Welcome to the podcast, Think Biblically. Conversations on Faith and Culture.

I'm your host Scott Ray, Professor of Christian Ethics and Dean of the Faculty at Talbot School of Theology

here at Biola University.

And I'm your co-host Sean McDowell, Professor of Apologetics at Taubet School

of Theology Biola University.

We're here today with Dr Judy Tenelsov,

who's a professor in Talbot's Institute

for Spiritual Formation.

She's a specialist not only in the overall area of spiritual formation,

spirituality, but she's an expert specifically in one area that we want to

explore today. And that's the connection between your family background, your

upbringing, and how you view your spiritual life and spiritual growth. So Judy

teaches specifically on this area in Talbot's spiritual formation focus, which is a three-track spiritual formation set of course that all Talbot students go through, we consider it really essential to a person's spiritual development.

So Judy, thanks for coming on with us and exploring this, I think, super interesting area today.

Well, I'm excited to do it Scott. Well before we get into it let's

talk just more broadly what exactly do you mean by the term spiritual formation and how does that differ from what we've

traditionally called discipleship or spiritual growth?

Well why do I begin by just giving you sort of an elevator definition if someone came up to me and said, what is spiritual formation?

What I would begin to say to them is it is the process that the Spirit of God transforms our life into Christ-likeness.

It's something that happens after we come to know the Lord and then he takes us through this process of making us more Christ-like.

Now students at pelvic, when my students at school here, they come having memorized scripture, having a deep love for the Lord, and they

love his word and they love his work, and they have a desire to be equipped to do ministry.

...