Unhurried Living | Helping Christians Rest Deeper & Lead Better

Christian faith has often focused on right beliefs and right choices as the key to personal growth. But biblical evidence and modern brain science show that our character is shaped more by whom we love than merely by what we believe. In Renovated, Jim Wilder shows us how we can train our brains to relate to God based on joyful, mutual attachment, leading to emotional and spiritual maturity, as our identity and character are formed by our relationship with God. Dr. Jim Wilder is a neurotheologian, training leaders and counselors for over 30 years on five continents. The found of Life Model Works, he is an expert on the intersection of theology and brain science. He is coauthor of Rare Leadership and Living from the Heart Jesus Gave You. Connect with his work at: https://lifemodelworks.org Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

How do we live in a way that doesn’t leave us drained and weary? How do we lead from places of refreshment and vitality instead?  Alan recently enjoyed a great conversation about “sustainable leadership” with Alan Briggs from Stay Forth Designs. Briggs work intersects at many points with what Gem and Alan have been doing for a while now. So sustainable leadership is what we’ll be talking about today.As we continue to navigate the practical changes that COVID-19 has made to our way of working, communicating and living, we need wisdom to know how to see the opportunities within these changes and not become overwhelmed by them. One lense through which to view this challenge is through a vision of “sustainable leadership.”Briggs loves helping hungry leaders GET HEALTHY and HAVE MORE IMPACT. He and the team at Stay Forth Designs do this through coaching leaders, consulting with teams, hosting leadership experiences and creating practical content. He co-hosts the Right Side up Leadership Podcast where he has strategic conversations about healthy leadership. He has been a pastor, a church planting catalyst and an entrepreneur. He is dad to four amazing kids and one amazing wife. He is author of Staying is the New Going, Guardrails, and Everyone’s a Genius.  Connect with Alan Briggs on Social Media:Facebook @alan.briggs.940Instagram @alanbriggsTwitter @AlanBriggs  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

No one is going to argue that we have entered uncharted territory with the ongoing dynamics of COVID-19, and then with the painful wounds of injustice that are being rightly protested. It’s a season when we’ve perhaps never needed good leadership more, and when the complications of how leadership will adapt to the needs of this season may never have been higher. When I talk about unhurried leadership, I’m not talking about being slow to respond to real needs. I’m talking about slowing down enough to recognize what the real needs are so that you can be quick to listen and quick to respond.  This is the topic Tod Bolsinger and I  discuss in detail during this podcast. Tod Bolsinger is the vice president and chief of leadership formation and associate professor of leadership formation at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory, It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian: How the Community of God Transforms Lives, and Show Time: Living Down Hypocrisy by Living Out the Faith. A frequent speaker, consultant, and blogger, he serves as an executive coach for corporate, nonprofit, educational, and church organizations in transformational leadership. Tod and his wife, Beth, have two children. Follow him on social at:Twitter @todbol To access Tod’s free content related to Canoeing the Mountains, text “uncharted” to 66866.  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Many of our listeners are leaders and it can be easy for any of us to fall into the groove of teaching or leading for mere information or knowledge…and not into the deeper levels of formation and change. Of course, knowledge is important and we must begin there. But transformation must be right on its heels or the process is incomplete. Our guest today, Diana Shiflett, has written a very practical and hands-on book entitled Spiritual Practices in Community. And it gets at what I said earlier about moving from knowledge to formation. Diana lists a multitude of ways we can encounter God together…not just to learn about God…but to experience God in community.About Diana: She is the pastor of spiritual formation at Naperville Covenant Church in Naperville, IL. She is an adjunct professor of youth ministry at North Park University and a spiritual director.You can find Diana in all the fun places:Twitter @PastorDianaSFacebook @Diana-ShiflettInstaGram @dianashiflett Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

