{"id":24475,"date":"2024-08-20T07:30:51","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T12:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?p=24475"},"modified":"2024-08-16T10:16:48","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T15:16:48","slug":"specialized-ministry-graham-standish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/specialized-ministry-graham-standish\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking With Others toward Revitalization: The Rev. Dr. N. Graham Standish"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\u2019s 2024 Alumnae\/i Days gathering, four alums were honored for their work and recognized as this year\u2019s distinguished alumnae\/i or received The Fred Rogers Award for Creative Ministry. In this blog series, meet these alums and discover the ways in which they serve God and neighbor in their communities and across the nation. The 2024 Distinguished Alumnus in Specialized Ministry is the Rev. Dr. N. Graham Standish \u201988.<\/span>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Distinguished Alumnus in Specialized Ministry: The Rev. Dr. N. Graham Standish ’88<\/h2>\n
\"\"
The Rev. Dr. Graham Standish at PTS Alumnae\/i Days 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Rev. Dr. N. Graham Standish \u201988 is an experienced teacher, retreat leader, and speaker, having led hundreds of conferences and workshops nationally and internationally over the past 25 years. He has 30 years of experience as a spiritual director, 20 years of experience as a clergy coach, and has been the executive director of Samaritan Counseling Center of Western PA Inc. since 2017. He led Samaritan to adopt a new vision and oversaw organizational restructuring, enabling growth of satellite locations across Western Pennsylvania and doubling the number of counseling sessions per year. Graham also directs Samaritan\u2019s Caring for Clergy and Congregations program and has expanded it from a small operation offering <\/span>mostly clergy counseling to also providing one-on-one clergy coaching and spiritual direction with regional, national, and international clients, small clergy groups devoted to developing healthier leadership, as well as workshops and consultations on congregational health and transformation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Graham’s latest book<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prior to his work at Samaritan, Graham served for 22 years as senior pastor of Calvin Presbyterian Church in Zelienople, Pa., leading the congregation in adopting a spiritual approach to congregational revitalization. This work garnered national attention, including the church becoming a prominent research subject in Diana Butler Bass\u2019 book <\/span>Christianity for the Rest of Us<\/span><\/em>. Graham\u2019s experience in growing churches based on discernment and spiritual growth is the foundation of his work with clergy and churches. <\/span>He has written extensively on spirituality, spiritual direction, and spirituality in congregations, authoring 10 books\u2014including <\/span>Preaching to Those Walking Away <\/span><\/em>(2022)\u2014and contributing to five others. He continues to write articles for national publications as well as blogs and op-eds for the <\/span>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<\/span><\/em>. He has taught in PTS\u2019s Doctor of Ministry Program and Graduate Certificate in Spiritual Formation program as well as at Tyndale Theological Seminary in Toronto, Ontario.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Graham and Diane Standish<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Graham has also served in a pastoral counseling agency, as a therapist in a psychiatric hospital, as a drug and alcohol therapist, <\/span> as an associate pastor at a growing church in Murrysville, Pa., and as a hospital chaplain intern. <\/span>He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in formative spirituality from Duquesne University, an M.S.W. from the University of Pittsburgh, an M.Div. from PTS, and a B.A. in psychology from Roanoke College. Since 2015, Graham and his wife, Diane (who is also a social worker), have established and funded twin scholarships at PTS and the University of Pittsburgh to support students in the schools\u2019 joint M.Div.\/MSW program<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Learn more about Graham and his ministry on his personal website: https:\/\/www.ngrahamstandish.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

Read Next<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>
More People of PTS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Distinguished Alumna in Pastoral Ministry: the Rev. Dr. Sheila Johnson (Hunt) \u201910<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\u2019s 2024 Alumnae\/i Days gathering, four alums were honored for their work and recognized as this year\u2019s distinguished alumnae\/i or received The Fred Rogers Award for Creative Ministry. In this blog series, meet these alums and discover the ways in which they serve God and neighbor in their communities and across the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[398],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-24475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-of-pts"],"yoast_head":"\r\nWalking With Others toward Revitalization: The Rev. 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