Selah is not only how the program is training me how to be present with other people (with God), but how to live my day to day life differently - more intentionally, attentively. I will forever be thankful for this. Before the program, I never fathomed that God was with me/in me to such an intimate degree, that He would take such delight in finding a home in me. Seems unreal at times, a true mystery.” Another writes, “I have received more personal and ministry support and encouragement in the past year in Selah than in the previous 20 years. I really am grateful for you all!” Selah’s graduates, comprising pastors, church staff, counselors, and lay leaders of a variety of ministries, now offer spiritual direction ministry in New England as well as states in the Mid-Atlantic and the West.

Selah is now receiving applications for our second cohort, due to begin this fall. For details, including program philosophy, curricular themes, intern qualifications, faculty, program dates and cost, visit the Selah page.

LTi to Partner with Focus on the Family. On June 1, vice president Rick Anderson signed a contract with Focus on the Family that will entail building Focus’s Family Health Assessment Tool on the proprietary software platform that LTi developed in 2006 for the Church Health Assessment Tool. “We’re thrilled to collaborate with Focus on the Family on this project,” says Anderson, “and excited to see the automated, web-based platform that was originally built for our mission now resourcing one of the largest and most well known ministries in the country.”

Macchia to speak at “The Jesus Way” International Conference on Spiritual Renewal, sponsored by Renovare. From June 21-24 a veritable who’s who of the spiritual formation movement will gather in San Antonio, Texas for Renovare’s international conference. Dr. Steve Macchia will be among them teaching on “Personal Rule of Life” and meeting with members of the spiritual formation community.

LTi turns 6 on July 1! June 30 will wrap up our 6th year as a ministry and we’ll press into year 7 with excitement and expectancy for what God will do among and within us. Please join us in celebrating this milestone.

Macchia and LTi selected to be awarded grant from George Fox University. George Fox University, conducting a nationwide Congregational Discernment Initiative funded by the Lily Endowment, has selected our president and LTi as one of 15 recipients of a Discernment Leadership Initiative Award to study “Spiritual Discernment as Christian Leadership” among the pastors and leaders we serve. Macchia also presented a workshop on Spiritual Discernment at the national conference and will be engaging leaders in dialogue about discernment in the coming months. “This is a prestigious honor,” says Macchia, “I’m grateful for the opportunity to participate in this initiative and discover what will be learned through the collective efforts of my colleagues from across the nation.”

Sign up for an LTi Soul Sabbath. LTi is offering two day-long Soul Sabbaths this coming Advent and Lent. Come to renew your soul and enjoy some wide open space with God. Registration information forthcoming.

New Self-Guided Retreat Download. We’ve just released a new Half Day Soul Care Retreat download at our online store. The focus of this latest retreat is “Meditating on God’s World.” Take a half day to appreciate the beauty of God’s creation and how he might want to communicate to YOU through the splendor of the outdoors. Perfect for individuals and groups that would like a roadmap to follow for a 4-hour spiritual formation retreat (scripture, worship outline, and touch points included). We also offer a downloadable retreat on “Reclaiming Rest and Renewal.” Keep an eye on the store for additional retreat resources to be added in the future.

Turn your commute into time with God. Check out the “Hearts On Pilgrimage” CD series at the LTi store. These audio devotionals each include 20, 15-minute segments, meant to nourish you throughout four, five-day work weeks. Through a collection of Scripture readings from the Gospel of John and other Old and New Testament passages, ancient and modern prayers, and worship music, the listener is invited to join in the historical practice of daily, meditative worship. Featured are the prayers of St. Augustine and Martin Luther, Mother Teresa and Richard Foster, as well as the music of JAC Redford, John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers, K. Lee Scott, and the St. Olaf and Concordia College Choirs from Minnesota. Also included are worship songs by Fernando Ortega, Billy Crockett, Bob Bennett, and Laurie Klein, among others. Available in part one and part two.

Other resources available in the LTi Store include:

• CHAT – LTi’s church health survey (www.HealthyChurch.net)
• Online registration for all LTi sponsored events
• Books and articles written by the LTi ministry team
• Online donation capability