John Pyrc
John, a lifelong contemplative and fusion of various branches of Christianity (Catholic, Charismatic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Evangelical), found his tribe and joined CRM (now: Novo) and the Order of Imago Christi in 2016. John’s calling is to help equip the saints to encounter and abide in Jesus’ union with the Father through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, and to join Jesus in his ongoing ministry of worship, communion, intercession and mission.
John earned a M.Div. from Denver Theological Seminary in 2013, with a focus on the synergy of Spiritual Formation, Theology, and Philosophy for integrating the heart, mind and body—the entire living soul—in union with Christ.
John and his wife Kathy currently live in Littleton, Colorado, enjoying frequent walks, good conversation, opening their home, and a delightfully blended family of five adult children and five grandchildren. The worship and serve at Centennial Covenant Church.
John came to personal faith in Jesus as his Savior and Lord at the age of seven through sharing in the love and living faith of his parents, and the preparation to partake in his First Communion. At age 21, John left Catholicism, married a Texan Baptist, and engaged in volunteer youth ministry at the Valley Cathedral, a Charismatic megachurch in Phoenix. From 1986-1989, John served with YWAM in the Amsterdam and Ede, in the Netherlands with the schools of Creative Evangelism and Power Evangelism. This was a period of intense growth in spiritual discernment. Later after a season of personal and financial losses ministry as usual seemed unbearably trite and shallow. If John felt like a round peg trying to into a square hole before, now he questioned if he was designed to be put into a hole at all.
In 1996, The Valley Cathedral was going through a major transformational changes, and John was asked to serve as Overseer for Thebaid, a newly formed semi-monastic community for discipling new leaders, exploring the daily rhythms of contemplation, liturgy, communion, study, serving and learning the Russian Orthodoxy prayer of the heart. Thebaid was John’s third ministry vision to die due to lack of finances. Then after seventeen years of happy marriage, and five years of painful, day by day endurance, John’s and his wife of twenty-two years were divorced. The glory story of restoration never came. John’s trust and faith in God’s protection was shattered. In the journey that followed, John learned to grieve well, to embrace pain, to face shame, and to forgive. It was in this emotional and spiritual train wreck, where John leaned into the Jesus Prayer. But, it would be another seven years before wholeness and holiness could be integrated.
When all falls away, when trust is broken, and your heart is smashed. When what you thought the Bible promised—what you thought God promised—is broken, and your faith has no ground on which to stand. Still, the Lord is there—upholding you. Your broken body, is wrapped up in his brokenness. Your death, is wrapped up in his death. Your life, is wrapped up in his life.
John served the Salvation Army for 18 years in the area of Information Technology, during which he aimed his passion for integration toward pursuing a Master of Divinity from Denver Seminary in Spiritual Formation and Soul Care. John found deeper soil in integrating philosophy and theology, incarnating the gospel in a way that integrates the body, mind, soul and spirit.
In 2011, John and Kathy were married. Eight months later John was diagnosed with cancer throughout his abdominal cavity. After clearly explaining to the Lord why this was unfair to Kathy, bad timing, and not a good plan, the Lord reminded John of two things:
“I love Kathy more than you do. I will take care of her.”
“Seminary was worshipping me with your mind. That is enough. Your life has been one of worship. There is nothing more you need to accomplish to outlive you.”
I became acquainted with the ministry of imago Christi by serve together on a ministry team with two Imago Christi members at our church. After regularly attending Imago Christi Discovery events and Gatherings.
In serving alongside Tom Ashbrook and Roy Graham, and in getting to know the Imago Christi core members, I have found a community that not only shares my burden for the soul of the church but is also working out the means of engaging that vision of seeing her transformed through the transformation of her leaders.
I am called to abide ever deeper in the love and life of my Lord Jesus, and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, enter ever deeper into the love they share with the Father. I am called and drawn to receive and reciprocate the triune love of God for himself, myself, his people, and his world. I am called to help equip the body of Christ to be tangible vessels of his Sprit and reconciling presence to all people and to all creation. It is my longing and joy to share in the Lord’s ministry of being a soul-shepherd to those leaders who are on the front lines of battling the cultural and spiritual forces that seek to steal the hearts, minds and strength of the church away from abiding in the love and life of Christ.
Come, let us worship the Lord together.
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Education
M.Div. (emphasis in Spiritual Formation), Denver Seminary, 2013
MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer), 2000, 2008
AAS (Electro-Mechanical Engineering) Michigan Technological University, 1981
Ministry History
Church Resource Ministries (CRM) and Imago Christi; Littleton, CO, 2016-present
Journey Team—Spiritual Formation to our local church; teaching; Littleton, CO, 2012-present
The Salvation Army—Information Technology; Denver, CO, 1999-2016
Thebaid—Overseer (abbot) of a monastic community for young adults; The Valley Cathedral, Phoenix, AZ, 1997-1999
YWAM—School of Power Evangelism; Discipleship Training School, The Netherlands, 1986-1989
Family Praise—Itinerant Music Ministry; Phoenix, AZ, 1981-1984