What happens when we make peace with the reality that there are no ideal conditions in which to pastor?

In this episode, join Jay Kim and Glenn Packiam for a conversation on finding “your little patch of the world” to be the pastor God has called you to be. Glenn traces the through line of his “misfit” ministry career and the crisis that led him into Eugene Peterson's mentorship, where he first heard the words he would return to again and again : "there are no ideal conditions in which to live out this vocation." He shares the ebb and flow of spiritual practices that sustain his hidden life with God, the radical approach he took entering a new church, and the "constellation of relationships" he believes every pastor needs to flourish. He and Jay unpack the essential difference between weariness and woundedness—in ourselves and in the people we pastor.

Glenn Packiam is the Lead Pastor of Rockharbor Church in Costa Mesa, California. Glenn is the author of several books, including The Resilient Pastor, Blessed Broken Given, and a recent title, What’s a Christian, Anyway? Glenn and his wife Holly live in Orange County, California, with their four children.

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Mentioned in this conversation:

• Job 4:5 (MSG)
• The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction by Eugene Peterson
• Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness by Eugene Peterson
• Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity by Eugene Peterson
• Connecting: The Mentoring Relationships You Need to Succeed in Life by Paul Stanley and Robert Clinton