From Northern Lights to Spiritual Insights – Wisdom for Navigating Life’s Transitions
Whether you’re facing a new leadership role, considering a career change, or moving to a new city, Tim Haring’s reflections provide guidance and encouragement for personal growth and embracing change. Listening to this authentic, soulful and candid conversation, you will come away with—
- Guidance for navigating life’s major changes, twists and turns
- Deeper understanding of your emotional and spiritual health
- Insights on knowing when it’s the right time to retire
- Hope and encouragement for what’s next
As Tim shares his experiences from recent travels to Norway and Hondura, you will hear how witnessing the Northern Lights and speaking at a conference for church leaders in Honduras have enriched his life.
Our conversation delves into the transformative concept of emotionally healthy spirituality. This newfound understanding of emotions and empathy in ministry opens doors for Tim to support pastors through coaching and mentoring.
Reflecting on his journey, Tim emphasizes the importance of seeking help during major life changes and his ongoing passion for growth, even in retirement. His story inspires us to continually learn and adapt, offering hope and encouragement for anyone navigating transitions.
More About Special Guest Tim Haring
Tim Haring is the Founding Pastor of Chestnut Ridge Church in Morgantown, West Virginia. He recently retired from his position as Senior Pastor, although he will continue to work part-time at the church. In nearly 40 years of pastoral experience, Tim has been instrumental in helping to plant four additional churches in West Virginia. Together, those form the Ridge Network of Churches.
He has a pastoral studies degree with a minor in Greek language from Moody Bible Institute and a business degree from West Virginia University.
Tim and his wife, Karen, have been married for 36 years. They have five children, one granddaughter and another grandchild on the way.
Settle in for a whirlwind wisdom journey from Norway to Honduras and from Columbus to Morgantown, where Tim joins us today.
Resources
Tim Haring’s book “When God Walked Alone” on Amazon
Connect with Tim on LinkedIn
Grab a copy of the book “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality” from our BookShop
Connect with Tim on Facebook
Check out the church Tim founded – Chestnut Ridge Church
Credits
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Episode Chapters
[0:03:35] – Tim’s recent travels to Norway and Honduras
[0:05:40] – How Tim and Skip are connected
[0:07:03] – Tim’s transition from founder / leader of Chestnut Ridge to retirement
[0:10:06] – Coping with feelings and emotions related to this major change
[0:12:08] – Tim reveals his Main Thing
[0:13:50] – Emotionally healthy spirituality; Tim candidly shares a weakness
[0:18:25] – Discussion of Tim’s work as an author
[0:20:03] – Tim leaves us with words of encouragement
Episode Keywords
Wisdom, Transitions, Growth, Emotional, Health, Ministry, Guidance, Counselors, Advisors, Learning, Adaptation, Retirement, Hope, Transformation, Spirituality, Scazzero, Norway, NorthernLights, Honduras, Morgantown, Church, Travel, Writing, Fear, Anxiety, Bible, Faith, Support, Planning, Emotions, Empathy, Sympathy, Encouragement, West Virginia, WV
Full Transcript of Episode
0:00:00 – Announcer
Wisdom. It’s an incredibly valuable asset, some would say more precious than gold. It’s attractive, appealing, admirable. Conversely, a lack of wisdom is the basis of immaturity, blind spots and bad decisions. Wisdom, it can be gained over time, but it can’t be rushed. But wisdom can be shared. That’s precisely what we are here to do right now, today. We are here to hack wisdom, to distill it, to understand it and to process it. Why? To get better at life.
Welcome to the Main Thing. This is your new nine-minute podcast. I’m your host, Skip Lineberg, and I’ve set out to interview the wisest people I know. We’ll see what we can learn from each one when they’re faced with an incredibly difficult, soul-piercing question.
