The Fuller Center for Spiritual Formation (FSF) equips leaders everywhere to grow and send everyone. Re-engage your passion for leading others in spiritual formation and discipleship with the trusted support of Fuller Theological Seminary. Working side by side, we’ll support your pastoral voice, engage your people, and help shape your community by creating new and sustainable pathways of spiritual formation in your church or organization. Learn more at spiritualformation.fuller.edu—where communities thrive through spiritual formation.

Main Instructor

Your main instructor for the certificate is Rev. Dr. Laura Murray.

Alongside Laura, many other contributors came together to support the creation of this certificate, to bring a diversity of voices and thought to the content.

Here is a brief introduction to each of these individuals:

From Fuller Theological Seminary

Cindy Lee: A Taiwanese-American spiritual director and aspiring mystic. She leads retreats in the areas of Christian mysticism and BIPOC-centered spirituality. She also mentors and trains spiritual directors and is particularly interested in supporting BIPOC spiritual directors. As an affiliate assistant professor, she teaches in the area of Christian spirituality and spiritual direction. In her free time, she enjoys street art, coffee, and exploring the city.

Patrick Oden: Patrick began teaching at Fuller as an adjunct in 2011 and joined full-time in 2015, initially serving at the Sacramento regional campus. From 2012 to 2015, Oden taught undergraduate courses in theology and church history at Azusa Pacific University. Dr. Oden teaches classes in theology and church history as well as community and worship, drawing together a holistic approach to Christian theology in our era. He is also the Director of Academic Integration for FULLER Equip and an ordained minister in The Wesleyan Church.

David Wang: As Cliff and Joyce Penner Chair for the Formation of Emotionally Healthy Leaders, David Wang’s academic and applied work focuses on the holistic formation of Christian leaders, inclusive of the formation of emotional health and resilience alongside the leader’s intellectual and spiritual formation. He also serves on the advisory board of ATS’s Global Awareness and Engagement Initiative, where he is supporting efforts to bring together global theological educators to better understand and support the unique spiritual and developmental needs of diverse Christian leaders around the world. Wang is a licensed psychologist, pastor, editor of the Journal of Psychology and Theology, and serves on the editorial board for the APA journal Spirituality in Clinical Practice.

Jude Tiersma Watson: Judith (“Jude”) Tiersma Watson is an associate professor of Urban Mission in the School of Intercultural Studies. Born in the Netherlands, Tiersma Watson immigrated with her family to the United States as a child. After college, she taught fifth grade to the children of migrant farm workers in the San Joaquin Valley for three years, followed by five years in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Katmandu, Nepal. As a missionary with Dilaram House Ministries (a division of Youth with a Mission), she was active in discipleship, counseling, and rehabilitation through Dilaram’s intentional communities.

From The Ministry Collaborative

Jennifer Maxell: Jennifer is a preacher, teacher, The Breakthrough Fellowship church co-founder, life coach, and writer known for her interactive teaching and creative communication style. She is also the founder of The Ellipsis Experience Conference for Women and Teenage Girls. She received her BA in Philosophy from Howard University, and an MDiv from Emory’s Candler School of Theology, earning Certificates in Black Church Studies and Religious Education.

Adam Mixon: Adam served several years as the president of the Pastor’s and Minister’s Conference and as Dean of the Educational Congress within the New Era Progressive Baptist State Convention of Alabama, as well as a member of the official staff in the local district association. He has been a preaching peer-group facilitator for the Lilly Group in association with Beeson Divinity School. Adam is a facilitator for Macedonian Ministry’s Reimagining Church Cohort in Birmingham, Alabama. Adam is a published author and enjoys serving as a mentor for several programs while doing the work of a community activist.

From Mosaic Formation

David Wu: David, along with his wife, Cindy, founded Mosaic Formation. He is a Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div) graduate and a senior faculty member of Selah, LTI’s Certificate Program in Spiritual Direction. Prior to his work with Mosaic Formation, David’s ministry experiences included overseas missions in East Asia, church planting, and pastoral ministry in the local church. David is passionate about creating prayerful and hospitable space for others to listen to God, serving under-served individuals and communities, and biblical reconciliation and peacemaking. For fun, he enjoys long hikes, playing the guitar, gluten-free cooking, and pulling weeds. David and Cindy and their three kids make their home in Houston, Texas.

Cindy Wu: Cindy is an author, missions mobilizer, and ordained minister. She and her husband, David, are co-founders of Mosaic Formation. Cindy’s ministry passions include welcoming refugees and studying global missions. She holds an M.A. in Religion from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. She is co-author of Our Global Families: Christians Embracing Common Identity in a Changing World with Todd M. Johnson, and author of A Better Country: Embracing the Refugees in Our Midst. Her hobbies are reading and doing (short) triathlons.

From Anam Cara Ministries

Tara Owens: Tara is the founder and executive director of Anam Cara Ministries, where she has been accompanying others in their journeys with God for 15 years as a certified spiritual director and supervisor. She is also co-director of Together in the Mystery, a ministry of supervision and continuing education for spiritual director supervisors. Her deep longing is to see others move toward wholeness with themselves, with God, with their communities, and with the world. Tara holds a Masters of Theological Studies in Spiritual Formation, combined with a certificate in Death, Dying & Grieving, from Tyndale Seminary, and the Advanced Certificate in Supervision from the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education at Fordham University. In addition to her work with Anam Cara, she teaches for the Potter’s Inn Soul Care Institute and is on staff with Paseo for their spiritual direction training program, Stewards of the Mystery, and guest lectures at various seminaries, churches, and non-profits.

From Unhurried Living 

Gem Fadling: Gem is a trained spiritual director and a certified life coach, with 30 years of experience in the spiritual formation stream. She is the co-founder of Unhurried Living, where she trains Christian leaders to rest deeper, live fuller and lead better. Her podcast is I Can Do That! and she is the author of Hold That Thought and co-author of What Does Your Soul Love?.

Alan Fadling: Alan (MDiv) serves as a frequent speaker and consultant with local churches, national organizations, and leaders internationally. His content is approachable, usable, and transferable. He shows leaders how to get perspective so their leadership flows from a full soul and out of healthy rhythms of rest and work. A trained spiritual director, Alan is author of An Unhurried Life, An Unhurried Leader, and A Year of Slowing Down.