About Justin
Justin Tilghman, Ph.D.
Christian Coach · Pastor · Professor
I help thoughtful Christians who feel stretched by life grow emotional steadiness, healthier relationships, and deeper confidence in who they are in Christ.
Personal Introduction
A curiosity about people
I've always been deeply curious about people, not simply what they do, but who they are, what has shaped them, and what helps them grow toward greater freedom and wholeness.
That curiosity has followed me through leadership development, higher education, pastoral ministry, and coaching. Today, it shapes the work I do through Balanced Coaching: helping people understand what's happening beneath the surface and develop healthier ways of relating to themselves, to others, and to God.
A season that changed everything
My journey toward this work didn't begin in a classroom. It grew out of a season when, even though I was doing many of the "right things," I felt disconnected, anxious, and spiritually dry. I knew God, but I didn't always experience the kind of grounded connection I thought I should.
That season led me to explore how emotional maturity, attachment, relationships, spiritual formation, and the brain all interact in the process of human growth. I began discovering that meaningful change isn't simply a matter of trying harder or knowing more. We are formed through relationships, repeated experience, honest awareness, and learning to remain connected when life becomes difficult.
Those discoveries changed both my own life and the way I walk alongside others.
Why this work matters
I founded Balanced Coaching to create a Christ-centered space where people can pursue meaningful whole-person growth.
One conviction continues to shape my work:
Real growth happens not through pressure, performance, or sheer willpower, but through steady connection with God, with others, and with ourselves.
That's the foundation of the NeuroRelational Coaching™ approach I use with clients: integrating Christian spiritual formation, relational wisdom, emotional maturity, and neuroscience-informed principles of change.
What it's like to work together
Coaching with me is thoughtful, collaborative, and practical. We'll pay attention not only to what you want to change, but also to the patterns, relationships, beliefs, emotions, and experiences shaping the way you respond to life.
My work draws from:
- Christian faith and spiritual formation
- Emotional maturity and relational connection
- Neuroscience-informed principles of growth
- Identity, purpose, and calling
- Practical frameworks that translate insight into everyday life
Clients often describe our work together as safe, clarifying, and deeply human: a place to slow down, understand what's happening, and move forward with greater steadiness rather than simply trying harder.
Background
Experience that shapes my coaching
My approach has been shaped by more than 15 years of work across leadership, higher education, ministry, pastoral care, and human development.
Before and alongside Balanced Coaching, I've served as a college dean and professor, pastor, leadership developer, and educator. Those experiences have given me a front-row seat to the ways people grow, struggle, lead, relate, and change across very different seasons of life.
I bring that experience into coaching, but the coaching relationship itself remains focused on you: your story, your goals, your relationships, and the kind of person you are becoming.
Education & Training
A well-grounded approach
My work is informed by graduate study in leadership and theology along with specialized training in Christian coaching, relational development, spiritual formation, and evidence-informed approaches to human growth.
Education
- Ph.D., Leadership — Columbia International University
- Master of Theology — Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary
Selected Professional Credentials
- Board Certified Master Life Coach
- Board Certified Master Mental Health Coach
- Board Certified Pastoral Counselor
- Relational Spirituality Coach
- Certified NeuroMindfulness® Coach Practitioner
Coaching Philosophy
Growth is a formation journey, not a one-time event
I see growth as a formation journey rather than a one-time breakthrough. Lasting change usually happens gradually as insight becomes experience, experience becomes practice, and new ways of relating become increasingly natural.
That's why my coaching pays attention to several dimensions of growth together:
- Emotional and nervous-system regulation
- Healthy relationships and secure connection
- Identity and spiritual formation in Christ
- Practices that help knowing become lived experience
These principles shape the NeuroRelational Coaching™ framework and the way I approach every coaching relationship.
Coaching Focus
Areas we might work on together
Beyond Balanced Coaching
My broader professional work
Alongside my coaching practice, I teach, write, train coaches and leaders, and explore how people and helping professionals develop toward greater relational, spiritual, and professional maturity.
If you're here because of my teaching, research, speaking, coach development work, or other professional projects, you can explore that work on my professional site.
Ready to take the next step?
If you're looking for a thoughtful, Christ-centered space to understand what's keeping you stuck, strengthen the way you relate to yourself and others, and grow toward greater freedom and steadiness, I'd be glad to talk. A coaching conversation is simply an opportunity for us to talk about where you are, where you'd like to go, and whether working together makes sense.
A free place to start
Why You Feel Stuck
A free interactive workbook to help you understand what's really keeping you anxious, exhausted, and spiritually stalled—and practical, biblical tools to begin moving toward freedom. Enter your name and email to get the workbook instantly.
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