Chris Waddle
MDiv
Director of Leadership and Spiritual Life
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About Me
- GENDER: Male (He/him/his)
- LANGUAGE: English
As a spiritual director, conflict mediator, premarital counselor, teacher, and consultant for individuals, teams, and organizations, I invite others to recognize, nurture and engage with the relationships that give life depth, beauty and meaning. I also help them recognize, nurture and honor their core values in consistent ways that bring joy, meaning and intrinsic reward to their life and work. This may be through individual consultation, team building, institutional visioning, spiritual retreats, non-profit and congregational 360 assessments, or conflict transformation. I am comfortable working with individuals and groups in religious, non-profit, education, medical and corporate fields.
I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Social and Rehabilitation Services from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Master of Divinity degree from Duke University. I have two units of Clinical Pastoral Education: one from the American Institute for Ministry and the other from The University of North Carolina Medical Center. I have served as an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church in Mississippi and in Iowa and I have experience as an associate pastor, a small church pastor and a large church pastor. I have served as the Chaplain and Director of Church Relations for Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa from 2001-2009. I have also been a teacher and clergy coach for the Iowa United Methodist Conference Healthy Church Initiative and is a member of the Maintaining Ministers in Ministry Family Systems clergy coaching community. I am also a trained facilitator for Holy Cow Consulting. I have training in conflict transformation from Fred Van Liew, Restorative Justice Coordinator, Des Moines, IA and conflict mediation from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. My training in spiritual direction is from The Siena Retreat Center in Racine, WI.
In spiritual direction and retreat leadership I seek to create a compassionate space for people to experience and explore the relationships that give life depth, beauty and meaning. In my consultation and coaching, I emphasize clarity of identity, alignment with values and purpose, self-awareness, non-reactive connected leadership and awareness of the dynamics of relational systems. I enjoy sharing a good laugh, playing with his dogs, sports-cars, fishing, traveling, and selling vintage toys.
Department
- Client Services
- Leadership & Spiritual Life
- Leadership Team
- Training Programs
Specialty
- Personal Development
- Spiritual Enrichment
- Team Building
- Visioning
Therapy
- Spiritual Counseling
- Spiritual Direction
Client Focus
- Adults
- Couples
- Leaders
- Teams
Telehealth Offered