Soul Care with Eric Camfield Part II
Audio Version:
Article Version:
The Question at the Center
Altar Fly Fishing begins Part II with a simple prompt that cuts to the root of leadership: how is your soul? Eric Camfield defines the soul as the totality of a person, including the mental, physical, relational and emotional. Leaders are either growing or shrinking, and that condition shows up in their decisions and teams. The work starts by naming reality, then building a plan to get healthier.
Always On, Always Tired
Camfield calls today’s climate a “threshold” moment. Technology keeps leaders on, often even at night. The speed of change and the pressure to respond have outpaced human capacity. He argues that creation runs on rhythm and people need it too, or the costs surface as anxiety, exhaustion and frayed judgment.
What a Day on Retreat Looks Like
The retreats are structured and unhurried. Evenings begin with dinner and unpressured conversation. Mornings open with a short teaching and a leather journal in hand, followed by one to two hours of quiet reflection. Afternoons move to the outdoors. Evenings reconvene for discussion, consolidating insights and setting one focused question for the next day. The setting is comfortable on purpose so participants can rest and think. The cadence repeats for several days and builds toward clear next steps.
Life Mapping and the Soul 360
A practical example discussed in the episode is creating a life map. Leaders map pivotal moments with color-coded notes, then identify pain points and patterns. A companion tool, Soul 360, helps put language to six dimensions of the self. The aim is clarity. Many discover that several hard moments eventually produced strength, and they begin to see how their responses formed durable habits. The exercise is honest work and prompted one participants commitments to begin a deeper therapy process for example.
Beyond a Weekend
The river is a starting line, not a finish. Altar provides months of follow-up material to keep the work active and is piloting a yearlong path that blends spiritual practices, leadership input and practical checkpoints. The goal is to help leaders sustain the rhythm they rediscover on retreat.
Redeployment, Not Retirement
Host Tony Kalinowski presses a question central to this show. What happens after the primary career chapter. Camfield prefers the word redeployment. By that stage most leaders have capacity, experience and health to serve in targeted ways. He helps them unlock values, motivations and joy, then chart pathways that may include mentoring, volunteering or select advisory work. The emphasis is identity beyond the job title and purposeful contribution over time.
Two Snapshots of Change
One participant in his seventies described a breakthrough after decades of resistance and wanted to mark it publicly back home. Church leaders are notorious for falling into burnout. A pastor nicknamed “Big Nate,” arrived visibly depleted and left with hope and a way forward. Church leaders who have attended the retreat ‘under duress’ have not left ministry in the year that followed. The common thread is space to breathe, honest assessment and concrete next steps.
Why It Matters
Leadership sets the tone. Healthy leaders create margin for better decisions and better teams. The river time is not a vacation. It is a reset that helps leaders return with rhythm, clarity and a plan they can live out daily!
Connect: Tony Kalinowski
View Podcast Website: Here
Learn more about Eric: altarflyfishing.org
Podcast Producer: David Alexander