What do you do if your church is not meeting your spiritual needs? Why not go directly to the the source and take responsibility for your own feeding? At the heart of spiritual leadership development are spiritual practices including prayer and studying scripture.

The S.O.A.P. method grew out of Wayne Cordiero's own wrestle to be fed and is described thoroughly in The Divine Mentor. It is a process of daily reading, reflection, listening, and praying is viewed by many as a vital part of developing the habit of personal discernment and feeding. Basically one sets aside about 45 minutes to read a chapter of scripture and then journals in four parts:

Scripture: Write down one verse that stood out to you.

Observation: Write what you see in the verse and surrounding section.

Application: Write down how you sense God wants you to apply this verse to your life.

Prayer: Write a short prayer of response, asking God to help you do what God just showed you. (And pray it!)

Hear more about what led Wayne to SOAP through this video (and forgive the poor quality video).


Two strong United Methodist Churches have placed SOAP as a critical part of their discipleship process. Click below for some examples of how they position it:
University of the Holy Spirit at Grace United Methodist Church in Florida, and 

Hearing God through the Bible at Crossroads United Methodist Church in Pittsburgh.