About Dr. Justin Tilghman

I’m a Christian life and mindset coach, pastor, professor, and author who has always been deeply curious about people — not just what they do, but who they are, what has shaped them, and what actually helps them grow into wholeness and freedom. That curiosity led me from leadership development and higher education into the deeper work I now do through Balanced Coaching, focused on real, lasting transformation grounded in Christ.

A Season That Changed Everything

My journey toward this work didn’t begin in a classroom — it began in a season of struggle. Even though I was doing all the “right things,” I felt disconnected, anxious, and spiritually dry. I knew God, but I didn’t feel God. I didn’t lack faith; I lacked grounding.

That season pushed me to explore a more integrated path that brought together emotional maturity, relational wisdom, spiritual formation, and what neuroscience reveals about how we change. As I learned about attachment, identity, and presence, I stopped trying to fix myself and learned how to grow. My relationship with God became personal again. My mind found steadiness. My heart learned safety.

Out of that healing came the calling that shapes my work today.

Why This Work Matters

I founded Balanced Coaching to create a Christ-centered space where people — individuals, leaders, and teams — can pursue whole-person transformation. What I’ve learned through both life and coaching is this:

Real growth happens not through pressure, performance, or sheer willpower, but through steady connection — with God, with others, and with ourselves.

That’s what NeuroRelational Coaching™ helps people do: grow with clarity, relational depth, and spiritual grounding in ways that last.

What I Do and How I Show Up

My work integrates:

• faith and spiritual formation

• neuroscience-informed growth principles

• emotional maturity and relational insight

• practical, applicable frameworks for life and leadership

Clients often describe our work together as safe, clarifying, and deeply human — a space where they can slow down, reflect honestly, and grow in steadiness rather than striving.

Roles and Contributions

In addition to my work with Balanced Coaching, I serve in several intentional spaces:

• Pastor of Development at Grace Fellowship Church — equipping leaders and fostering authentic Christian community

• Professor of Leadership & Ministry at Carolina College of Biblical Studies — teaching the next generation of leaders

• Co-host of the Encounter Grace Podcast — helping thoughtful Christians navigate life and faith with wisdom and practical insight

When I’m not coaching or serving, you’ll usually find me at home with my wife and boys — enjoying rhythms of quiet, reading books on theology and psychology, or exploring ways faith and mind meet in everyday life.

My Philosophy of Growth

I believe growth is not a one-time event — it’s a formation journey.

Lasting change doesn’t happen through motivation alone. It unfolds through:

• regulation of the nervous system

• healthy relationships that create felt safety

• clarity about identity in Christ

• practices that integrate knowing and being

These are the same principles that shape the NeuroRelational Coaching™ framework — principles I live out with clients every day.