Joe Stabile started centering prayer at age 14. If you’ve ever wondered how a lifetime of centering prayer shapes a person, listen to this conversation with Joe. Throughout his life, Joe has had a constant posture of discernment and a deep trust in where God is leading. Joe is so rooted in the Spirit; listening to him, being around him, is like jumping into a cold pool of water on a hot summer day. In this soul-refreshing conversation, you’ll hear:

Joe’s story of his life with God and his deep trust in God that has led him on an interesting, unexpected, and awesome life journey (to say the least!) (04:53)
The Seven Classical Disciplines and which ones feel particularly important right now (17:00)
The definition of ‘spiritual practice’ that made us go ‘wow!’ (21:32)
Advice for leaders in the church who are facing stress and burnout (27:36)

QUOTES

“90% of centering prayer is about your intention. What is your intention when you sit for this 20 minutes? What’s your intention? And your intention is to be totally open to God. Those six words: to be totally open to God. ” -Joe Stabile [25:27]
“We can choose any of the spiritual practices or disciplines and find times to incorporate them into our lives and allow them to move us forward. Going back for me, going back always to contemplative prayer or centering prayer. Everybody can find 20 minutes everyday to just stop and do centering prayer.” -Joe Stabile [33:02]

About Joe Stabile

Rev. Joe Stabile is a United Methodist Church pastor as well as Co-Founder and Animator of Life in the Trinity Ministry, in Dallas, Texas. He has served in vocational ministry for more than forty years, with combined experience in local church pastoral ministry, spiritual direction, retreat leadership, pastoral care and mentoring. In addition to serving as Associate Pastor at First UMC Dallas, Joe leads the Contemplative Cohort at Life in the Trinity Ministry.

RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS

For more information about the Contemplative Cohort Joe leads at Life in the Trinity Ministry, visit their website here.

This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high-capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission.

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Vanderpump Rules Season 4: Episode 14