Todd Pickett
Name: Todd Pickett
Position: Associate Dean, Spiritual Development.
Education: Stanford, BA (Classics); Trinity College, Ireland, M.Litt. (Classics); Talbot, MA (Spiritual Formation); UC Irvine, Ph.D. (English).
At Biola since: 1996
Your StrengthsFinder top five? Connectedness, Learner, Intellection, Ideation, Input.
1. What do you do in your job (briefly)? I get to think about & facilitate how we can discern the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and cooperate with it.
2. The five (or so) most influential books you've read: Besides the Scriptures, of course… can I do authors instead?
• Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, Notes from Underground
• Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island; Ascent to Truth
• Stanley Hauerwas, Resident Aliens; Truthfulness and Tragedy
• Jean-Pierre DeCaussade, Self Abandonment to Divine Providence; The Sacrament of the Present Moment
• Eugene Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, The Jesus Way.
3. An influential person in your life or best example of love? I’m thinking of two friends who are pastors, both characterized chiefly by humility and obedience.
4. Why are you at Biola? Because the university is committed to biblical integration and spiritual development.
5. A guilty pleasure: TV sports and tortilla chips (which go together, of course).
6. Your testimony in 200 words or less?
I came to Christ as a junior higher, drawn by how brilliantly the Scriptures threw light on the human condition. Filled with the Holy Spirit, I was also filled quite a bit with myself and how church/bible study/teaching could be a place for over-achievement. For much of my Christian life, God has been calling and drawing me away from an identity based in what I can do for Him (really, myself) and into an identity based on what He’s done for me. Still trying to open to that.
7. If God put you completely in charge of creating Heaven, what would it be like? Lots of time to read, and then lots of time to talk about reading with others over meals.
8. What movie/TV/book have you seen in the last year that you wish all your friends could see? Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden. I read it for the first time this year. Wow.
9. A book you would insist your children read? My kids need to read Obeying your Parents the First Time (if that book doesn’t exist, it should!).
10. If you could relive any part of your life, what part would it be, and why? Grad School. I wish I knew then what I know now about my true self.
11. What is the most difficult choice you’ve ever had to make? What made it difficult? What factors helped you make that choice? Leaving church ministry for a Ph.D. in English. It was hard to know where I would thrive more. If I recall, the chief decision-making factor was my immaturity—I hated the feeling of my inadequacy--that I couldn’t meet everyone’s needs. Someone should’ve told me that that’s how your learn humility and dependence.
12. What are five things you are most thankful for in your life right now? Dottie (my wife), Carly & Abbey (my daughters), Friends, A job.
13. In difficult times, who would you most want praying for you? The Church Universal.
14. Do you think it is possible to live with no regrets? If regret means remorse, no. If regret means self-loathing, yes.
15. What is your definition of success? Abiding in God. Do you consider yourself to be successful? Sometimes.
16. How much is your self-worth and identity determined by your job and your success at it? That’s my Achilles heal. It has mattered a lot.
17. What are the most important things you look for when choosing a church? Leaders who live the life. Teachers who teach the truth. A people who share their needs.
18. What is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen? My daughters, still. After that, Boyd’s Lake Resort in Wisconsin, late July.
19. What are the 3 questions you most want to ask God?
Do you love me?
Really?
Can you say it again?
20. In what areas of your life is it most difficult to trust God? That what I’m able to do is enough.
21. What does contentment mean to you? Being okay with your limits (I think we see a theme, here). How close are you to that, now? Not quite halfway.
