Hey there, I’m Luke. A husband, dad of two, spiritual director, and lead minister at Current Collective.
However, I’m a just a dude.
Not a guru or a special enlightened being. Just a person on the spiritual path too. I think that’s important to name before anything else because I’m living life as a fellow seeker. Sure, I’ve picked up some wisdom and skills over the years, but we’re here together as partners to heal and become whole. With that, here’s some of my background, philosophy, and theology.
I grew up as a pastor's kid in the Vineyard Church movement and naturally followed that path into vocational ministry in 2011 at the age of 21.
In 2016, my deconstruction reached its climax in the midst of what would become a "false start" church plant after relocating from Indianapolis to San Diego. During this (first but not last) dark night of the soul, I surrendered to re-evaluating everything I thought I knew about God. It was in this season that meditation entered my life, becoming a key spiritual anchor in the midst of disorientation.
By 2019, after years of struggle, failure, and frustration, I found myself beautifully invited by the Spirit back into ministry, but with a profoundly different message: the realization of wholeness.
Preaching at Vineyard Community Church (2014)
My lived experience led me to the revelation that neither our identity or purpose is found in correct belief or in striving for divine acceptance, but in de-conditioning from the narratives of fragmentation (Ego / "flesh") and consciously orienting our lives toward manifesting the presence of God already within us.
Non-dual union with God calls us beyond the illusion of separation ("sin") and into our true identity: Christ within. This empowers us to contribute uniquely to the ongoing healing of the world through our individual expressions of hope and wholeness.
Today, I am a spiritual director and lead Current Collective as an expression of my own spiritual journey of finding God through the sincerity and honesty of my own seeking and searching. I have a deep passion for helping others find their authentic self and learn how to live from a place of divine trust. Current has become a fresh space to take an intentional pause from the world’s vortex to experience the presence of God through spiritual practices, rituals, friendship, teachings, and spiritual direction.
Pop up event at Venice Beach with MAPS (2022)
I openly honor and glean from wisdom traditions across both the East and West. As the quote attributed to Rumi says so well, “Religions are many, but the mystic path is one.”
I see God as expressing God’s Self through the mosaic of the world’s wisdom traditions, and I am genuinely a student of seeing the many faces of God in the vast expressions of spiritual-human experience.
When it comes to my Christian heritage, I believe the religion of Christianity (in contrast to the Way of Christ) has sorely missed the point and purpose of Jesus' life, ministry, teachings, and key prayer in John 17; which is to heal (sozo) humanity’s sense of separation and awaken to our our true self in union with God.
While I still honor my native Christian tradition and background, particularly through a contemplative, mystical, and symbolic understanding, I don’t hold an orthodox interpretation of it as the exclusive container for truth.
For some that is concerning, for many it is liberating.
I’ve rested into my work that seeks to reclaim the beautiful image of oneness in the life of Christ that validates both the messiness and sanctity of the human experience.
Current Collective Easter Service (2024)
Credentials
As far as credentials, my first credential is in my own heart. As people, if we are not first transformed and affirmed within, no degree, certification, or outside authority can substitute.
With that in mind, in addition to countless books, teachings, podcasts, conversations, and inner excavation over 16 years of devotion to this path and in varying degrees of pastoral ministry, I completed my courses for Advanced Biblical Leadership at Vineyard Institute and became a licensed pastor in 2012 and then ordained as a minister with the Vineyard in 2014.
In 2021 I became certified as a meditation & breathwork instructor with the Loka Yoga School.
Currently, I’m training at the Haden Institute for deeper learning in the art and ministry of Spiritual Direction. If you would like to book a Spiritual Direction session with me, click here to schedule a time.
Thanks for taking the time to read through some of my background! I hope it helped to answer some questions. There’s also a pretty comprehensive FAQ page here on the site and on Current Collective’s site. If you have further questions, feel free to send an email.
Peace & Presence,
Luke
Photo shoot with Taylor Guitars (2023)