Who Flexes? Finding My Spot for Soul on Insight Timer

Jess Bielman

I created my teacher account on Insight Timer hoping to express my vocation as a minister concerned with spiritual formation and direction.

At the time, I was in between church communities. My role as a campus pastor and professor had ended, my house church had imploded, and I was grieving the loss of my daily pastoral work. Still, I felt called to teach, reflect, and pastor in whatever facets were still available to me. I had used Insight Timer in my own spiritual practice, and I had a hunch that my approach to faith might be helpful to others, too. So, I borrowed a microphone, filled out the teacher profile, and hit the record button.

Insight Timer is a meditation and wellness app with over 30 million users and 20,000 teachers from every imaginable tradition. It is a beautiful tapestry of the religious, spiritual, philosophical, and beyond. It offers guided meditations, live events, music, courses, and tools for sleep, focus, and reflection. What sets this application apart from its competitors is its open platform model. Teachers can publish freely, build their own audience, and engage directly with a global community. It’s not a church, but for many, including me, it becomes a spiritual home when needed.

However, the app is like no other ministry context I have worked in. It doesn’t play by the rules I am accustomed to and calls me outside of my comfort zone and the norms for doing ministry that I am used to. Over time, I’ve learned that being a teacher on Insight Timer means learning how to fit into someone else’s world. And that takes flexing of language, of skills, and of perspective.

First: Language

At times, I had to sacrifice some religious language, but not the way I expected. The challenge came in discerning how much explicitly religious language was helpful or effective. My first instinct was to tone it down, especially as I was just beginning to build a following. I assumed too much Jesus-talk might limit reach or alienate listeners.

To my surprise, I was wrong. My most successful recorded tracks were actually those linked directly to Scripture. I found out that my lane of a biblical and pastoral voice was the niche I needed to actually stand out and find the audience that would resonate with the work. Now I know when to tone it down or set it aside. This isn’t because I’m ashamed or afraid, but because sometimes the reflection doesn’t need it. The truth still gets through. All of this has never felt like compromising my beliefs or sense of ministerial identity. It has been the opposite of what I expected and has rather proved to be deeply freeing.

Second: Skills

My skills had to evolve. The app has changed in the years I’ve been on it. One way is the increasing emphasis on professional sound engineering. I’m a pastor, spiritual practitioner, and writer. I’m not a sound engineer. Still, to stay relevant in nontraditional ministry spaces, I had to learn how to do new things, whether I liked it or not.

This resulted in researching equipment, learning how to edit tracks, and working through technical kinks that have nothing to do with theology or spiritual formation. I didn’t expect this part of the work, but it’s now part of the call. If I am honest, this aspect has been the most frustrating and trying, and caused me to want to stop at times and give up. Fortunately, I have a friend and longtime musician who has been coaching me. I have learned slowly, but the most valuable thing is the necessity to have to learn something new to continue to exist on the platform. As it evolves, I have to evolve too.

Third: Perspective

My perspective had to shift. This is a platform with 30 million users and 20,000 teachers. It is a wide, vast, pluralistic, beautifully diverse world. And it’s not going to flex to my personal theology, no matter how convicted or sincere I am. That’s a challenge for many religious practitioners. We’re used to spaces adapting to us, or at least letting us set the tone. That’s not how it works here. Honestly, I don’t feel compromised at all. I feel like I’m being formed. Being in a space like this challenges me to listen, reflect, and lead with clarity and humility. I believe God is in this space. I believe ministry is being shaped here.

The fun parts about my ministry on Insight look a lot like the parts I’ve always loved in other ministry contexts. There’s a group of committed people who follow the work I do. It forces me to go deeper into myself and into the Spirit. I must discern what needs to be said for the group God is placing in my path. It helps create weekly routines. It makes me show up.

I think perhaps at other points in my life I would have been less comfortable in such a pluralistic setting, unsure of how to hold onto my tradition or language in a space that wasn’t built for it. But now I see the beauty in flexing. I see the grace in showing up with both conviction and openness.

And there are real signs of fruit, signs of life, of transformation.

This platform wasn’t made for me and wasn’t made by folks from my tradition. But I’ve found my spot in the midst. I said yes to Insight Timer because I needed a way to keep showing up in my calling. I said yes because the work is good, even as I have found other ministerial outlets in my nondigital life.

It’s not always easy, but I haven’t found a ministry setting yet that is.

This, somehow, feels just right.