Spiritual Life and Leadership

Sin and shalom.  What's the connection?Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., describes sin as “culpable shalom-breaking.”  What does that mean?  In this episode of “Spiritual Life and Leadership,” Markus Watson discusses what sin is and what we should do about it.THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:To understand sin and shalom, we have to start at the beginning in Genesis.Shalom is a good word to describe the world as God created.Shalom refers to a comprehensive sense of well-being that touches every aspect of life.There is a four-fold nature to shalom (see Episode 3: The Fourfold Nature of Shalom)—shalom with God, with one another, within ourselves, and with the created order.Something happened that disrupted world’s shalom—namely, sin.We read about the disruption of shalom in Genesis 3.The fact that men tend to dominate over women is not a prescription of how God wants things to be. It is a description of how things are because sin has entered our story.Cornelius Plantinga, in Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin defines sin as “disruption of created harmony.” It is “culpable shalom-breaking.”Plantinga says, “God is for shalom and, therefore, against sin.”Sin is “culpable shalom-breaking” because we are responsible.We can participate with God in the restoration of shalom.I don’t believe human beings are inherently sinful, though we may have a tendency toward sin. We are originally creatures of shalom. We are creatures of both sin and shalom.The result of sin is that we have a broken world.How do we respond to sin? We surrender to the God who wants to restore shalom.We surrender in two ways: 1) confession and 2) living fully into our vocations.Confession restores the shalom between us and God. It also restores shalom within ourselves because it heals our shame.Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.”We need to confess to one another. Confessing to a person makes God’s forgiveness tangible.Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in Life Together, talks about the need to confess to one another.Living fully into our vocations is about more than just our jobs. It has to do with all of our callings—as a parent, student, citizen, etc.When you live out your vocations you are participating with God to restore shalom in the world.God is moving us toward a world of beauty, goodness, healing, and relational health--out of sin and into shalom. RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, by Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.Life Together, by Dietrich BonhoefferThe Four-fold Nature of Shalom, Episode 3 of Spiritual Life and LeadershipTo leave a review of Spiritual Life and Leadership: https://podcasts.apSend 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.

The Ungiving Tree--a parody of The Giving Tree--is as simple and as profound as Shel Silverstein’s original.In this episode, Dwight Gibson reads to us The Ungiving Tree and reflects on the importance of sharing with the world the gifts that God has given us.THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Dwight Gibson is the Chief Explorer with and organization called The Exploration Group.Dwight founded The Exploration Group in 2009. When an organization needs to do something new, they need to be able to explore using the principles of exploration. The Exploration Group helps organizations use the principles of exploration to get from where they are to where they need to be.The most formative book Dwight ever read was a book about Thomas Edison that him mother gave him in first grade.Dwight Gibson read the story, The Ungiving Tree, (which is a spoof of the famous children’s book, The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein), in the video series, For the Life of the World.The Ungiving Tree story was originally read to children. They immediately knew that there was something wrong.The Ungiving Tree demonstrates that we are not meant to hold tightly to the gifts we’ve been given. We are meant to share them.Markus used to think about stewardship primarily in terms of money.Markus bought The Stewardship Bibleto use a resource to talk about money. But The Stewardship Bible is about stewardship in all of life. It turns out that The Stewardship Bible was edited by two of Dwight Gibson’s colleagues, Stephen Grabill and Brett Elder.Sometimes the greatest gifts we can give are the things that come most naturally to us.Our work is the way we share our gifts with the world.There are so many gifts in the universe that are yet to be discovered. These gifts are discovered through our work.Dwight Gibson can be reached through The Exploration Group website: www.exploradelphia.com.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:The Exploration Group Website:  https://www.exploradelphia.com/The Ungiving Tree video clip For the Life of the World video seriesThe Stewardship Bible, edited by Stephen Grabill and Brett ElderInstructions 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."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.

