Send me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!In this episode, Jason and I talk about the second principle in the book, Surfing the Edge of Chaos.  We talk about how the experience of disequilibrium evokes creative experimentation and fresh new solutions that leads to greater health.  And, specifically, we talk about how this unfolded in Jason’s church, Oceanside Sanctuary.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:The four principles of Surfing the Edge of Chaos are:Equilibrium is a precursor to death.  When a living system is in a state of equilibrium, it is less responsive to changes occurring around it.  This places it at maximum risk.In the face of threat, or when galvanized by a compelling opportunity, living things move toward the edge of chaos.  This condition evokes higher levels of mutation and experimentation, and fresh new solutions are more likely to be found.When this excitation takes place, the components of living systems self-organize and new forms and repertoires emerge from the turmoil.Living systems cannot be directed along a linear path.  Unforeseen consequences are inevitable.  The challenge is to disturb them in a manner that approximates the desired outcome.Jason briefly shares his church’s history and experiences of equilibrium and disequilibrium.Systems move in accordance with different kinds of “attractors.”  The three primary attractors are 1) Point Attractors, 2) Cycle Attractors, and 3) Strange Attractors.Strange attractors are those that lure systems toward the edge of chaos.Jason sees his pastoral role when he started at his church as one of creating disequilibrium.  From that disequilibrium, fresh new solutions can emerge.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Jason CokerOceanside SanctuaryBooks mentioned:Surfing the Edge of Chaos:  The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business, by Richard T. Pascale, et.al.Spiritual Life and Leadership Facebook GroupInstructions to leave a review of Spiritual Life and Leadership:Click HERE.Click on the link that says, "Listen on Apple Podcasts."In the window that opens, click the button that says, "Open Link."  This will open iTunes.To the right of the Spiritual Life and Leadership logo, click "Ratings and Reviews."Under the heading, "Customer Reviews," click on the button that says, "Write a Review."Select the number of stars and write your review.Click submit.I'd be so grateful if you did this.  Thank you!— Links to Amazon are affiliate links.  If you make a purchase through any of these links, I’ll receive a small commission–which will help pay for the Spiritual Life and Leadership podcast!Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Send me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!“The edge of chaos is a condition, not a location.  It is a permeable, intermediate state through which order and disorder flow, not a finite line of demarcation.  Moving to the edge of chaos creates upheaval but not dissolution.  That’s why the edge of chaos is so important.  The edge is not the abyss.  It’s the sweet spot for productive change.”That’s a quote from Surfing the Edge of Chaos, which looks at organizations as “complex adaptive systems.”  These systems—in order to remain healthy and vibrant—require periods of “disequilibrium.”  Seasons when death seems to be knocking on the front door.  And it is these seasons of disequilibrium and death that make the system stronger in the long run.In this episode, Jason Coker and I unpack the concepts of equilibrium and disequilibrium, and begin to look at his particular church and the role disequilibrium—and near death—played in his church's eventual revitalization.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Jason Coker is the pastor of Oceanside Sanctuary in Oceanside, California, and a lecturer at California State University, San Marcos.Human beings tend to prefer to live life in a state of equilibrium, when everything is safe and predictable.We need disequilibrium to grow and thrive.These concepts come from Surfing the Edge of Chaos:  The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business, by Richard T. Pascale, Mark Milleman, and Linda Gioja.We prefer equilibrium over disequilibrium.  But we need disequilibrium in order to grow and thrive.Surfing the Edge of Chaos uses the concept of “complex adaptive systems” as a way of thinking about how to navigate organizational challenges.In a state of equilibrium, the system is at its weakest.A system actually needs disequilibrium in order to thrive and grow and to become stronger and healthier.“Prolonged equilibrium dulls an organism’s senses and saps its ability to arouse itself appropriately in the face of danger.”Four principles (from Surfing the Edge of Chaos):Equilibrium is a precursor to death.  When a living system is in a state of equilibrium, it is less responsive to changes occurring around it.  This places it at maximum risk.In the face of threat, or when galvanized by a compelling opportunity, living things move toward the edge of chaos.  This condition evokes higher levels of mutation and experimentation, and fresh new solutions are more likely to be found.When this excitation takes place, the components of living systems self-organize and new forms and repertoires emerge from the turmoil.Living systems cannot be directed along a linear path.  Unforeseen consequences are inevitable.  The challenge is to disturb them in a manner that approximates the desired outcome.Jason suggests that death is actually necessary.Markus and Jason discuss how Jason’s church experienced a long period of equilibrium before entering a period of severe disequilibrium in the 1970s, lasting all the way into the 2010s.