Specialists

Rev. Dr. Keith Broyles

I have been a pastor in the United Methodist Church for 30 years, 20 of those years as an elder. Many of the congregations I have served during that time have been small-membership congregations along with a few mid-sizes and slightly larger. I have taken advantage of various educational opportunities including using media in worship and Charis spiritual director’s training. My wife, Cindy, and I live in Lufkin, TX. We have two grown sons and six grandchildren.

I have served as a spiritual director to be clergy and laity since 2014 when I completed the three-year Charis Spiritual Director’s training. Spiritual directors are traveling companions for travel on life’s spiritual road.

Mary Ann Matthys

I am Mary Ann Matthys, MA, CSD,  an Artist, Teacher, Certified Spiritual Director, and Retreat Facilitator who utilizes the creative process as an invitation to personal growth. My current passion is facilitating the Blessing Book Process© as a wonderful way to find God in ordinary days and develop an ongoing relationship with God each day.

I am a Contemplative Soul who finds the contemplative path a wonderful way to nurture one’s relationship with God. I am a person who values life in all its forms. I love nature and feel especially close to the Divine when I am in natural settings. I value relationships. For me, it is important to engage others with understanding, knowing that every individual has inherent value and self-worth. In the core of my being, I am a person who seeks to live into her faith day-by-day, moment-by-moment. I am a creative individual who finds the creative process a wonderful way to consecrate my life to the Sacred. My award-winning Art has been in numerous Juried Exhibitions in the Houston Area. My passion is creating Art in service to the Sacred.

Blessings always!

Becky Oates

As a trained and seasoned Spiritual Director, I engage in a ministry of contemplative presence that offers sacred space to individuals or groups for an on-going process of discovery and a deepening relationship with God.

I bring a knowledge of Christian contemplative prayer practices and spiritual disciplines, such as praying with the Christian Mystics, praying with nature, Lectio Divina and Experiencing Silence. I am trained in Inner Healing of Past Traumas, one-on-one or group Spiritual Direction, and lead retreats and days of prayer. Spiritual Direction is a time of listening deeply to one’s sacred stories and the movement of God within them. It is both my passion and calling, as well as my posture of living in the moments of each day.

Rev. Dr. Jim Reiter

After 35 years of full-time service in the East Texas area (serving in a wide variety of rural and urban settings and church sizes), I took early retirement from UM parish ministry (in May 2018) so that my wife, Kathy, and I could pursue our interest and passions in spiritual formation on a full-time basis.

My formal training includes:  Studies at Perkins School of Theology (M.Div., 1987 and D. Min 1992), a Professional Certification in Spiritual Formation (through the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church and studies at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in 2019). Certification and commissioning as a Spiritual Director (via the Episcopal Diocese of Texas’ “FIND School for Spiritual Direction and Formation”)

Since retirement (and the founding of Zoe-Life Explorations, I have conducted a variety of explorations/workshops for individuals, congregations, and districts, and Conference entities across the United States and Canada—especially focused in and through my work as Director of the Richard and Julia Wilke Institute of Discipleship’s online Certification in Spiritual Formation Program (via its online presence at www.BeADisciple.com).

I welcome the opportunity to serve individuals and faith communities as they reframe and reclaim the depth and breadth of Christian discipleship—journeying with the Spirit into greater and fuller maturity in Christ.

Christian spiritual direction is a ministry of companionship in which one person helps another to notice the Triune God’s active presence and movement in daily life – promoting intimacy with Christ, the One True Director.  I’d welcome an opportunity to so companion with clergy, staff members, and laity – praying for the wisdom to know when to share from my 35 years of pastoral ministry and my work in spiritual formation studies/experiences… and when to remain a companioning and caring presence.

Kathy Reiter

My spiritual roots have been enriched by having grown my faith initially in the Catholic churches I was raised in and then the Methodist churches I have been a part of since marrying Jim, in 1982, before he attended seminary. Life is best for me when I am outdoors with family or friends. I can be found gardening, visiting with people, cooking for family, or taking photos of nature, all of which are my joys. Ministry with Jim has blessed me with friends, who feel like family, across the Texas Annual Conference. We have moved from parsonage life to improving and our own 65-year-old home and yards, which we enjoy tremendously. While our three grown children, daughter-in-law and granddaughter have never lived in this house, we are always glad when they come “home”.