0:00:59 – Skip Lineberg
Welcome to the Main Thing Podcast. I’m Skip Lineberg and I’ll be your host today. If you’re listening today and you’re in the midst of a transition, a major life change, then this episode has something very valuable for you. Maybe you’re moving up to a new leadership role at work, Perhaps you’re about to become a first-time parent, or considering a job change, or maybe a move to a new city, pondering retirement perhaps, or maybe grieving the loss of a loved one.
If you’re in any of these types of transition stages, you will want to listen closely to the advice coming from our special guest. I’ll tell you about him in just a moment.
Right now, I want to remind you about a couple of great wisdom resources available to you for free. When you head over to themainthingpodcast dot com, you’ll find a place to subscribe to our wisdom newsletter. It brings you, twice a month, more of the resources to fuel your personal growth. Also there at the website, you’ll find our entire archive of wisdom audio content—120 episodes online. Plus, you’ll find direct links where you can subscribe to have every new episode delivered directly to your mobile device on your favorite podcast app or player.
Let’s give a big shout out of gratitude to our two newest patrons. Thank you to Bob from West Virginia, and thank you to Ed, who’s also from West Virginia. These two fine, generous fellows are helping to keep this pipeline of wisdom flowing. We appreciate you and truly we couldn’t do it without you.
More About Special Guest Tim Haring
Now I’m so excited for you to meet our special guest. Tim Haring is the Founding Pastor of Chestnut Ridge Church in Morgantown, West Virginia. He recently retired from his position as Senior Pastor, although he will continue to work part-time at the church. In nearly 40 years of pastoral experience, Tim has been instrumental in helping to plant four additional churches in West Virginia. Together, those form the Ridge Network of Churches. Tim has a pastoral studies degree with a minor in Greek language from Moody Bible Institute and a business degree from West Virginia University.
Tim and his wife, Karen, have been married for 36 years. They have five children, one granddaughter and another grandchild on the way. Settle in, as you join us on this whirlwind wisdom journey that will take us from Norway to Honduras and from Columbus to Morgantown, West Virginia, where Tim joins us today.
Over the next 25 minutes, you will discover why Tim Haring is one of the wisest people I know.
0:03:28 – Skip Lineberg
Tim Haring, welcome to The Main Thing podcast. So great to be with you this morning!
0:03:33 – Tim Haring
Thank you for having me.
0:03:35 – Skip
Tim, you have been on a bit of a travel circuit this past. Fall you had some, and late summer you went to Norway and then to Honduras, right?
0:03:45 – Tim Haring
Yeah, that’s right. Our church gifted us with a trip anywhere we wanted to go, and my wife wanted to go to Norway, and the reason she wanted to go was because we were going to be in the Arctic Circle, about 500 miles north of Oslo, in a place called the Fulton Islands, and we went up there specifically to see the Northern Lights. Ooh, how was it? It was amazing. It did not disappoint.
It’s just the light was dancing across the sky. It was just absolutely amazing and really a testimony to God’s glory. We were in Norway in September, and actually we went on this trip right before I was going to be turning over the reins of my position as senior pastor to this younger guy. And so this trip was kind of built in right toward the end of my role as a senior pastor here at the church.
We took off and then came back and did a nice celebration service. And then I was done in that role.
Now I have a different role at the church, but it’s just part time. Three days later I headed down to Honduras.
0:04:54 – Skip
Yeah, tell me about Honduras. What took you down there?
0:04:56 – Tim Haring
I had been asked before this Norway trip if I’d be willing to do a conference down there for about 325 pastors and other leaders of churches in Central America, somewhere from South America and North America. They were having me do about six sessions, so it was kind of a lot and I had to do it through a translator, but it was a lot of fun as well. I’ve been to Honduras over a dozen times. Oh gosh, I love going down there and my Spanish is about 50-50. Yeah, yeah, but it was a very enjoyable trip. The only thing about it was I wouldn’t recommend going to Honduras three days after you come back from Norway.
0:05:40 – Skip
I can imagine, Tim, I want to make sure that our listeners understand how we’re connected, and so let’s talk a little bit about that connection point and a fellow named Matt Santen. Would you like to start?
0:05:53 – Tim Haring
Sure. I met Matt Santen maybe 25 years ago it might even be a little bit more than that. He began attending our church and he was on staff with a Christian organization called Young Life Sure and at a certain point we both realized that he would be excellent if he came on staff at Chestnut Ridge Church. And so we brought him on staff and he did just an amazing job.
And at a certain point we decided as a church that we were going to start a new church down in Charleston, West Virginia, and we knew he was the perfect guy for that and so we sent him down there a little over 20 years ago to start a church in Charleston, west Virginia.
0:06:36 – Skip
Matt Santen is my pastor here at River Ridge Church in Charleston. He was our guest on Episode 2 of The Main Thing podcast, way back in 2019, five years ago. So we were honored to have him on, as we’re honored now, Tim, to have you on. So, Matt, thank you for connecting me with Tim Haring.
0:06:52 – Tim Haring
I’ve been here almost 40 years. It’ll be 40 years in February. I came here actually to start the church, and so that’s a big transition when the founding pastor steps aside.
0:07:03 – Skip
Tim, tell us how this feels to you as a person, as a man going through a big transition.
0:07:08 – Tim Haring
Yeah. So I don’t know that a person can really prepare for that. My wife and I decided that I would transition out of my role as senior pastor when I turned 65.
And a little backstory about that. About four years earlier I suffered a major medical emergency and I almost died. It started with just a simple stomach ache. I thought my system was just kind of backed up a little bit. So I waited four days and I went to a doctor friend of mine who’s in the church, and he said oh, it seems like you have appendicitis, you know.
And then he set up something with a surgeon who also comes to our church and the surgeon agreed that’s probably the case and he was going to do it laparoscopically. So he actually literally put five little holes in my stomach and you know ones for the camera or the flashlight and ones for a little knife and something to drain things.
0:08:07 – Skip
Sure.
0:08:07 – Tim Haring
He took a look in there and gasped. My appendix was dead. Basically it had turned gangrene within me. I didn’t know such a thing were possible. And then my organs were all glued together. And around this same time my colon stopped working. So this was supposed to be an in-and-out thing. I spent nine days in the hospital. And the first three days the doctor …. Each of those three days the surgeon said, “You’re not out of the woods yet. People die from what you have.” And then he added, “And we might have to take part of your colon.”
0:08:45 – Skip
Oh, Tim, wow, that’s so scary!
0:08:48 – Tim Haring
Now, God was faithful in that. That happened the night before Thanksgiving four years ago.
0:08:53 – Skip
You’ll never forget, you’ll never forget that time stamp.
0:08:57 – Tim Haring
I’ll never forget that. But my prayer was that I could still do the Christmas services, and I was able to do that, although I had to sit to do the services. But at that point the board really woke up to the fact that there’s no backup plan. You know what happens when Tim is not here anymore.
And so we began to talk in earnest about, first of all, how we’ll decide what we’ll do, how will we pick somebody, those kinds of things. And then they specifically asked me when would you like to retire? Let’s make this a planned thing instead of an emergency thing. And I talked with my wife again, and we decided 65 would be it.
0:09:40 – Skip
Okay, so you had a plan.
0:09:41 – Tim Haring
We did have a plan and actually it was executed just wonderfully. The guy that replaced me is doing an excellent job. We spent a whole year of transition helping people appreciate the transition and I couldn’t have been more pleased with that. But now I wake up every day and it’s just a little bit different world. I think men in particular get a lot of significance from their work.
0:10:06 – Skip
How are you coping with that? What are you doing to take care of yourself and how are you tending to those feelings and those emotions?
0:10:13 – Tim Haring
Well, I’ve tried to actually keep a regular schedule, still to some degree. Waking up, you know, making the bed, having a daily devotional time with God. Spend about an hour a day, now, which is really nice. I can enjoy the Bible with coffee and prayer. I love it.
There are a few other things that are part of my daily routine, but I have wrestled with the question: what’s next? And I wondered, you know, are there things that I could be learning? Are there things that I could be doing that would be significant, meaningful? That kind of thing.
0:10:48 – Skip
Yeah, we’ve both been through transitions. Tim, as quickly as possible, try to shift your mindset into acceptance. This is the new normal. Don’t lament or mourn for what was, but look at what might be and have faith, and trust that God’s going to do a new and wonderful thing in this new stage, and accept that.
0:11:10 – Tim Haring
I would recommend that they not go through that transition alone. There are other people and I’ve been talking with so many different individuals. One is a counselor. I’ve been reading some books about it. There are things we can do to prepare for these transitions, and my temptation would be to just do it myself. But we need others.
0:11:28 – Skip
That’s great advice.
0:11:30 – Announcer
Hi, it’s Skip here. You’ve heard about our merchandise store for the Main Thing podcast and I want to tell you about our bookshop. It’s an online independent bookstore where you can find and order the books that were written, recommended and discussed by guests of The Main Thing Podcast. Just check the show notes for a link that’ll take you there.
Buy some books. Support independent local booksellers, and support the guests of The Main Thing Podcast.
0:12:08 – Skip
Tim Haring, what’s the main thing you’ve learned in your lifetime so far?
0:12:12 – Tim Haring
Skip, the main thing is my relationship with God. That matters more than anything. But apart from that, the main thing I have learned is never stop growing, learning and serving.
0:12:24 – Skip
Never stop growing, learning and serving. I love that. Tim. Would you unpack that for us and kind of walk us through the meaning that that holds for you?
0:12:33 – Tim Haring
I began thinking in terms of, uh, learning, and again I thought that maybe learning would be a waste of time. And then I was talking with a financial advisor and this was a strategic moment in my thinking, but he made it clear that, based on his understanding, I was going to live until I was 92.
0:12:54 – Skip
Okay, you got a little bit of runway left.
0:12:57 – Tim Haring
Yes, and I’m thinking well, I’m kind of done, I’m settling down and suddenly I realized wait a minute, I have 25 more years. And not only that, they could be the most influential years of my life. I’m freed up to serve in some new ways.
0:13:13 – Skip
Yeah, yeah, tell us more about that.
0:13:15 – Tim Haring
Well, some of the areas it really comes down to the learning and then the doing so, from the freed up to serve in some new ways. Yeah, yeah, tell us more about that. Well, some of the areas it really comes down to the learning and then the doing.
So, from the learning perspective, I decided I’m going to start learning Spanish and be really fluent in it, with the idea in mind that I can continue to use it on my trips down to Honduras or other Central American countries or whatever, but I’m learning with this idea in mind. I can learn, I can continue to grow in this way.
Another area in which I’ve been learning is in an area called emotionally healthy spirituality.
0:13:47 – Skip
That’s intriguing. Very, very intriguing to me, Tim.
0:13:50 – Tim Haring
Well, about 10 years ago, my wife and I went to a conference that was put on by Pete and Geri Scazzero, and they’ve started an organization called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality or Emotionally Healthy Discipleship. And going to that conference began a journey for me that I’m still on and I’m still growing in.
I realized that in terms of my emotional health, it just was not very good. I would say that I despised emotions, I did not like them.
0:14:19 – Skip
Okay, what a big discovery.
0:14:21 – Tim Haring
Yes, and I didn’t see a problem with that, because I felt like the fact that I was so even-keeled and everything else was a strength of mine. You know, I didn’t have the big ups, I didn’t have the big downs, and so I like the fact that that I was this way, and I think I was this way partly because of personality, partly because of upbringing.
There just wasn’t emotion in our household, and then partly because even my spiritual training taught me that feelings don’t matter. When people express feelings, I was kind of embarrassed for them.
0:14:57 – Skip
Oh, wow.
0:14:58 – Tim Haring
You shouldn’t be crying. You know you shouldn’t be angry Get a grip. Yeah, yeah, and I began to navigate some of this and I realized really for the first time that God created us in his image and God expresses all these emotions. God gets angry and God expresses all these emotions, god gets angry, wrathful.
God has joy, he celebrates and there’s compassion so many qualities that are true about God that I was dismissing in my own life. Now this is really important because, especially if you’re in ministry, you know we’re told, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. But I had the inability to weep with those who weep … or to rejoice well.
0:15:41 – Skip
Yeah, you said you were kind of embarrassed for them.
0:15:43 – Tim Haring
I was emotionally constipated is how I put it.
0:15:47 – Skip
That harkens back to your experience four years ago.
0:15:50 – Tim Haring
Well, it does. Maybe there’s a parallel there somewhere.
0:15:55 – Skip
Do you now see opportunity for pastors and folks in the ministry to incorporate this into how they care for people that are in their congregation?
0:16:06 – Tim Haring
Yes, I think it could be a part. I think it was a missing component in discipleship in this country that some emphasis on how you’re doing emotionally and some of the things that the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality they actually have a course and some of the things they even address are your upbringing and how has that impacted you. How do you respond to various situations and really getting in touch with some of the emotions?
So now, for example, if I wake up in the middle of the night and I feel this anxiety, I stop and normally I would have just ignored it or done something to get rid of it. But now I stop and I say: is it possible that God’s speaking to me through this feeling? And where is this maybe leading? So there are these excellent courses and Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. They actually train pastors in implementing these courses in the church.
In the past I was sympathetic to the needs of others. The whole congregation would probably say you know, Tim really is good at sympathy. I wasn’t good at empathy.
0:17:14 – Skip
Tim, we’ve covered a lot today. I love your main thing: Never stop growing, learning and serving.
0:17:19 – Tim Haring
Let me mention the serving for a moment here, Because again I thought well, I’m kind of getting out of ministry, I’m not going to be serving as much. But when I announced to some pastor friends of mine that I was changing roles immediately some of them said does that mean you’re available to help us?
And it suddenly opened in my mind … this thought you know I have 40 years of ministry experience. We’ve been through two building campaigns. We’ve seen various staff issues. My dad was a pastor. And so I have just this wealth, and this is why I’m saying my significance in the rest of my life can be greater. Because I’m already now coaching a couple pastors, and if I had 15 pastors and they’re blessed, their congregations will be blessed. Suddenly my impact is multiplied.
0:18:11 – Skip
For sure. That’s a beautiful vision. I love that you’re now a coach and a mentor to other pastors. You’re sharing your wisdom with them. You’re sharing your perspective, all your rich experience that you bring. That’s awesome.
0:18:25 – Tim Haring
Yes, so I’m also writing some books.
0:18:27 – Skip
I wondered about that. Tell us about your writing. What are you working on?
0:18:31 – Tim Haring
Well, I’ve already published my first book, called “When God Walked Alone.” And it is a book that just focuses on what is essential in the gospel message. What does a person need to believe in order to have eternal life? Salvation comes from God as a free gift that we need to receive.
And so I finished that book maybe two years ago. I’m on the last chapter of a second book related to fear and worry.
0:19:02 – Skip
Oh, wonderful. I can see how that dovetails with this journey, that you’re on your most recent stretch of it.
0:19:10 – Tim Haring
For sure. I’ve had a lot of anxiety and worry over the years, and so this book has about 10 or 11 Bible stories of people that dealt with fear, like Gideon. Or what empowered David to kill Goliath … when did he get the courage?
And then it’s 10 of my own stories of things that happened. I was mugged in Columbus, Ohio, for example. Certain things happened. I’ve had some other unusual experiences that related to fear. Being lost in a forest in the middle of nowhere. I was about to swim across a river, you know, and it was cold. I didn’t know what to do. And what do you do when you’re in these fearful situations?
0:19:52 – Skip
Oh, great stories. I can’t wait to read that book, Tim.
0:19:54 – Tim Haring
Yeah, so that should be done soon. I’m hoping that’s one of the things I’ll be doing in my so-called retirement.
0:20:03 – Skip
Tim, what intention or word of encouragement or closing thought might you want to share with our audience of wisdom seekers … people that are focused on getting better at life, personal growth?
0:20:13 – Tim Haring
Yeah, I think a lot of people these days are really struggling with a certain hopelessness. And we have hope, and there are things we can do. I believe that we can take steps related to the future that will give us a path … will give us hope. And I think it will resolve some of the issues that we may be facing in our lives, this sense of hopelessness.
0:20:38 – Skip
Yeah, beautiful thought. I agree, we need it. We need it so much in our world today.
Pastor Tim Haring, thank you so much for making time for us … to come on The Main Thing Podcast and share your wisdom. It’s just been a real joy. Thank you so much.
0:20:51 – Tim Haring
I’ve enjoyed it very much myself. Thank you.
0:20:54 – Skip
Tim, so long for now.
0:20:57 – Tim
Okay, thank you.
0:20:58 – Announcer
That goes by incredibly fast, doesn’t it? Time flies when you’re hacking wisdom.
Thank you for listening to this wisdom conversation. If you enjoyed this podcast and found the wisdom lesson valuable, then I encourage you to share it with a loved one or friend.
Did you know: podcast recommendations from one person to another remain the strongest form of podcast growth worldwide? It’s true, and we’d appreciate you helping spread the good word.
Let’s give a big, hearty thank you to the crew of the Main Thing Podcast. These are the folks who truly keep the wisdom pipeline flowing audio engineer Bob Hotchkiss, strategy advisor Andy Malinoski, public relations and partnerships guru Rachel Bell, social media and digital marketing expert Chloe Lineberg, graphic designer Emma Malinoski.
And of course, our patrons, those generous folks who provide monthly funding support to help underwrite our costs of production. I couldn’t do it without you, nor would I want to.
Your feedback matters a lot. If you have a question, a suggestion, maybe an idea, or even a nomination of a future show guest, I’d love to hear from you. A nomination of a future show guest? I’d love to hear from you. Email me here.
Well, that’s a wrap for this show. I’m your host, Skip Lineberg, signing off for now, and inviting you to join us again next time for another special delivery of wisdom.
0:22:32 – Skip
Hey, it’s Skip again, and I wanted to share a couple of reflections from this episode that we just heard with Tim Haring. You know Tim Haring was, and remains, a mentor to my pastor, Matt Santen, who’s had such tremendous impact on me, on my life. So I couldn’t wait to get to know Tim and to have a deep, meaningful conversation with him.
One thing that stood out to me was Tim’s transition from that role of founder and caretaker of his organization—something he did for 40 years. We heard him share his advice that anyone going through a major transition like that should not attempt to make it through on your own. Enlist some help.
If that’s you and you’re on the verge of a transition like that, or you’re just starting into one, reach out to a counselor. Get input from your financial advisor. Plan that transition with the help and support of your spouse or your significant other and your best friends. Read books on the topic about how to handle a major life transition, whatever yours may be. Just don’t plod along blindly into it. Be wise about it.
Candor and Transparency
I also loved how Tim was so candid, so transparent about his difficulty in handling feelings, his discomfort with emotions. He was honest about that weakness, this gap of his. He confronted it, and he dove headfirst into learning more about emotions, feelings, about empathy and emotional intelligence. And he’s enjoyed tremendous personal growth as a result in that area of his life. I just love that passion, that zest for continuing to learn.
And I’ll leave you also with this reflection from that wisdom conversation with Tim: it’s never too late. Now we’ve heard that philosophy from other guests. Maureen Doyle from Episode 89 comes to mind, so maybe we ought to pay attention to it. But it’s this wisdom that reveals to us the truth that we can continue to grow and adapt and get better at life, even when we’re in our retirement years … in our 60s and beyond, entering into perhaps the final phase of our lifetime. I just find that tremendously encouraging and find it to be something that inspires hope for tomorrow.
Transcribed by https://podium.page
