Sacred Ordinary Days offers a fresh approach, holistic tools, and time-honored resources to help people grow in Christ-likeness—and help the church come together—through intentional Christian spiritual formation.

We create tools rooted in ancient practices and rhythms but translated with a clean aesthetic, and accessible language. We create courses to help you learn, practice, and connect with kindred spirits. We curate resources that help you fill out your toolkit. Ultimately, we believe that helping people grow in Christ-likeness will build the church and, in turn, the kingdom. The building blocks are sacred, ordinary days.

OUR COMMUNITY

You are thoughtful, curious, and discerning. You desire a rich faith. You crave days that feel less chaotic and more peaceful and relationships that are deeper. You know that efficiency isn’t valuable unless you’re effective and productivity is futile without purpose. You are searching for life-giving rhythms for yourself, your family, and your church.

OUR VISION

Us, too. And yet, we couldn’t find the right tools to guide us as we sought to better integrate our life and work with our faith. We kept looking for a simple solution to help us establish daily and weekly practices that were rooted in scripture and the history of the church. The resources we found were hard to understand and harder to build our lives around. We discovered that following the liturgical year, and thus, the life of Christ, gave us the yearly framework we were searching for. Similarly, incorporating the lectionary and daily office kept us reading scripture alongside the church throughout history and around the world, on a day-to-day basis. So, we created the Sacred Ordinary Days planner, a fresh way to use these time-honored tools for Christian spiritual formation.

We know from our own experience that real transformation has three parts—practicing, learning, and connecting. So, our approach to serving you has those same three parts.

1. We help you with your practice by offering you beautiful, useful, and theologically rich tools and resources.
2. We help you learn by providing and sharing additional resources in our weekly newsletter. You can join our community and sign up to receive it here.
3. We help you connect with us and other kindreds on Facebook, Instagram, and in our online community, because we know that incorporating what you’re learning into new practices is easier and more sustainable when you’re sharing the experience with others.

OUR VALUES

imago dei—we honor the vital role of each member of the body of Christ, created in the image of God, and therefore embrace our unique responsibility as co-laborers in the kingdom

humility—we are warm, thoughtful, gracious, and encouraging, considering others before ourselves and recognizing we have much yet to learn and many ways to grow

curiosity—we’re convinced that change is essential to growth and are therefore eager to explore new ideas and experiences in community, intentionally forming posture and practice together

hospitality—we design, write, and serve as an act of invitation, setting a gracious table and removing barriers to entry in order to offer comfort, belonging, and an opportunity to grow in mutuality and love

generosity—we freely offer our ideas, our work, and our presence, expecting the best from ourselves and assuming the best of others 

collaboration—we believe we’re better together and do our best work when actively learning from one another with trust and transparency

adaptability—we hold our specific plans and pursuits loosely while keeping our priorities in sight, in order to remain attentive and responsive as unexpected opportunities and challenges arise

perseverance—we believe in accurately naming and understanding obstacles as the first step to overcoming them, combining the best of established tradition and wisdom with creative, innovative approaches and offering them as guideposts for others on the journey

ecumenism—we value the distinct contributions and unitive communion of the various denominations and traditions within the Christian church. 

OUR FORMATION

Sacred Ordinary Days is the culmination of years of learning, listening, teaching, and walking alongside people who were hungry for peace, presence, and purpose. Our work is focused on helping people prayerfully discern and faithfully do the work that they were uniquely called and created to do, while also making time and space for rest and play. It's based on our belief that the church is most fully the church when every person is most fully him- or herself. Our heart is to help people do their own work effectively, joyfully, and sustainably - no matter what that "work" is - and to serve as companions along the journey.

OUR FOUNDATIONS

We’re ecumenical, meaning we’re not just for or about any one denomination. Our heart is to serve the church as a whole, helping share the wealth and breadth of tools and resources that have been used by many Christians of various denominations within the larger body of Christ. We draw from the Catholic Ignatian tradition (which gave the church the prayer of Examen), the Daily Office (which comes from the Anglican tradition), the Revised Common Lectionary (which is used widely throughout mainline and evangelical Protestant denominations), and Common Prayer: a Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (which is a more recent contribution to the global church). We also quote from a diverse array of Judeo-Christian thinkers both modern and ancient.

We are undergirded by the rhythm of the liturgical calendar (which is about being anchored to the life of Christ and the life of the church), the value of both scripture and practice in intentional spiritual formation, a contemplative approach to the Christian life, and the posture of spiritual direction.

OUR FAITH

We join other Christians around the world and throughout time as we confess…

The Apostles' Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father [and the Son],
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen. 

 

 

OUR TEAM 

JENN GILES KEMPER ☕️
Contemplative Entrepreneur. Spiritual Director. Dot Connector.   
• Waco, Texas •

Jenn is the founder and the heart behind Sacred Ordinary Days. Her background in ministry and spiritual direction, her love of connecting people, and her desire for beautiful, useful, theologically robust resources for spiritual formation drive her to create. What results are tools rooted in ancient practices and rhythms but translated with a clean aesthetic and accessible language, like the Sacred Ordinary Days Planner.

Jenn is an experienced leader, teacher, and speaker, and her vision inspires and propels others forward. She relishes a challenge, values learning, and loves being at a growth edge. Jenn is also a lover of color, hospitality, sunshine, shared meals, and shared life. She and her husband, Grant, enjoy a full and adventurous family life with their three sons.

 

 

BROOKE CHERRY REICH 📚
Strategist. Integrator. Bookworm.
• Waco, Texas •

Brooke is a mentor, strategist, recovering know-it-all, and unrepentant bookworm. She's COO and Jenn's right-hand woman. Brooke is obsessed with stories—especially the stories of God at work in the world and among God's people. While she tends to stay behind the scenes, our team is grateful for her gifts as a leader.

Brooke is a native Texan who recently returned to Waco after a decade-long sojourn in North Carolina. When she’s not telling stories, she’s consuming them through movies, tv, or (most often) the copious reading of stacks (and stacks!) of books. Brooke is a nature-lover and is frequently found trailing through the woods behind her binocular-clad, bird-watching husband and daughter.