As a spiritual director, it is a privilege to offer people safe, nurturing space for paying attention to their walk with God. Believing all of life offers us moments that bring us glimpses of how God is present in our days – our current circumstances, nature, the moments that move us – spiritual direction as safe space creates room for joys, confusions, doubts, all the seasons of faith. Our spiritual journey can bring many bends and bumps and paying attention to these enrich our spiritual growth. My hope and prayer are to offer a listening ear in a way that leads those I sit with to have the curiosity and courage to tend their spiritual roots for fuller and deeper living. I received my certification as a spiritual director through the Spiritual Direction Institute (The Cenacle Retreat House), in Houston, TX, 2012.

Rev. Kristin Rockwell

Reverend Kristin Rockwell started her career in ministry in 1993 as a professional Christian Educator.  In 2002, she continued her service to the church moving to pastoral ministry.  In 2019, she added a certification in Spiritual Direction and serves as a spiritual director while continuing her pastoral ministry.   She has served large and small churches on the northside of Houston and in Northeast Texas.

Kristin loves helping people grow in their understanding of God and how God is active in the world and in their lives. She is especially drawn to contemplative and Celtic spirituality, Enneagram as a way to know oneself better, and prayer of all kinds.  Outside of work, Kristin enjoys reading, spending time with family and friends, experimenting with new recipes, and listening to music.

Spiritual Direction is accompanying someone in deep listening as we listen together to how God has been active in their lives. Spiritual Direction is often done one-on-one over a period of time.

Spiritual Formation is intentional activity that helps us to know ourselves better in the Light of God. Spiritual Formation is often done as a group activity such as a class in or as a retreat.

Pastoral Counseling is different from Spiritual Direction as a pastor is invited to use their education and experience to speak a word of God into your situation.

I am passionate about helping people hear God, hear God present in their own lives and discovering tools and activities that can lead us into deeper and more mature relationships with God.

Rev. Cindy Serio

Rev. Cindy Serio is a recently retired ordained deacon whose primary appointment was to develop a ministry of spiritual formation. She established MOSAIC Spiritual Formation Ministry in 2009 to help people “create beauty from the broken pieces of life” through contemplation, creativity, and compassion. In her secondary appointments, she has served Ashford UMC, Mission Bend UMC, and Holy Covenant UMC in the Southwest District. Cindy has been a trained spiritual director since 2003, graduated from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 2009 with an MA in Spiritual Formation, and received a professional certification through GBHEM in Spiritual Formation in 2011. In 2019, Cindy founded “The Texas Gathered Community of Spiritual Directors,” a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to Christian spiritual formation in church and community through the ministries of a group of dedicated and ethically grounded trained spiritual directors from a diverse variety of training programs.

Spiritual direction is a ministry of holy listening in which a person is accompanied on the spiritual journey by a companion who is trained to listen for God’s movements. As a spiritual director, Cindy provides guidance in discernment and in the unfolding development of a rhythm & rule of life that is tailored to each person’s unique personality and relationship with God. Cindy offers one-with-one spiritual direction with individuals and group spiritual direction with small groups of people who are seeking to grow in their spiritual life.

Rev. Dr. Steve Stutz

The Rev. Dr. Steve Stutz is an ordained Lutheran minister who has served rural/small town congregations in west Texas, as well suburban/inner city congregations in the metro Houston area. He has worked extensively with clergy and congregations of the Texas Annual Conference in a wide variety of consulting roles since 2014. He is a certified church consultant through the Society for Church Consulting and teaches at the Houston Graduate School of Theology.

Spiritual direction is the practice of being with people as they attempt to deepen their relationship with the divine, or to learn and grow in their personal spirituality. The person seeking direction shares stories of their encounters of the divine, or how they are cultivating a life attuned to spiritual things. Dr. Stutz holds a D. Min in spiritual direction and has taught this discipline at the Houston Graduate School of Theology since 2014. He is certified through the Formation in Direction Program of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and has been a spiritual director in private practice since 2006. Specializing in directing clergy and those in discernment for ordination or religious life.