About Justin R. Latimer
Having navigated my own confusing seasons of transition and new directions, I know firsthand that what feels like an interruption is often the very thing shaping your purpose. Today, as an associate therapist, speaker, and writer, I am dedicated to walking alongside young adults who are asking hard questions about their faith, calling, and identity. Instead of offering easy answers or lectures, my goal is to help you make sense of your unique story, recognize God’s presence, and find hope in the middle of becoming.
Education and Experience
Registered Associate Marriage & Family Therapist (AMFT #160365). Supervised by Cory Anderson, LMFT #53391
Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy, Fuller Theological Seminary School of Psychology
Master of Divinity, Fuller Theological Seminary
Years of ministry experience mentoring and discipling young adults
Ongoing study of emerging adulthood, developmental psychology, Christian theology, and spiritual formation
Founder and writer of The Middle of Becoming
Speaker for churches, young adult ministries, and organizations on emerging adulthood, faith, calling, and formation
My Story
What began as an attempt to understand my own journey became a calling to help others understand theirs.
I never planned to devote my life to young adulthood. Looking back, I can see that God patiently shaped that calling over many years. One word describes much of my twenties: beginning again.
New cities. New communities. New directions. New questions about calling and purpose. Every time I thought I had finally arrived, life invited me to begin again. At the time, those seasons often felt confusing. Looking back, I can see those weren't interruptions to my story—they were the very seasons that shaped it.
The first domino fell when I sensed God leading me away from pursuing a career in film and toward ministry. Over the years that followed, one thing became increasingly clear: I couldn't shake my love for working with young adults.
Whether mentoring students, serving in ministry, or simply listening to the questions they were carrying, I became convinced that this season of life deserved far more attention than it often received.
After seminary, while discerning what came next, I discovered the research on emerging adulthood. For the first time, I had language for what I had experienced personally and what I had been witnessing in the lives of so many others.
The research didn't give me a calling. It gave me language for the calling God had already been shaping. As I explored where that calling might lead, I realized there were very few opportunities to devote my life primarily to walking alongside young adults.
I had a decision to make.
I could spend my life trying to create the kind of ministry I wished existed.
Or I could follow my calling to the places where young adults were already asking life's deepest questions.
That path eventually led me to counseling—not because I was leaving ministry, but because I discovered counseling was one of the clearest ways to live out the calling God had been shaping in me for years.
Today, I have the privilege of living out that calling through counseling, speaking, and writing. While those roles may look different on the surface, they're all expressions of the same calling: helping people understand themselves, recognize God's work in their lives, and navigate the long process of becoming.
The more time I've spent with young adults, the more convinced I've become that most aren't looking for quick answers or another lecture about responsibility. They're looking for people who will take their questions seriously, understand the world they're trying to navigate, and walk alongside them with wisdom and hope.
I've learned that people rarely change because someone finally gives them the right answer. More often, they change when someone helps them understand the story they're living.
My hope is that more young adults discover they are not behind. That more parents become trusted guides instead of anxious managers. That more churches recognize one of the greatest opportunities for discipleship happening right in front of them.
And that wherever people find themselves in the middle of becoming, they discover that God is already at work—and that they don't have to navigate the journey alone.
Let's Continue the Conversation
Wherever you find yourself on this journey, there is a place for you here. I’d love to connect when you are ready to take the next step.