Kenton Smith
Spiritual Director
M.Div., D.Min., Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction
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Availability: Practice is closed at this time.
Training & Experience:Training & Experience: I am a Christian contemplative in the second half of life living in the wonder and tension of God, life and death. I graduated from San Francisco Theological Seminary in 2011 with aDoctor of Ministry degree focused on spiritual direction as a metaphor for pastoral leadership. In 1998 I earned the Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction at SFTS and co-founded Soul Work Studio (a spiritual direction practice for individuals and organizations). Prior I graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary and pastored four PCUSA congregations from 1974-2009. Formerly I served as a staff member and group trainer for the graduate Program in Christian Spirituality at SFTS and the PCS Advisory Board. During two interludes I worked as a consultant for ExecutivEdge of Silicon Valley (executive coaching) and Vesper Society (a private foundation focused on health and justice). I am a board member of the Contemplative Center of Silicon Valley. Specialties: Individuals growing into the second half of life and organizations seeking to learn discernment in decision making. Style of Spiritual Direction: Our lives are filled with experiences going on within and around all the time. Thoughts, feelings, motivations, memories, dreams, questions, fears, grief, every painful experience as well as laughter, love, sensuality, beauty, intense joy, and moments of ecstasy. There are things we tell everyone, deeper still things we tell only a select few, and things we tell no one, mysteries too deep for words, like a great emptiness inside where a flame burns. We need to talk and we long to be understood. Spiritual Direction is the art of spiritual conversation and discovery about the Mystery we call God. Personal: My wife and I have been married for fifty years with three grown children and seven grandchildren. I am an auto racing enthusiast engaged in HSDE track days, fitness junky, ballroom dancer, I write theopoetics and enjoy amateur photography. I am an ordained Presbyterian minister (PCUSA) now honorably retired. |