Ministry can be incredibly rewarding and it can be incredibly painful.  In this episode, DG Hollums, shares about his own painful experience in ministry.  But he doesn’t stop there.  DG Hollums also shares the steps he is taking to bring together an online community for those who have suffered in ministry.  Rather than becoming angry and cynical, DG is taking his experience of betrayal and hurt and is following God’s call to bless others who have had similar experiences.THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:DG Hollums describes his time as pastor of a church plant in Cincinnati called The Waters. It was a church that included followers of Jesus, as well as atheists and agnostics.Diana Butler Bass in A People’s History of Christianity suggests that we should on the Great Commandments than the Great Commission.Charles Wesley said he would know if someone was a Christian based on whether or not he saw the fruit of the Spirit in their life.DG has experienced severe betrayal in his ministry life. He describes it as “pure pain.”DG refers to those who have left ministry or are about to leave ministry because of the hurt they’ve experienced as “Dones” or “Almost Dones.” They aren’t done with their faith, but they are almost done with church.Henri Nouwen in The Wounded Healer suggests that perhaps it is the wounded who need to be leading our churches.Markus shares that his own experience of being wounded by the church has made him more compassionate and has given him greater clarity as to why the church exists.DG is in the early stages of creating an online community that would help people who are “Done” or “Almost Done” with ministry find their calling through discipleship, mentoring, spiritual practices, career coaching, and so forth.DG Hollums is writing a book titled The Divine Senses to help people pray through all of their senses.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:DG Hollums E-mail: argonhollums@gmail.comTwitter: @argon52DG Hollums' Photography Website: www.hollumsphotography.comBooks mentioned Surprised by Hope by N.T. WrightA People’s History of Christianity by Diana Butler BassThe Wounded Healer by Henri NouwenBooks by Phyllis Tickle The Great EmergenceEmergence ChristianityInstructions 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 headSend 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.

The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:1-17 is so much more than a list of Jesus’ ancestors.  It is the beginning of the good news about Jesus.  Matthew does something quite extraordinary with the inclusion of the four women in the genealogy of Jesus–not because he included women, but because of who the women are.  Right from the beginning, Matthew makes it clear who is included in the story of Jesus and that Jesus is not ashamed of people the world tends to sideline.THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:The genealogy of Jesus is found in Matthew 1:1-17.The first two words in Greek of Matthew’s gospel are biblos geneseos. In the NIV translation these words are translated, “This is the genealogy….”A very literal translation of these word would be “book of genesis.”Matthew seems to be indicating that he’s going to tell the story of a new creation.The genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-17) mentions four women.The four women mentioned are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba (“Uriah’s wife”). Tamar posed as a prostitute to get her father-in-law, Judah, to sleep with her (Genesis 38:6-26).Rahab was a prostitute who helped the Israelite spies who were scoping out the Promised Land (Joshua 2:1-6).Ruth was a Moabite (Ruth 1-4). Moabites were the descendants of Lot’s incestuous relationships with his daughters.Bathsheba (“Uriah’s wife) committed adultery with King David (2 Samuel 11:1-27).All four of these women were foreigners. Tamar was a Canaanite.Rahab was a Jerichoite.Ruth was a Moabite.Bathsheba, by marriage to her husband, was a Hittite.Jesus brings a mercy that is both deep and wide. It is deep because it is for all who are sinners.It is wide because it is for all people, for all the nations.By including these four women in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-17), Matthew begins the story of his gospel by showing us that Jesus is not ashamed of sinners.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Matthew: A Commentary. Volume 1: The Christbook, Matthew 1-12. By Dale Bruner. This is a fantastic commentary that has been incredibly helpful to me over the years.Instructions 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 ofSend 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.