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Jason CokerOceanside SanctuaryBooks mentioned:Surfing the Edge of Chaos:  The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business, by Richard T. Pascale, etClick HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Send me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!The United States has had a long and complicated relationship with God.  And what’s really fascinating is the fact that Communist Russia played a significant role in the way many Americans think about that relationship with God today. A lot of folks think about the United States as a Christian nation—both in the United States and around the world.But is it?  And what does it mean to be a Christian nation? And what does the Soviet Union have to do with any of this? And…. As spiritual leaders, what’s a proper relationship between one’s nation—any nation—and the people of God?Chris Staron, host of the Truce podcast, and I discuss these questions in this episode.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Chris Staron is host of the Truce podcast, as well as the director of Bringing Up Bobby and Between the Walls, and the author of Cradle Robber.The Truce podcast is spending a year exploring how the rise of Communist Russia impacted the Christian church in America.Chris summarizes the connection between Communist Russia and American Christianity.When Karl Marx said, “Religion is the opiate of the masses,” he meant something different than what we normally assume.During the 1950’s, the United States made an intentional effort to connect Christianity with American patriotism.The core eight founding fathers of the U.S. were something between deists and Christian.  They believed God was involved in the world, but they did not believe that Jesus was God.The United States is technically an empire.Since it began, it expanded into areas that didn’t belong to it.Today, the U.S. still holds territories that are taxed without representation.Christianity is losing its prophetic distance from power, which makes it difficult for Christianity to speak truth to power.The Trump administration had gone to great lengths to associate Christianity with the administration.Chris Staron raises the question as to whether or not Christianity supports revolution.You can connect with Chris Staron at www.trucepodcast.com.  You can also find Chris Staron on Twitter at @trucepodcast and on Instagram at @trucepodcast.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Christ Staron:Podcast - The Truce PodcastTwitter:  @trucepodcastInstagram: @trucepodcastCradle Robber, by Chris StaronInstructions to leave a review of Spiritual Life and Leadership:Click HERE.Click on the link that says, "Listen on Apple Podcasts."In the window that opens, click the button that says, "Open Link."  This will open iTunes.To the right of the Spiritual Life and Leadership logo, click "Ratings and Reviews."Under the heading, "Customer Reviews," click on the button that says, "Write a Review."Select the number of stars and write your review.Click submit.I'd be so grateful if you dClick HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Send me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!AJ Swoboda asks an important question: If, as a pastor, you intentionally broke one of the Ten Commandments what would happen?  Well, you’d probably either lose your job or your position. Or you’d be reprimanded or given a warning. Or, at the very least—maybe for using the Lord’s name in vain—you’d get a few dirty looks.But there is one commandment that, if you were to regularly disobey it, you would probably get a raise.Which commandment?  The commandment to keep the Sabbath.Why is that? That’s what AJ Swoboda and I discuss in this episode of Spiritual Life and Leadership.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:AJ Swoboda is Assistant Professor of Bible and Theology at Northwest Christian University and author of Subversive Sabbath.The pace at which the Western world is living is not only not sustainable, it’s a suicide mission.The Sabbath undermines the empire of anxiety and hurry.The Sabbath is not a practice to improve your life.  It will utterly disrupt everything you want.The kind of life we have grown accustomed to—full of busyness and hurry—is not truly life.The Sabbath originates in the Garden of Eden—before the Law.The importance of the Sabbath is seen in the story of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt.  God wanted to restore to the Hebrews the Edenic rest.The Sabbath is a foretaste of what we will experience forever in Heaven.The ideal of the practice of Sabbath is a 24-hour period of rest.  The early Christians transitioned the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, which they called the Lord’s Day.AJ preached on the Sabbath for three weeks and people left his church.  He realized that if he broke nine of the Ten Commandments he would lose his job, but if he broke the Sabbath he would get a raise.God said, “Remember the Sabbath Day.”  It’s as though God knew this was the one commandment we would be most likely to forget.People who keep the Sabbath are wildly healthier people.When you enter into the Sabbath, the Sabbath begins to enter into you.Sabbath is not merely a day.  It’s a state of being.AJ shares the way he is currently struggling with practicing the Sabbath.  He is finding that God is in the struggle.You can find AJ Swoboda on Twitter at @mrajswoboda.