Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

College

Barnett College of Ministry & Theology

Department

Department of Christian Ministries and Religion

Primary Advisor

Dr. Chris E.W. Green

Second Advisor

Dr. Meredith James

Third Advisor

Dr. Thomas Gollery

Abstract

American Pentecostalism has long been marked by spiritual vitality, yet its theology of pastoral identity remains comparatively underdeveloped. Pentecostal pastors are often recognized as Spirit-led leaders and compelling communicators, but many now find themselves functioning primarily as organizational executives or cultural personalities—roles shaped more by business strategy and therapeutic expectation than by historic practices of spiritual care. In this quiet shift, something sacred has thinned. Pastors frequently experience role confusion, spiritual fatigue, and a subtle distancing from the relational and formational heart of their vocation. This dissertation explores what has been diminished within Pentecostal pastoral identity and what might yet be recovered. At the center of this study is the historic practice of spiritual direction, received and refined across the global Church and deeply consonant with Pentecostal pneumatology. Far from foreign or overly formal, spiritual direction resonates with the Pentecostal conviction that the Spirit is living, present, and active in the ordinary textures of life. It assumes that God is already at work and invites pastors to cultivate the attentiveness necessary to notice. Drawing on historical theology, biblical reflection, and quantitative survey research with Pentecostal pastors, this study identifies a significant gap between widespread openness to spiritual direction and its limited integration into sustained pastoral practice. This recovery is not programmatic but vocational. It calls pastors back to a way of being marked by listening, discernment, and sacred presence. By naming what has been quietly lost, this work seeks to awaken memory rather than manufacture novelty. It reimagines the pastoral vocation not as performance or productivity, but as Spirit-shaped attentiveness—deeply human, relationally grounded, and sustained by the gentle work of God among the people of God.

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