The Discerning Leader Podcast

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Jeremy Stefano  “As a leader, we often love people who we need in our leadership. The love has to be unconditional, not measured out in increments to those we see as more deserving.” –  Jeremy Stefano What does it look like to lead well? Over the next few episodes, Jeremy Stefano and Steve Macchia will unpack this question, offering twenty attributes of a spiritually mature leader. Fresh off a team retreat together, Jeremy and Steve share the first five attributes: loving unconditionally, providing grace, what to do with praise, and why gratitude and rhythms of spiritual practices are essential. This episode is full of spiritual wisdom for every type of leader. Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Winn Collier “You had this sense that you were with someone who knew Jesus.” – Winn Collier Winn Collier is the author of Eugene Peterson’s authorized biography, A Burning in My Bones. Few people have had an opportunity to know Eugene’s life as a pastor, theologian, author, and poet like Winn. Winn shares personal stories of Eugene’s upbringing and transformation. Winn describes that Eugene was transformed by prayer, slow reading, attentiveness, and deep encounters with God in the Scriptures; this changed the way he moved in the world and with people. Winn and Steve share stories of personal time with Euguene; times that were often marked by unhurried silence. Winn encourages the listener that we live in a world where we are deeply and profoundly addicted to our actions and our self-importance and our making things happen; but in God’s world, unhurried attentiveness to God and others is a very counter-transformational experience. Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Ken Shigematsu “If you can put yourself in a pathway of beauty every day, it can awaken you to God’s love for you and it leaves less room for shame to work so that you can become your truest self.” – Ken Shigematsu Author and Pastor Ken Shigematsu joins the podcast to talk about shame. In this episode he shares the spiritual practices that work to awaken us to God’s forgiveness and love for us, making less of shame and more of the self that God created us to be. From his book Now I Become Myself: How Deep Grace Heals Our Shame and Restores Our True Self, Ken shares candidly about his history with shame and finding a way to allow God’s grace to penetrate his soul. As you listen, may you come out of a place of anxiously needing to prove that you are enough to God, to yourself or to others but live from a place of acceptance as the beloved of God. Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.  

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Jeff Crosby “Embracing the mystery is good enough” – Jeff Crosby Jeff Crosby joins the podcast to talk about longings - the inner ache and sadness that we feel at times. From Jeff’s newest book, The Language of the Soul: Meeting God in the Longings of our Hearts, Jeff teaches that the longings we experience are places for God to meet us. Jeff walks us through several longings from the book - the longing for home, for friendship, for heaven and for an undivided life. All of us carry longings in our hearts. The invitation is to be attentive to those longings and invite the Lord of the universe to meet with us in the midst of them and to take time to cultivate spiritual practice that makes us more aware of God’s presence in our lives. Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.    

KeumJu Jewel Hyun, author and founder of Matthew 28 Ministries, discusses the role of servant leadership. They highlight the collaborative effort in editing a book on servant leadership, combining ministry, business, and academia, and reflect on the concept of biblical servant leadership.

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Philip Yancey “Nature, beauty, love, these are good things. They must have been given to us by God. That’s what grace is. It’s a free gift we didn't deserve. That’s my story, being drawn back to God, not by fearsome threats, but by the experience of God’s grace.” – Philip Yancey Award-winning author Philip Yancey is on the podcast this week to share his own life story. He candidly shares about his discovery that God is not the “super cop in the sky” looking for someone to punish but is the giver of all good things - including nature, beauty, and love. Philip teaches us that when we live as if our hands are closed in fists, God’s grace falls to the ground unreceived. He encourages us to live openhandedly and generously because that is how God treats us. Philip ends the conversation by sharing his hope for the Church in our time. Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.  

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Barbara Peacock  “I believe the foundation of effective leadership is understanding and embracing and living out the discipline of love.” – Barbara Peacock The Discerning Leader podcast returns from a summer break to focus on the Heart of a Discerning Leader. Our first guest for Season 27 is Barbara Peacock - an award-winning author, spiritual director, teacher, and intercessor. Her recent book, Spiritual Practices for Soul Care, has just been released by Baker books. Barbara joins Steve to talk about leadership as loving people. She reminds us that we are first called to love God and then to love people and not things. Barbara shares an original poem she wrote entitled Silencing Today and encourages us to be attentive in our love for God and towards others. Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.    

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Susan Currie This is a reprise of season 3 episode 5 of The Discerning Leader Podcast. "In the celebration of Sabbath, we explore the command and accept the invitation to dwell with God with a deep, resounding yes – with gusto!"  – Susan Currie The fourth rhythm of Sabbath is “celebrating” the joy and delight of our identity and freedom in Christ. When we gather with the family of God on Sabbath – for worship, fellowship, prayer, and relationship building – we are reminding each other of the with God life we share. Weekly worship with our faith community is like a dress rehearsal for a wedding: the wedding feast of the Lamb, when the bridegroom returns for his bride once more. In this life we “make every effort” to enter that rest (Hebrews 4: 9) with a Jubilee taste of heaven on our hearts and minds. Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.  

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Susan Currie This is a reprise of season 3 episode 4 of The Discerning Leader Podcast. "We realize our deepest, truest, eternal part of us as God’s dearly loved children when we rest. What God does in us when we rest is carried into all aspects of life." – Susan Currie Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath and when he frustrated the religious leaders by healing on the Sabbath, he was a delight to those he came to serve and set free. Sabbath reminds us of our true identity in Christ, in all aspects of our personhood, and ushers us into the fullness of our salvation. Embracing our eternal identity is best known and experienced in times of Sabbath rest and ever-deepening trust. “You are my beloved” are the words from God that restore and renew us, as we welcome and embrace creativity, spontaneity, imagination, and beauty. Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.  

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Susan Currie This is a reprise of season 3 episode 3 of The Discerning Leader Podcast. "You have been set free (in God), so keep the Sabbath! This is what Sabbath rest is all about. We don’t want to lose our memory for tasting the goodness of God."  – Susan Currie God’s loving invitation and specific commandment is to Sabbath rest – for all. The people of God were ushered into the Promised Land and reminded to rest, always to remember their years of bondage in Egypt.  God urges us likewise to live fully and abundantly, in freedom and joy, recalling how we too can let our daily work become bondage for our soul. Our drivenness and constant effort keeps us from refreshing and renewing rest. But, trusting God with heart, soul, mind, and strength will lead us to a restful lifestyle, renewed in the grace of God.   Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.