When you first meet Chelsy Crawford, you'll notice her unassuming temperament and her easy, gentle spirit. She has a presence that invites conversation, welcomes story and offers a safe place for honesty.
Crawford joined Union in September 2024 to spearhead the spiritual direction arm of Union's counseling services.
Although it sounds like a high-minded offering, Crawford is quick to explain that the goal of spiritual direction counseling is simply to help students learn the practice of listening and discerning the movement of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
While spiritual direction shares common ground with counseling, mentoring and pastoral care, Crawford is careful to distinguish it. Where those offerings often involve guidance or advice, spiritual direction's primary offering is what the field calls "listening hospitality" — creating space for a student to hear what God might already be saying.
After her husband, Jason, was hired as a professor of English in 2011, they lived on campus for five years as part of the Faculty-in-Residence program. While on campus, Crawford noticed that although students came to Union for its Christian atmosphere, they were often struggling to nurture their relationship with the Lord or hear what the Lord might be telling them.
The one thing that students were desperate to grow, their spiritual life, was pushed to the side because of the difficulty of balancing coursework and social lives.
"Lots of things pull their attention," Crawford said. "I've noticed that students can kind of miss out on the main thing, which is actually cultivating their relationship with the Lord and experiencing his presence."
Crawford wondered if there were a way to help students develop and keep that communication line open with the Lord, so she began praying to that end.
She sensed a calling to the ministry she had seen modeled by her own mom, who had walked alongside students in their spiritual development.
That prompting led to her offering a space for students to listen and be mindful in a world that's busy and distracting.
"The heart of spiritual direction is creating a space to pay attention to where God's spirit is working in your life," Crawford explained. "When you take time to really pay attention, it's amazing how many places God actually shows up in your life."
Crawford typically meets with students one or two times a month to discuss a wide range of topics. Life transitions, relationships, significant decisions and spiritual growth tend to drive conversations, and instead of giving advice, Crawford asks questions and creates space for students to consider the main question: "Where is God in this?"
During its first year, the spiritual direction offering operated a bit under the radar. This year, group sessions and retreats have been added to the program. Students have gathered to focus on topics such as vocational discernment or self-image as it relates to the image of God.
Crawford has seen a real growth in students' awareness of who they are in light of God's love.
"There's so much rapid growth that happens in such a short period of time. It's almost like when you're a kid and you feel the growing pains," Crawford said. "You almost feel like you see them grow overnight."
For students who find themselves stretched thin between deadlines and decisions, Crawford's office offers something rare: stillness. The same gentle presence that draws you in at first meeting is exactly what she brings to every session, a quiet invitation to slow down, pay attention and discover that God has been at work all along.
Spiritual direction at Union is offered at no cost to students and is open to anyone curious enough to show up. For Crawford, that's really all it takes.
"God is already at work," she said. "It's just a matter of opening up the space to pay attention to where he's at work."
The rest, she trusts, takes care of itself.
