Spiritual Life and Leadership

Karen Gonzalez is an immigration advocate and the author of Beyond Welcome: Centering Immigrants in Our Christian Response to Immigration.  In this episode, Karen Gonzalez, helps us understand both the challenges of immigration and how we, the church, can love and bless those who have immigrated in ways that are healthy and lifegiving for everyone. THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Karen Gonzalez is an immigration advocate and the author of Beyond Welcome: Centering Immigrants in Our Christian Response to Immigration.Karen Gonzalez shares the story of how her understanding of immigration developed over time.Church ministries that focus on immigration don’t generally center on the immigrants; they tend to focus on the church and its people.Think about the words that you use and whether your words are creating an “us and them” or just creating a “we.”The words we use can sometimes be unintentionally dehumanizing.Hospitality should not be one-directional—from the non-immigrant to the immigrant.  Hospitality should be mutual, flowing in both directions.Karen Gonzalez shares the story of a woman who said she appreciates Mother Mary because Mary knows what it feels like to have her son killed by the state—which is how this woman’s son died, too.We all do theology from somewhere.Karen Gonzalez describes the richness that those who are not immigrants can experience when they learn from the experiences of those who are immigrants.Ministry leaders should reflect on where their understanding of immigration comes from.Karen Gonzalez offers some ways that people and churches can help immigrants and refugees.To find out how to best help immigrants visit World Relief, International Rescue Committee, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, and Church World Service.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Karen Gonzalez:TwitterInstagramBooks mentioned:Beyond Welcome, by Karen GonzalezBeyond Thingification, by Markus WatsonImmigration Resources:World ReliefInternational Rescue CommitteeLutheran Immigration and Refugee ServicesChurch World ServiceSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Get Becoming Leaders of Shalom for free HERE.Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

D. Michael Lindsay is the author of Hinge Moments: Making the Most of Life’s Transitions and the president of Taylor University in Upland, Indiana.In this episode, D. Michael Lindsay unpacks the seven stages of transition and helps us understand how to navigate those stages well--both personally and corporately.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:D. Michael Lindsay is the author of Hinge Moments: Making the Most of Life’s Transitions and the president of Taylor University in Upland, Indiana.D. Michael Lindsay shares the story of losing his cousin, which is the event that got him thinking about hinge moments.Hinge Moments is about:  How do you pay attention to the ways God is trying to get your attention?  And how can you be preparing for the next hinge moment in your life?We live millions of minutes.  But we only have a handful of minutes in our lives that are true inflection points.According to D. Michael Lindsay, change happens in an instant, while transition takes place over a longer period of time.The pandemic represents a societal hinge moment.The seven stages of navigating transition are:DiscernmentAnticipationIntersectionLandingIntegrationInspirationRealizationD. Michael Lindsay encourages his students that failure is almost never final.Faith plays an important role in navigating transition.Spiritual practices are incredibly helpful when navigating hinge moments.D. Michael Lindsay shares examples of practices that can be helpful during times of transition.D. Michael Lindsay suggests that for churches and ministry leaders, the pandemic has been a little ice age (as opposed to a blizzard or a winter).RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Books mentioned:Hinge Moments: Making the Most of Life's Transitions, by D. Michael LindsayResources:Taylor UniversityPraxis LabsChurch Leadership InstituteSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Get Becoming Leaders of Shalom for free HERE.Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Sarah Bereza is the author of Professional Christian: Being Fully Yourself in the Spotlight of Public Ministry and directs a music program at United Methodist Church.It can be really challenging to really be yourself when you're a pastor or ministry leader.  There is a pressure to perform and to present yourself in an ideal sort of way.  But putting on a false front can be exhausting.In this episode, Sarah Bereza unpacks how we can fully be ourselves even as we lead in ministry.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDES:Sarah Bereza is the author of Professional Christian: Being Fully Yourself in the Spotlight of Public Ministry and directs a music program at United Methodist Church.It can be really hard for people in the professional ministry space to be fully themselves.Markus Watson shares the story of the first time anyone ever called him “Pastor.”To be more and more like Christ also becoming more and more fully ourselves.Sarah Bereza helps us understand how we can be our true selves in a worship service—even if we don’t feel like being there that day.When we don’t acknowledge, at least to ourselves, what is going on inside us we can end up performing, even faking, when leading a worship service.Sarah Bereza shares that, depending on the context and relationships, it can be ok for the pastor to be honest with their congregation when he or she isn’t feeling great in a worship service.Sarah Bereza explains the difference between authenticity, sincerity, and being fully yourself.The church seems to be experiencing a crisis of discipleship.  Sarah Bereza helps us understand that the way we help our people become true disciples of Jesus is through community.To find out more about Sarah Bereza, visit www.sarah-bereza.com.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Books mentioned:Professional Christian, by Sarah BerezaSarah Bereza:Website – www.sarah-bereza.comChurch Leadership InstituteAdaptive Church Leadership CohortSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Get Becoming Leaders of Shalom for free HERE.Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Matt Tebbe and Ben Sternke are the authors Having the Mind of Christ: 8 Axioms to Cultivate a Robust Faith and pastors of The Table in Indianapolis.  So often the Christian life generally and Christian leadership specifically is oriented toward performance.  But in this conversation, Matt Tebbe and Ben Sternke remind us that our spiritual life and our leadership is bathed in grace.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Matt Tebbe and Ben Sternke are the authors Having the Mind of Christ: 8 Axioms to Cultivate a Robust Faith and pastors of The Table in Indianapolis.The world has changed tremendously in the past seven years.Deconstruction is causing people to rethink the faith that they inherited.Everyone views the world through a paradigm, like a pair of glasses.  We need to learn to not only see through our glasses, but see our glasses.  We need to become aware of the paradigm by which we view the world.When we learn to see with other glasses, we can lead with more curiosity.We underrate the value of curiosity.Whereas we often think God “shows up” in places, we are invited to recognize that God is already active and at work in the places where we are.Our leadership grows when we recognize that God meets us in the midst of our messiness.An axiom is a statement that is considered to be self-evidently true.  The axioms in Having the Mind of Christ are truths by which Jesus seems to have lived.It is important for us recognize the power we carry with us, especially for white male leaders.Matt Tebbe and Ben Sternke offer three steps to help us live into these truths:Compassionate awarenessCreative alignmentCooperative actionOur attempts to live out God’s love—even our poor attempts—are bathed in grace.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Gravity Leadershipwww.gravityleadership.comThe Tablewww.thetableindy.orgBooks mentioned:Having the Mind of Christ: 8 Axioms to Cultivate a Robust Faith by Matt Tebbe and Ben SternkeSocial Media:Ben Sternke TwitterBen Sternke InstagramMatt Tebbe TwitterMatt Tebbe InstagramSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Get Becoming Leaders of Shalom for free HERE.Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Eric Hoffman said, “To dispose a soul to action, we must upset its equilibrium.”  In this episode, we’re going to talk about the state of disequilibrium that so many of us find ourselves in—what used to work in church leadership and ministry doesn’t seem to work anymore.  And we’re going to talk about why that disequilibrium is actually a gift.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:We live in a time of great disequilibrium.When we talking about disequilibrium, it is helpful to think of it in the context of a “complex adaptive system.” A complex adaptive system is a network of organisms, relationships, and connections that interact in such a way as to maintain some kind of balance.Complex adaptive systems want to remain in a state of equilibrium.Disequilibrium happens when something in the system changes.The dodo bird went extinct because it had lived in a state of equilibrium for so long that it couldn't survive changes in its system.In Surfing the Edge of Chaos, the authors argue that "prolonged equilibrium is a precursor to death."But when a system experiences disequilibrium, it has the opportunity to become stronger, more resilient, and healthier. For about the past 1700 hundred years, the church in the West has existed in a state of relative equilibrium.But the culture changed and now the church exists in a state of disequilibrium.The church needs to embrace the disequilibrium because that will make it stronger, more resilient and healthier.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Books mentioned:Surfing the Edge of Chaos, by Richard Pascale, Mark Milleman, and Linda GiojaOnline courses and cohorts:Leading Your Church Through ChangeAdaptive Church Leadership Cohort  Send me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Get Becoming Leaders of Shalom for free HERE.Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

In a time of immense change, how should churches do ministry?  How should pastors and leaders lead their churches and organizations?  Should we set a BHAG--a Big Hairy Audacious Goal?  Should we set one-year, five-year, and ten-year goals?Or is there another way?  Could it be that what we need are not big, enormous goals, but simple to take small steps and achieve short-term wins?THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDES:Markus Watson questions whether or not churches today should set BHAGs--Big Hairy Audacious Goals.“Small steps and short-term wins are the best approach, rather than big programs or large-scale planning.”  --Alan Roxburgh, The Missional LeaderWe are living in a time of discontinuous change.Continuous change is the kind of change that is expected and understood.Discontinuous change is unexpected and hard to understand.In times of discontinuous change, Markus Watson suggests churches should not set large goals; rather they should conduct small experiments.Missteps and small losses can be just as valuable for churches today as small steps and short-term wins.Whether through wins or losses, the most important thing, according to Markus Watson, is to keep learning.Through their small wins and losses, churches can learn about their neighbors, about themselves, and about God.To learn more, join one of these learning experiences:Leading Your Church Through Change, a free online course that teaches the process of action-reflection as a method for leading change in your church.Adaptive Church Leadership Cohort, an 18-month deep-dive learning cohort led by Tod Bolsinger and the Church Leadership Institute to help you navigate change in a disruptive world.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Books mentioned:The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World, by Alan Roxburgh and Fred RomanukBuilt to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, by Jim CollinsOnline courses and cohorts:Leading Your Church Through ChangeAdaptive Church Leadership CohortSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Get Becoming Leaders of Shalom for free HERE.Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Kevin Nye is the author of Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness, and Housing Director of a non-profit youth center.  In this episode, Kevin helps us understand some of the misconceptions about homelessness—what’s really going on—and what we can do about it.  Specifically, he helps us understand why the first thing we should do is provide housing for those who need it, not because they’ve earned it, but as an act of grace.