Chapter 1 of Canoeing the Mountains by Tod Bolsinger is titled, “Seminary Didn’t Prepare Me for This!”  That is a great opening chapter title because that’s exactly how thousands of pastors feel.When I was in seminary we learned how to study and exegete the scriptures. We learned to read Hebrew and Greek. We learned systematic theology. We learned how to provide pastoral care for church members.  What we didn’t learn was how to lead a church in a world in which Christianity is no longer at the center of culture.Tod Bolsinger’s book, Canoeing the Mountains, does an incredible job of helping church leaders understand what’s going on that makes church ministry so much more challenging than before, and how to begin to address those challenges.  In this episode, Tod Bolsinger unpacks the “canoeing the mountains” metaphor and shares the way he himself has struggled as Fuller Seminary (where he serves as Vice President) has learned to adapt to a changing world.THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Tod Bolsinger is the Vice President and Chief of Leadership Formation at Fuller Theological Seminary.Tod Bolsinger is the author of Canoeing the Mountains.The “canoeing the mountains” metaphor comes from Lewis and Clark. They were searching for the Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean. Instead, they found the Rocky Mountains.Churches today assume that everything ahead of us is just like what’s behind us. But we’re discovering that’s just not true. We find we are in a world that we haven’t been prepared for.In order to lead in these challenging times, pastors and ministry leaders need three things: Identity.  Leaders need to know that their identity is in Christ more than in anything else. Leaders need a strong sense of self that’s not rooted in the anxiety of the group they are leading, but is able to stay connected to the group.Humility.  Leaders need to recognize that we don’t know everything we need to know.Resilience.  The capacity to be persistent in the face of resistance. Resistance will come even internally within the organization.There are lots of entrepreneurial forms of ministry emerging, but the people leading those ministries are not interested in taking on debt and uprooting their lives in order to get a theological degree.To meet some of these challenges, Fuller has started something called Fuller Leadership Platform, which makes all the research and scholarship Fuller provides and making it available to people in a digital format whether they need a degree or not.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Tod Bolsinger Canoeing the Mountains by Tod BolsingerOther important books about leading in challenging times: Leadership on the Line by Ronald Heifetz and Marty LinskyA Failure of Nerve by Edwin FriedmanTo leave a review of Spiritual Life and Leadership: 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.

Abraham Kuyper was a man who tried to live his whole life by these teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. He took the teachings of Jesus seriously and tried to live this all-of-life discipleship as a theologian, as a journalist, as an education reformer, and even as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands (a position he held 1901-1905).In this interview, Brant Himes, who wrote For a Better Worldliness: Abraham Kuyper, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Discipleship for the Common Good, helps us understand who Abraham Kuyper is and how his life is an example of the kind of discipleship to which all of us are called.THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Brant Himes is the Assistant Professor of Humanities at Los Angeles Pacific University (a part of the Azusa Pacific University system) and Managing Editor of Resonance Journal (which you can learn more about in Episode 8 of Spiritual Life and Leadership).Brant recently published his book, For a Better Worldliness: Abraham Kuyper, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Discipleship for the Common Good.Key quote from Abraham Kuyper:“No single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence in which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”Abraham Kuyper lived from 1837-1920. He was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1901-1905.Kuyper started the Free University in Amsterdam. It was the first university that was free from state control and from church control.“Sphere sovereignty” refers to Kuyper’s position that every aspect of life has its own functions and purposes; its own sphere. Over every sphere of life, tying it all together, is the sovereignty of God.Abraham Kuyper partnered with Catholics on education reform. He believed that every family should be able to send their child to whatever kind of school they wanted to (state school or religious school), and cost should not get in the way of that. He succeeded in implementing state funding for all schools, regardless of their philosophy or ideology.Brant structures his theology of discipleship around four movements: 1) The revelation of God, 2) the reality and sovereignty of Jesus Christ, 3) belief and obedience, and 4) the possibility and potential of discipleship.We need to cultivate not only the inner spiritual disciplines in our lives, but also our theological convictions about how and why we are to engage in the world.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:For a Better Worldliness, by Brant HimesWebsite:  https://betterworldliness.org/Resonance JournalInterview with Micah Lunsford, Episode 8: Thoughtfulness MattersSend 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.