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:AJ SwobodaTwitter:  @mrajswobodaBooks mentioned:Subversive Sabbath, by AJ SwobodaThe Sabbath, by Abraham HeschelEmotionally Healthy Spirituality, by Pete ScazzeroInstructions to leave a review of Spiritual Life and Leadership:Click HERE.Click on the link that says, "Listen on Apple Podcasts."In the window that opens, click the button that says, "Open Link."  This will open iTunes.To the right of the Spiritual Life and Leadership logo, click "Ratings and Reviews."Under the heading, "Customer Reviews," click on the button that says, "Write a Review."Select the number of stars and write your review.Click submit.Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Send me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Michael Cooper discusses his book Ephesiology: A Study of the Ephesian Movement, in which he explores the important role of the city of Ephesus in the early Roman Empire and the early church, with a special emphasis on the ways the apostles Paul, John, and Peter all worked to connect the story of Jesus to the Ephesian people in language that made sense to them.This is a timely message for us today as churches are struggling to learn how we are called to connect Christ to our culture.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Michael Cooper is the author of Ephesiology: A Study of the Ephesian Movement and trains church leaders and pastors around the world.Michael shares the story of his faith journey and what led him to write Ephesiology.Nearly half of the New Testament has a connection to the city of Ephesus.  Michael sensed there must be something there to discover.Ephesus was a critical city in the Roman Empire.  It was a crossroad, not only of commerce, but also of philosophy.Heraclitus of Ephesus was a philosopher who wrote On Nature, which was more popular than anything written about Socrates or by Plato or Aristotle.The temple of Artemis in Ephesus had great influence in the city of Ephesus and the in all of Asia Minor.Paul, John, and Peter were missiological theologians.  Their heart was in engaging the culture effectively.The Gospel of John is connected to the city of Ephesus.  John arrived in Ephesus in around 67 A.D.The stories of Jesus in the Gospel of John parallel the culture of Ephesus.  John’s heart was to connect the stories of Jesus with the stories of the Ephesians.When John says, “In the beginning was the logos,” he is using familiar Ephesian language first used by Heraclitus.Like John, Paul, and Peter, we need to be able to connect theological themes to cultures in which we serve.Michael describes how the Western church, in its missionary work, has exported a Western sixteenth-century form of Christianity to other cultures, rather than connecting the stories of Jesus to the stories and forms of those cultures.The early church leadership had a flat organizational structure.The focus on a pastor-centric church did not emerge until later in the church’s development.You can find out more about Michael Cooper and his book at www.ephesiology.com.  You can also e-mail Michael at michael@ephesiology.com.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Michael Cooper:E-mail:  michael@ephesiology.comWebsite:  https://ephesiology.com/Books mentioned:Ephesiology: A Study of the Ephesian Movement, by Michael CooperOn Nature, by HeraclitusBeyond Thingification: Helping Your Church Engage in God's Mission, by Markus Watson— Links to Amazon are affiliate links.  If you make a purchase through any of these links, I’ll receive a small commission–which will help pay for the Spiritual Life and Leadership podcaClick HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Send me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!What in the world does the Kingdom of God have to do with public policy?  What does the Kingdom of God have to do with shaping governments and institutions?  And how does stewardship fit into all that?That’s what I’m be talking about in this episode with Breon Wells of the Daniel Initiative, a government relations firm that helps underrepresented and underserved populations promote positive change.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Breon Wells is the President and Founder of The Daniel Initiative and author of The K-Gene:  Principles for Attaining Your Destiny.Breon Wells worked in Washington, D.C., for eight years as a Congressional aide.The Daniel Initiative to help people connect with the mandate they have outside the four walls of the church.Breon makes the case for eliminating the divide between secular and sacred.Daniel in the Old Testament lived without a sacred/secular divide.We too often elevate the “spiritual stuff” we do at church without valuing what people do in the rest of their lives.Breon Wells sees his work as prophetic.  The prophet’s job is not to manipulate or control the people, but simply to speak the truth of God.When Breon talks about “Kingdom” he is in part talking about stewardship.  As sons and daughters of God, the King, we have a calling to be good stewards of all that has been entrusted to us.The one quality we need to do God’s Kingdom work is surrender.  Total surrender.You can find Breon Wells on Twitter at @RealDaniel24 and on Facebook by searching for Breon Wells.  And he is on Instagram at @imbreonwells.To find out more about The Daniel Initiative, visit www.thedanielinitiative.org.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Breon WellsTwitter:  @RealDaniel24Facebook:  Breon WellsInstagram:  @imbreonwellsThe Daniel InitiativeWebsite:  https://www.thedanielinitiative.org/Books MentionedThe K-Gene: Principles for Attaining Your Destiny, by Breon WellsPatreonhttps://www.patreon.com/markuswatsonInstruction to leave a review of Spiritual Life and Leadership:Click here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spiritual-life-and-leadership/id1435252632Click on the link that says, "Listen on Apple Podcasts."In the window that opens, click the button that says, "Open Link."  This will open iTunes.To the right of the Spiritual Life and Leadership logo, click "Ratings and Reviews."Under the heading, "Customer Reviews," click on the button that says, "Write a Review."Select the number of stars and write your review.Click submit.I'd be so grateful if you did this.  Thank you!— Links to Amazon are affiliate links.  If you make a purchase through any of these links, I’ll receivClick HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Send me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Christendom was that period of history in which Western culture considered itself to be formally and officially Christian.  It was an era in which Christianity had a lot of cultural power--a far cry from the Pre-Christendom time of the Roman Empire.This episode will give you a lot of insight into how Christianity moved from being a marginalized and persecuted religion during its first 300 years, to being the most powerful cultural force in Western society for 1500 years.  And we’ll unpack how Christianity lost its missionary identity as it transitions to a Christendom culture.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Cody and Markus discuss how the Coronavirus threat has revealed churches’ dependency on having to meet in person.  But the need to cancel services provides an opportunity for churches to discover what it means to be the church without the weekly gathering.Markus reviews the characteristics of Pre-Christendom, which he and Cody discussed in episode 66, “The Improbable Growth of the Early Church.”Christendom is the period of history during which Western culture considered itself officially Christian.  It was at this time that the church lost its missionary identity.In a Christendom society everyone is considered to be a Christian.The era of Christendom began with the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity.  This thrust the church into a position of power and authority.Constantine was neither baptized nor catechized until shortly before his death.  Because of this, Constantine offered the world a new kind of Christianity, one that required neither conversion nor commitment.  This paced the way to the church losing its missionary identity.Christendom affected Christianity in three ways:The church lost its missionary identity.The church emphasized a new distinction.The church invented a new reason to exist.Christianity is not at the center of society the way it used to be.  We are moving out of Christendom and into an era we might call Post-Christendom.Post-Christendom gives the church the opportunity to rethink the reason for its existence.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Books mentioned:Missional Church, edited by Darrel GuderAnother City, by Barry A. HarveyBeyond Thingification, by Markus WatsonInstruction to leave a review of Spiritual Life and Leadership:Click here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spiritual-life-and-leadership/id1435252632Click on the link that says, "Listen on Apple Podcasts."In the window that opens, click the button that says, "Open Link."  This will open iTunes.To the right of the Spiritual Life and Leadership logo, click "Ratings and Reviews."Under the heading, "Customer Reviews," click on the button that says, "Write a Review."Select the number of stars and write your review.Click submit.I'd be so grateful if you did this.  Thank you!— Links to Amazon are affiliate links.  If you make a purchase through any of these links, I’ll receive a small commission–which will help pay for thClick HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Send me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!In this episode, we consider the growth of the early church in the pre-Christendom era, a time when Christianity had very little cultural influence.  Much like the church in today's world!  And yet, the early church grew.  What was their secret?  And is there anything we can learn and perhaps implement in our world today?THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Christendom is defined as the “centuries in which Western civilization considered itself formally and officially Christian.”During the first 300 years after Jesus, the church had very little power at all in the culture, which at that time was dominated by the Roman Empire.And yet, somehow, in the fourth century, due to the growth of the early church, Christianity ended up at the very center of power in Western society.Four Characteristics of the Pre-Christendom Church:The church had no political or social or cultural power.The church grew by leaps and bounds anyway.The church had a missionary identity.The church focused on developing a habitus in the followers of Jesus.The growth of the early church changed the trajectory of Western civilization.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Books mentioned:Missional Church, edited by Darrell GuderCanoeing the Mountains, by Tod BolsingerThe Change of Conversion and the Origin of Christendom, by Alan KreiderThe Patient Ferment of the Early Church, by Alan KreiderThe Parables of the Kingdom, by Robert Ferrar CaponeFree Resource:Six Practices of a Flourishing Church, by Markus WatsonPick up my new book:Beyond Thingification, by Markus WatsonTo leave a review of Spiritual Life and Leadership: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spiritual-life-and-leadership/id1435252632— Links to Amazon are affiliate links.  If you make a purchase through any of these links, I’ll receive a small commission–which will help pay for the Spiritual Life and Leadership podcast!Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Send me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Why don't people go to church anymore?  There was a time when you could start a church and it would just grow.  Especially if it was a new community that people were moving into.  Not anymore.  People generally just don't go to church anymore.Why not?  What changed?  And what--if anything--can we do about it?In this episode, I discuss the reality of our situation and offer a thought about the kind of posture we need in order to be the church that the world needs us to be. THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Cody Vermillion founded a “churchish” non-profit called Uncommon Good for people who might never attend a typical church, addressing why people don't go to church anymore.According to Gallup:In 1948, 76% of U.S. adults said they were members of a church, synagogue, or mosque.In 1998, that was down to 70%.In 2018, that was down to 50%.In 2015, Pew research asked people if religion was “very important in their lives.”  Here’s how they responded by age group:Silent Generation (born 1928-1945) 67%Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) 59%Generation X (born 1965-1980) 53%Older Millennials (born 1981-1989) 44%Younger Millennials (born 1990-1996) 38%Churches are declining not only because people don't go to church in great numbers, but also because people attend church less frequently.Church attendance is not a social convention the way it was in the past.  That's part of the reason why people don't go to church these days.Pew research, in 2019, found that:69% believe religious leaders behave unethically some or all of the timeSurpassed only by leaders of technology companies (77%) and members of Congress (81%)People don’t think leaders of institutions face serious consequences for their unethical behavior71% believe members of Congress face consequences little of the time or not at all58% believe leaders of tech companies face consequences little of the time or not at all53% believe religious leader face consequences little of the time or not at allThe church needs to become “indifferent” to all the things that are irrelevant to the mission of God (including the fact that people don't got church much anymore).RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Uncommon Good:Website: https://uncommongoodsd.com/Book mentioned:Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation, by Ruth Haley BartonStatistics:https://news.gallup.com/poll/248837/church-membership-down-sharply-past-two-decades.aspxhttps://www.pewforum.org/2015/11/03/u-s-public-becoming-less-religious/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/19/americans-perceptions-about-unethical-behavior-shape-how-they-think-about-people-in-powerful-roles/To leave a review of Spiritual Life and Leadership: Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Send me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!In this episode, Ron Ovitt shares about something called Integrated Meditation.  Integrated Meditation is a process designed to help us get Scripture beyond the head and to the heart.  Through a process that fosters deep emotional healing and profound spiritual formation, Integrated Meditation helps us get scripture into our heart and our gut and our spirit.THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Ron Ovitt is the President of Empower Ministry and the creator of Emotional Relearning, which you can learn about in Episode 32, “Emotional Resilience and Spiritual Leadership, with Ron Ovitt.”Ron developed Integrated Meditation to help people in the process of Emotional Relearning.Integrated Meditation is a way of experiencing the Bible in such a way that it touches not only the mind but also reaches to the heart.Integrated Meditation involves six steps:Reading – Read the text in two translations.Comprehension – What are the key points of the passage?Introspection – Looking inward.  What do I sense as I read this passage?  How does my body respond?  What emotions am I feeling?  What questions does this passage raise?  What am I believing about myself?  What am I believing about God?Contemplation – Create space for the divine to enter.  Shift from the brain to the heart by remembering a time when someone loved me.Reflection – What am I going to believe as a result of reading this?  What am I going to do now?  What feelings will I embrace as a result of this?  Who do I feel I should share this with?Visualization – Visualize yourself receiving the scripture from God.  Visualize knowing what I need to think, feel, and do—and visualize myself doing it.Ron suggests that pastors might use these six steps as a way for congregations to dig deeper into the sermon text after the service, helping get the sermon from the head to the heart.You can get a resource with ten Integrated Meditations by going to www.empowerministry.org/meditation.You can e-mail Ron at ron@empowerministry.org.You can listen to Ron’s podcast, Mr. Change Agent, and see his videos on his Mr. Change Agent YouTube channel.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Ron Ovitt:Free Resource:  https://www.empowerministry.org/meditation/Website:  https://www.empowerministry.org/E-mail:  ron@empowerministry.orgRon’s Podcast:  Mr. Change AgentRon’s YouTube Channel:  Mr. Change Agent YouTube channelTo leave a review of Spiritual Life and Leadership: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spiritual-life-and-leadership/id1435252632— Links to Amazon are affiliate links.  If you make a purchClick HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.