Formation with John Ortberg 001. How God Gets Our Attention and the Pace of Formation ft. Tyler Staton
God At The Basketball Sideline
- Tyler Staton discovered God often meets him in unexpected everyday places rather than big events.
- He realized during a basketball sideline moment with his son Simon that coaching was the clearest place he felt God's presence that day.
Formation Needs Triangle Balance
- Dallas Willard's golden triangle frames formation as needing practices, movements of the Spirit, and suffering.
- Removing any corner (practices, Spirit experiences, or suffering/submission) distorts formation and creates dysfunction.
Train Patience Through Real Interruptions
- Grow reactive virtues like patience by engaging with real-life interruptions, not just scheduling practices.
- Tyler notes silence and solitude train you, but patience emerges slowly through daily relational limits and trials.
What does it mean to know God, not as a doctrine held, but as a presence inhabited? Tyler Staton joins John for the first conversation in Formation's history: an unhurried exploration of how the Holy Spirit forms us, why prayer is less about technique than attention, and what it looks like to discover God not only in the sanctuary but in the chaos of a basketball sideline, a marriage, and a cancer diagnosis. This is a conversation about the ancient and the empirical, and how sometimes we may look for formation in all the wrong places.
AMA Opportunity
Leave us a review ahead of our launch for a chance to ask John a question on an upcoming episode. Here's how: follow the podcast, leave a review, take a screenshot, and email it with your question to connect@becomenew.com. We'll answer selected questions in a future episode. One question per person; screenshot required.
About Tyler Staton:
Tyler Staton is the lead pastor of Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon, and the national director of 24-7 Prayer USA. He is the author of two books — Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools and The Familiar Stranger — both of which take seriously the gap between what Christians say they believe about God and what they actually experience in daily life. Tyler studied at Southeastern University and has spent much of his ministry in New York and Portland, two cities that have sharpened his theology as much as any classroom.
What this conversation explores:
- Why the Holy Spirit is the most neglected and most contested person of the Trinity and what a more integrated pneumatology might actually look like in ordinary life
- Dallas Willard's "golden triangle" of spiritual formation: practices, movements of the Spirit, and suffering, and why removing any one of the three is detrimental
- The difference between discernment and miracle-seeking, and why Tyler believes the deeper invitation of the Spirit is often hidden inside what we're most eager to escape
- What it means to "find yourself in the story" — Tyler's practice of praying through Scripture in seasons of doubt, loss, and confusion
- How family life and marriage in particular function as formation's most honest classroom
Resources mentioned:
- Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools — Tyler Staton
- The Familiar Stranger — Tyler Staton
- Renovation of the Heart — Dallas Willard
- Fresh Air: The Holy Spirit for an Inspired and Empowered Life — Jack Levison
- Miracles — C.S. Lewis
- Ministry and the Miraculous — Lewis Smedes
- The Protestant Spiritual Formation Movement — Todd Keesler
- The Examen
Connect with Tyler Staton:
Website: bridgetown.church
Instagram: @tylerstaton
Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools, available wherever books are sold
The Familiar Stranger, available wherever books are sold
About Formation:
Formation is a podcast produced by Become New that explores the science and soul of spiritual formation. Each episode brings together the ancient wisdom of the contemplative tradition and the best of modern research. New episodes every other week, wherever you listen to podcasts.
Connect with Formation:
Website: [www.formationpodcast.com]
Newsletter: [www.formationpodcast.com/subscribe]
Socials: [@formationjohn]
The conversation doesn't have to stop here. Formation is produced by Become New, a community dedicated to helping you grow spiritually... one day at a time. Subscribe for daily teaching from John Ortberg at becomenew.com/subscribe.