You are already blessed.In the Beatitudes, Jesus wasn’t giving us a list of rules to follow so that we could be blessed. Jesus was declaring whom the kingdom of heaven was for. He was announcing good news—that those that the world considers cursed are already blessed because the kingdom of heaven has come near.THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:The core of Jesus’ message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”Why repent? Because “the kingdom heaven has come near.”What kinds of people started following Jesus? The sick, diseased, paralyzed, lame, blind, and so forth. People who would have been considered cursed by God. People who certainly did not believe they were already blessed.Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with the word, “Blessed.” In Greek, this is the word makarios.Makarios refers to a kind of well-being that is almost beyond human possibility.The people to whom Jesus was speaking would never have been considered makarios. Yet, Jesus says they are.  Jesus says they are already blessed.“Poor in spirit” refers, not to a virtue to be pursued, but a spiritual poverty.The Beatitudes are an announcement of the kind of people who belong in the kingdom of heaven; the kind of people for whom the kingdom of heaven has come.The “rich in spirit” are blessed, too. But not because they are “rich in spirit.” They are blessed because the kingdom of heaven is for them, too.The Beatitudes are not a list of rules. They are a declaration of who the kingdom of heaven is for.The first four Beatitudes refer to qualities of which we would say, “They can’t be blessed.”The next three Beatitudes refer to the kinds of qualities that emerge in us as we live out the reality of the kingdom of heaven.As we live out the reality of the kingdom of heaven--the reality that we are already blessed--others will push back, even persecute us.Even when I feel like I’m not blessed, God sees something in me that I don’t see in myself.We take God’s kingdom with us into our homes, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our fields.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:The Divine Conspiracy, by Dallas WillardInstructions 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!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.

Several years ago, Pete Seiferth’s church was feeling a bit down about declining attendance, declining giving, and all kinds of other declining. So they prayed. They prayed that God would send people to them.And God answered their prayer. Except that the people God sent were not the people they were expecting. Rather than sending more middle-class white people, God sent African refugees and asylum seekers.In this episode of Spiritual Life and Leadership, Pete Seiferth tells the story of how God brought these new people to their church and how their church learned to be open to a whole new ministry—one that no one was expecting.THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Pete Seiferth is the Associate Pastor for Discipleship and Multicultural Ministry at Northminster Presbyterian Church in Tucson, AZ.Pete Seiferth describes the moment his church started getting involved in multicultural ministry. A Congolese man named Bienvenue asked if he and his congregation could use space in Pete’s church to worship.Pete’s church started Refugee & Immigrant Ministry (RIM). They learned the unique needs of refugees and asylum seekers.Asylum seekers come to the U.S. on various kinds of visas. While here, as things destabilized in their country, they applied for asylum in the United States. Asylum seekers are ineligible to work in the U.S. for the first six months. This puts them in a position of great need.Pete’s church, Northminster Presbyterian Church, rents an apartment that they use to shelter homeless or near homeless asylum seekers while they wait for their work permit. They are also trained and prepared for seeking work and living independently.Pete Seiferth shares that the church leadership prayed that God will send people to their church. And God did! However, the people God sent weren’t who they were expecting. But Pete’s church definitely believes that their new brothers and sisters were sent by God.Northminster Presbyterian Church in Tucson is a multicultural church, but they are still learning to be an intercultural church.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Northminster Presbyterian Church, Tucson, AZ Website:  http://npctucson.org/Multiethnic Church Resources Mosaix:  http://www.mosaix.info/Mosaix Books:  http://www.mosaix.info/Resources/books-publishedBooks by Mark DeYmaz, author, pastor, and champion of Multiethnic Church Movement Building a Healthy Multiethnic ChurchMultiethnic ConversationsLeading a Healthy Multiethnic ChurchRe:MixBooks by Soong-Chan RahThe Next EvangelicalismMany ColorsRefugee Highway Partnership, North America Website: https://www.rhpna.com/To leave a reviewSend 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.

