BOB CHAPMAN

M. Div., M. Ed., DASD

A native of Norfolk, Virginia, I have walked beside people from all corners of life. Naval officers, railroad workers, rural farmers, and Chesapeake Bay watermen. Corporate CEOs, aerospace engineers, and university presidents. After college, I worked in a photography studio for two years before attending seminary. My work as a parish pastor has been described as an art form, assisting individuals and families through unforeseen and difficult circumstances. Be it a sudden tragedy or a long-standing heartache, separation, divorce, a cancer diagnosis, illness or death, I am known for my empathic spirit of understanding and distinctive listening skills.  

Ordained in the Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church, I have served in religious leadership positions in five Virginia churches. I have worked as a chaplain in health care and university settings. The one gift of grace impacting me was, for many years, receiving spiritual direction from a Catholic monk at a Cistercian monastery. A few months following a Five-Day Academy for Spiritual Formation retreat, sponsored by The Upper Room, I discerned a new calling toward spiritual direction, which I have been practicing since I retired as a congregational spiritual leader. 

After completing the Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction (DASD) program at The University of Redlands School of Theology at San Francisco Theological Seminary, I retired from parish ministry, drove with my wife and dog across the country, and now reside near Santa Cruz, California.  I continue to enjoy photography, walking along the beach and the redwoods, tennis, table tennis, reading, and cooking soft shell crabs.  

Training and Experience

Memberships

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

- PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN