Who is this guy?

Dr. Ryan J. Pelton | Writer · Pastor · Spiritual Director

I've spent most of my life obsessed with one question:

"What does it mean to pay attention and be faithful in our generation?"

That question has shaped everything — twenty years of pastoral ministry, twenty-plus books, a podcast, and the spiritual direction work I do now with writers, creatives, and leaders. I don't think I'll ever fully answer it. But I keep showing up to it.

I'm an ordained pastor, a spiritual director, and a writer who believes God shows up in the most unexpected places — in art, in music, in the middle of an ordinary Tuesday. That conviction is what The Art of Paying Attention is built on.

A few other things worth knowing:

• I married my high school sweetheart. We've been at it for 25 years, and have four kids and one dog named Milo.

• I've written 24+ books — fiction and nonfiction — on grace, faith, and the creative life.

• I founded and pastored New City Church in Kansas City for 15 years.

• In the summer of 2024, I moved back to my hometown of Los Angeles.

• I once placed seventh in the Junior Olympics for fencing. Yes, really.