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Personal Spiritual Retreats

Be Quiet

“Frenzied busyness is the number one value of American Christian leaders.”

That was the assessment of the late Lon Allison, a pastor and former Executive Director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. “When we get together in conferences, that’s what we talk about all the time, how busy we are. That must be a number one value.”

Yet if we are busy all the time, how can we be attentive to God? To our families? To ourselves?

These retreats are designed as a resource for those who have participated in one of LFM’s ongoing ministries.

Across the years, many full-time ministry leaders have been assisted in finding time for reflection and renewal through personal spiritual retreats facilitated by Leighton Ford Ministries. These retreats are one more way we come alongside missional leaders as they journey through life and ministry.

Spiritual Direction

Spiritual direction (or spiritual mentoring) is a centuries-old practice to help shape our lives and our service in Christlike patterns. It is modeled on Jesus, whose way of developing leaders was not classroom teaching, but life upon life … like a master craftsman tutoring a young apprentice.

The typical retreat is three days, starting with extended conversation with an experienced spiritual director, continuing through solitary time for being alone with God, and concluding with a debrief. The purpose and best use of the retreats, in our experience, is for unhurried time to be alone with the Lord, His creation, and your own innermost being. We encourage participants to not come with a big agenda or lots of reading material, but instead bring an open heart and a readiness to wait patiently on the Lord.

What to know more? Contact us!

Are you a full-time vocational ministry
leader who needs to reconnect with God …
and maybe yourself?

Please contact Sunny Allen at sallen@lfmconnect.org for more information and to
express interest in scheduling a retreat.

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LFM Spiritual Directors

  • Anne Grizzle

    Mentoring Catalyst and Coach

    • Anne Grizzle
    Mentoring Catalyst and Coach
    Anne Grizzle is an author, spiritual director, family therapist, and retreat leader who serves as Chaplain of the Boys Home of Virginia.  These experiences enrich her work with Leighton Ford Ministries, where she serves on the Board of Directors, oversees mentoring communities for global ministry leaders, and provides coaching for pastors. She regularly hosts spiritual retreats at the Bellfry near Lexington, Virginia, which she envisioned and created as a place of welcome, rest, renewal, and solace.  Anne is associate faculty for Shalem Institute for Spirituality, where she offers workshops on group spiritual direction and young adult leadership.  She also serves on the board of Bittersweet Creative and is co-chair of World Vision’s Every Last One campaign to end extreme poverty. Anne received her B.S. (Magna Cum Laude) from Harvard College with a concentration in Psychology and Social Relations, her M.S. from the Columbia University School of Social Work, and her Post Masters Certificate in Advanced Clinical Social Work and Family Therapy from Hunter College of New York.  She is a member of the American Family Therapy Association, American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, and National Association of Social Workers. She has authored two books, contributed to two more, and been a featured speaker on national television, including Oprah and Donahue.  Anne and her husband, David, have three sons, two daughters-in-law, and seven grandchildren.  They live in Lexington, Virginia.
  • Zack Eswine

    Pastor, Mentor, and Author

    • Zack Eswine
    Pastor, Mentor, and Author
    Zack is a pastor, mentor, and author who serves as Lead Pastor of Riverside Church near St. Louis and Director of Homiletics at Covenant Theological Seminary.  The product of a broken home, he has wrestled with anxiety, depression, and doubt.  From these wounds comes a desire to help you create quiet space to consider and communicate Jesus amid the doubts, longings, questions, and sorrows of our generations, and within your own life.  Zack is most recently the author of The Imperfect Pastor: Discovering Joy in Our Limitations though a Daily Apprenticeship with Jesus (Crossway, 2015).
  • David Henderson

    Senior Pastor of Covenant Church

    • David Henderson
    Senior Pastor of Covenant Church
    David Henderson serves as the senior pastor of Covenant Church, an Evangelical Presbyterian congregation near Purdue University in Indiana. A former atheist who gave his life to Christ at the end of college, he has now served in full-time ministry for more than 30 years.  He has a passion for equipping and encouraging pastors around the world through mentoring, training and working with organizations including the Lausanne Movement and the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College.  David is married to Sharon, who also serves as a Spiritual Director.
  • Sharon Henderson

    Spiritual Director, Mentor, Bible Study leader, speaker

    • Sharon Henderson
    Spiritual Director, Mentor, Bible Study leader, speaker
    Sharon Henderson is a Spiritual Director, mentor, Bible Study leader, speaker, and pastor’s wife who considers it a “deep privilege to come alongside others to discern together the loving presence and activity of God in their lives.”  She is a member of the Evangelical Spiritual Directors Association and is a Certified Spiritual Director.  Her ministry includes facilitating spiritual formation retreats, working with mothers and children, and equipping and encouraging leaders.  Sharon is married to David, who also serves as a Spiritual Director.

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