Chris Waddle

About Me

• GENDER: Male (He/him/his)
• LANGUAGE: English

As a spiritual director, 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 am able to call on the talents of a large network of counselors, teachers and consultants to meet the particular needs of my clients. -Additional Areas of Focus: Spirituality, Clergy Coaching, Congregational Coaching, Congregation & Non-Profit Culture Assessment and Healthy Cultures & Leaders -Additional Types of Therapies: Conflict Transformation in Congregations and Organizations, Ethical Boundary Training and Child and Vulnerable Adult Protection Training for Congregations -Additional Client Focuses: Schools, Business, Health Care, Non-Profits, Congregations

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. I have experience as an associate pastor, a small church pastor and a large church pastor. I also served as the Chaplain and Director of Church Relations for Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa from 2001-2009. I completed my training as spiritual director at the Siena Retreat Center in Racine, WI. I have served as a teacher and clergy coach for the Iowa United Methodist Conference Healthy Church Initiative and am a member of the Maintaining Ministers in Ministry Family Systems clergy coaching community. I am also a trained facilitator for Holy Cow Consulting.

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 laughing with my friends, colleagues, and family, playing with my dogs, sportscars, 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