I received three sources of training, specific to Spiritual Direction. The first was mentorship and supervision by the Rev. Dr. Phyllis Meighen. Pastor Phyllis first introduced me to spiritual direction on a retreat in summer 2017, and in 2018 she allowed me to co-lead a retreat with her. When I was invited to join the company TMP coaching as a spiritual director, it was Pastor Phyllis who I asked to supervise and mentor me. She had guided me in my formation, helped me through many difficult decisions, and continues to be a source of comfort, correction, and inspiration.
My academic training in Spiritual Direction came from courses in Ignatian spirituality and pilgrimage I took while at seminary, under Dr. Bo Karen Lee where I studied dialogical and imaginative prayer as well as the spiritual exercises. Many of the resources I use, such as The Ignatian Adventure and The Inner Compass come from Dr. Lee’s courses on mission and spirituality.
The third source of training came from working as a Spiritual Director in the aforementioned coaching company. I was the only spiritual director on staff, so the majority of the formation was directed at the life coaches. While I am not a life coach, I did learn a lot from the various approaches I was exposed to in my two years with the company.
Beyond this Spiritual-Direction-specific training, I also have had the privilege of working for churches and campus organizations. My most recent formal work was for the Episcopal Church at Princeton, as a campus ministry intern. I worked for a year, during COVID, for this campus ministry at Princeton University, preaching, leading bible studies, meeting with students, and organizing services. It was a little like a paid version of my time on student leadership at Bryn Mawr’s Intervarsity Christian Fellowship – no coincidence, given that that chaplain, the Rev. Allen Wakabayashi, was Intervarsity staff for many years before pursuing chaplaincy!
I also worked for several UCC churches. During the 2018-2019 academic year, I taught Christian Education at United Church of Christ Judd Street, where I led series on church history, saints, women in the Bible, and reading difficult Bible verses. Throughout that time, I also guest preached several times for Central Union Windward.
My first paid experiences with ministry were in the summers of 2017 and 2018, when I worked as a pastoral intern for Nuʻuanu Congregational Church and United Church of Christ Judd Street. I preached, did pastoral visits to elderly congregants, planned services, led VBS for Lanaʻi Union Church, taught adult education, and organized summer events for the churches. It was my time in these internships that helped me discern a call to seminary. I had always known I loved ministry – as far back as high school, I started a Christian Fellowship behind the gym at my school ( it took until my senior year for it to become an officially recognized club, the school had French roots and had a more… laïque approach to religion). That love for ministry grew in college, when I joined Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and became a small group leader before becoming president of my chapter.
My ministry experience has been diverse. I have worked for the Episcopal Church and the UCC – as a Pentecostal, who grew up in the Four Square Church and was active in the Charismatic Prayer Group at my Presbyterian seminary. I have worked for Beth Mardutho, whose mission is the preservation and perpetuation of Syriac language and heritage, and where we studied such figures as Ephrem the Syrian and attended Syriac Orthodox services. I led a patristic Greek reading group with a Greek orthodox priest (now the dean of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Seminary). I love the Bride of Christ, and am grateful for all the formation I have received from so many parts of her to make me the Spiritual Director that I am.