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Kevin Nye is the author of Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness, and Housing Director a non-profit youth center.Having attended Fuller Seminary, Kevin Nye initially intended to be a pastor.Kevin Nye helps us understand some of the common misconceptions about homelessness.One common misconception about homelessness is that people who experience homelessness somehow deserve it.Kevin Nye invites us to respond to the challenge of homelessness with grace.  That is, we should not focus on what people deserve or earn in order to receive help when struggling with homelessness.Markus shares about an encounter he had with a homeless person that day and Kevin offers his response.Every challenging or uncomfortable encounter we have with a person experiencing homelessness is likely the result of some kind of systemic failure that has led or kept that person where they are.A person who experiences homelessness has fallen through every social safety net.Challenges like addiction and mental illness are much easier to address and manage when a person has housing.The housing first strategy costs less than the current system which tends to keep people where they are.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Kevin NyeWebsite – www.kevinmnye.comTwitter - @kevinmnye1Instagram - @kevinmnyeFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/knye1Books mentioned:Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness, by Kevin NyeSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Get Becoming Leaders of Shalom for free HERE.Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Todd Hall, author of The Connected Life and professor of Psychology, discusses the importance of secure attachments in healthy leadership. He explores the impact of attachment styles on relationships, the role of positive experiences in healing, and how past attachment experiences can affect our relationship with God. The discussion emphasizes the significance of building healthy connections and embracing our leadership potential.

Allen Hilton is the author of A House United: How the Church Can Save the World and founder of the non-profit, A House United.  In this episode, we discuss the rise of political divisiveness that has invaded our churches.  And we address what we can do about it.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Allen Hilton is the author of A House United: How The Church Can Save the World. Allend Hilton has been a New Testament professor at Yale Divinty School, has served as a pastor for 15 years, and in 2016 started a non-profit called A House United.The problem that America is facing today is that we don’t “stay at the table.”According to Allen Hilton, the church bears responsibility for the polarization in America today.Allen Hilton shows how the church throughout history—even the early church—has been prone to polarization.In choosing the twelve disciples, Jesus chose people who were politically diametrically opposed to each other.Allen Hilton suggests that if we can get 70% of Christians to be willing to have conversations with people they disagree with, things will begin to change.They way we increase shalom is by getting good at being together across difference.People’s primary identity is their political affiliation.  If churches never address politics in our discourse, then we will fail to connect with what is most important to people.Allen Hilton explains Mission 4.0:Mission 1.0 is evangelism.Mission 2.0 is charity and service.Mission 3.0 is justice.Mission 4.0 is unity in the church and beyond the church.Allen Hilton does a daily devotional which you can sign up for HERE.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Allen Hilton:House United Movement websiteNewsletterE-mail: allen@houseunitedmovement.orgBooks mentioned:A House United, by Allen HiltonSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Get Becoming Leaders of Shalom for free HERE.Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Amy Sherman is the author of Agents of Flourishing and a Senior Fellow at the Sagamore Institute.  In this conversation, Amy is going to help us understand six “community endowments”—six arenas of life—that need to be strong in order for those communities to truly be flourishing communities.  And then Amy gives us some great starting points to help us discern how God may be calling us to contribute to and strengthen those endowments in our communities.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Amy Sherman is the author of Agents of Flourishing and a Senior Fellow at the Sagamore Institute.Agents of Flourishing is a response to the need Amy Sherman sensed from pastors and ministry leaders—the need to know how to bring shalom into the world.Amy Sherman explains that shalom is a Hebraic concept referring to total wholeness.Jesus came into the world as an agent of flourishing.  Jesus brought shalom into the world and calls us to join him in the ongoing work of restoring shalom.Amy Sherman structured Agents of Flourishing around six “community endowments,” originally developed by the Thriving Cities Group.The six community endowments are:The TrueThe GoodThe BeautifulThe Just and Well-orderedThe SustainableThe ProsperousA city that is strong in only one or two these won’t be a truly thriving city.  Cities need all (or at least most) of these endowments to be strong.The goal of Agents of Flourising is to help pastors and churches take stock of their own gifts and passions and discern which of these endowments they might contribute to.Amy Sherman encourages churches to take stock of their assets.  This might include physical assets like buildings and classrooms, relational assets like partnerships with other churches or organizations, and financial assets.Amy Sherman also recommends assessing the strengths, gifts, and assets of the community outside the church.Too often churches rush to start a new program.  Sometimes it’s better to partner with an organization already doing good work.Made to Flourish, together with Amy Sherman, designed a helpful “Skill Mapping Survey.”You can find out more about Amy Sherman at the Sagamore Institute’s Center on Faith in Communities website.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Sagamore InstituteCenter on Faith in CommunitiesThriving Cities GroupMade to FlourishSkill Mapping SurveyBooks mentioned:Agents of Flourishing, by Amy ShermanKingdom Calling, by Amy SherSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Get Becoming Leaders of Shalom for free HERE.Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.