Christiana Rice shares a powerful image.God is a woman giving birth and we are the midwife attending to God and to the new life that is coming into the world.  That’s the image we’ll be unpacking in this episode of Spiritual Life and Leadership.  It’s not an image that normally comes to mind when we think about God. But it certainly isn’t unbiblical. Listen to how God describes himself (herself?) in Isaiah 42:14:“For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant.”Christiana Rice unpacks this powerful and visceral image in this episode of Spiritual Life and Leadership.THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Christiana Rice wrote a book with Michael Frost called To Alter Your World.A key metaphor in Christiana Rice’s book portrays God as giving birth and the world as a midwife, joining with God to bring new life into the world.Scripture portrays God in Isaiah as a woman in labor, groaning and panting, to give birth the new Israel.Christiana asked, if God is the one giving birth, then who are we? We must be the attendants.“Midwife” means “with woman.” To be a midwife is more about being “with” than about controlling the outcome.The role of being with a woman in labor is incredibly intimate and vulnerable.A midwife must enter a birth with humility, recognizing that this birth with will be utterly unique. She must let go her expectations.As we attend to what God is birthing in the world, we, likewise, must be open to the new thing that is coming to life. We, too, must let go our expectations.The midwife knows that she is not the one giving birth. Likewise, we are not the ones giving birth; God is.Christiana Rice gives an example of how God birthed something new in her neighborhood schools. But it took time. And it required faithfully attending to the labor of God in her neighborhood.Christiana Rice shares about her ministry with Thresholds in San Diego. RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Christiana Rice Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/christiana.riceTwitter:  @ctianariceThresholds Website:  http://thresholdscommunity.org/To Alter Your World: Partnering with God to Rebirth Our Communities, by Michael Frost and Christiana RiceMichael Frost Twitter: @michaelfrost6Instructions 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."UndSend 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.

Kaye Schneider cares about spiritual transformation. So often, churches focus primarily on giving people information—theology, apologetics, Bible studies, etc.  Information is good, but information doesn’t necessarily lead to deep transformation. In this episode, Kaye Schneider shares about how the Twelve Steps have deepened her own discipleship and how she now uses the Twelve Step process to help others experience deep, spiritual inner life transformation. THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Kaye Schneider is a Marriage and Family Life Educator.If Kaye’s life were a book it would be titled From Grief to Gratitude.The title of the current chapter of Kaye’s life would be “In the Wilderness.”Kaye was “thrown” into the recovery process in the unfolding of a 5-year divorce after a 27-year “Christian” marriage that was filled with addiction.Kaye has started several recovery groups focused on discipleship in Pasadena, Chula Vista, and Coronado (San Diego).Kaye’s ministry, Vital Connections, is focused on helping people stay “vitally connected” to God and others through a Twelve Step process.The Twelve steps are action, not concepts or principles. Steps 1-3: Deal with one’s relationship with God.Steps 4-6: Deal with looking at one’s inner self.Steps 7-9: Focus on confession and making amends with others.Steps 10-12: Deal with strengthening what has been accomplished in the first nine steps.The Twelve Steps aren’t about giving people information (about God, about spirituality, about theology, etc.), but about transformation. Information is good, but information alone doesn’t lead to transformation.Addictive thinking is black or white, all or nothing. She lived this kind of thinking out in her marriage. She “submitted” to her husband in a way that was extremely unhealthy.It is frustrating to try to introduce this kind of deep spirituality into the church. Most churches just want information or programs.Churches generally don’t allow for transparency and honesty when it comes to our sin and brokenness.Kaye Schneider’s Vital Connections groups are open groups, meaning anyone can join at any time.Kaye Schneider's website is www.lydiacompany.com.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Kaye Schneider Vital Connections website: https://www.lydiacompany.com/E-mail: kaye@lydiacompany.comA Spiritual Kindergarten: Christian Perspectives on the Twelve Steps, by Dale Ryan National Association for Christian Recovery website:  https://www.nacr.org/Instructions 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."UndSend 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.