Ruth Haley Barton is a spiritual director, teacher, author and retreat leader trained at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation in Washington, D.C. She is founder of the Transforming Center, a ministry of spiritual formation, and has served at several churches. As well as Invitation to Solitude and Silence, which won a Christianity Today Book Award in 2005, she is the author of Sacred Rhythms, Longing for More and Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership (all InterVarsity Press).