We’ve seen the news stories and heard the rumors. Maybe we ourselves have been hurt by a narcissistic church leader. It’s easy to throw the term around and diagnose others from afar—but what is narcissism, really? And how does it infiltrate the church?  Chuck DeGroat has been counseling pastors with narcissistic personality disorder, as well as those wounded by narcissistic leaders and systems, for over twenty years. He knows firsthand the devastation narcissism leaves in its wake and how insidious and painful it is. In When Narcissism Comes to Church, DeGroat takes a close look at narcissism not only in ministry leaders but also in church systems. He offers compassion and hope for those looking to heal from its systemic effects He also offers hope for narcissists themselves—not by any shortcut, but by the long, slow road of genuine recovery.  Chuck DeGroat is professor of pastoral care and Christian spirituality at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, and senior fellow at Newbigin House of Studies in San Francisco. He served as a pastor at churches in Orlando and San Francisco and founded two church-based counseling centers. He is a licensed therapist, spiritual director, and the author of Toughest People to Love and Wholeheartedness.  Follow Chuck on social media at:Instagram @chuckdegroatFacebook @chuckdegroatTwitter@chuckdegroat Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Alan loved getting the opportunity to talk with a fellow author about the challenge of hurry in our world today. Today, we're sharing his recent conversation with Jeff Bethke, author of To Hell With the Hustle. In today’s episode, you’ll gain insight into how we can reclaim our lives in an overwhelmed, overspent, and overconnected world. Jeff is the New York Times bestselling author of Jesus > Religion and It’s Not What You Think. He and his wife, Alyssa, host The Real Life Podcast and run FamilyTeams.com, an online initiative equipping families to live as a multigenerational team on mission. They live in Maui with their daughters, Kinsley and Lucy, and son, Kannon. You can learn more about his work at jeffandalyssa.com.Connect socially with Jefferson on:Twitter @jeffersonbethkeInstagram @jeffersonbethkeYouTube @https://www.youtube.com/user/bball1989 Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today we’re sharing a five part framework for change. We’ve been using this process in our own lives for years and it has kept us on track.Last Fall, our book What Does Your Soul Love? was published. It’s a book about necessary change--a book about how to cooperate with the transforming work of God in us and through us. What does it take to stay on this journey of change over our lifetime?We know that you’re the kind of person who is hungry to make good progress in your life and in your work. You aren’t willing to settle for the driven pace and frantic values of the culture around you. And we all know that the changes brought about by COVID-19 have added a whole new layer of challenges.Some of us have been able to lean into a more relaxed posture with the current guidance on staying at home and social distancing. Some of us are struggling with all this.We are here to help you live and work better with less hurry. So, this summer we are offering two group coaching opportunities that we believe are going to help you navigate this season in which we find ourselves.We share here the five-part framework we’ll use in these groups. It’s a framework that you can use in any situation needing change in your life.Learn more here: http://unhurriedliving.com/coaching Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Many of us treat suffering like a problem to fix. Simply put, we’d rather not suffer at all, but if we do, we prefer it to be short. But what if our pain or suffering linger? What if it doesn’t go away quickly or at all? We may wonder if God sees us or if we’ve somehow failed God. We may question God’s very nature. If God loves us, why does he allow us to hurt?   Today, Gem is talking with KJ Ramsey who has suffered with pain every day for the last 11 years. And she has much to say about the presence and love of God in the midst of that pain. Welcome to the Unhurried Living Podcast. http://kjramsey.com/preorderSocial Media: @kjramseywrites Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

The radical changes to our lives and our work continue as we stay home and distance ourselves to slow the spread of the coronavirus. We don’t know how this has impacted your emotions, but we’ve wrestled with anxious thoughts and feelings many times since our stay-at-home orders began in mid-March.  On Sunday after Easter, Alan spoke for our online church service on the theme of peace. We needed it then, and we need it now. The good news of Jesus brings us peace in these uncertain times. Instagram: @unhurriedlivingFacebook: unhurriedlivingYouTube: unhurriedliving Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

According to our guest, Josh Larsen, “Films and faith have been intertwined in my head since childhood. As a practicing film critic, I hope to encourage other Christians in a nuanced, aesthetically focused, and theologically rooted exploration of the art of cinema.”Movies Are Prayers explores how modes of prayer—praise, confession, lament—are modeled by all types of films. In this fashion, Josh’s book illuminates the richness of both cinema and prayer. Josh Larsen is the co-host of the podcast Filmspotting. He is also the editor of Think Christian, a digital magazine on faith and culture, Larsen has influenced the minds of moviegoers on the applicability of stories to real life, spirituality, and faith for years. You can read Josh's movie reviews at his website, larsenonfilm.com. Connect with Josh:Twitter @LarsenOnFilmFacebook @larsenonfilm Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.