It’s a lot of fun to have friends and colleagues who are also writers and in this series we want to introduce some of them to you. In our conversation with Tod Bolsinger, author of Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory, he talks with us about how to lead when you don’t know what to do. He quotes a pastor who told him, “I think I can learn adaptive change but I’m not sure I can survive it.” In this episode, Dr. Bolsinger reminds us that we can grow our leadership resilience through reflection, relationships and a rule of life. Conversation Overview: • The challenges of 2020: 1918, 1929 and 1968 all at the same time • Managing your anxiety about leadership and enter into a learning process • Lead through loss • Learning from people on the margins • Growing resilience when you face a mountain of despair • Tempered steel as an example of being forged for resilience and effectiveness • Accepting that not everyone will come with us when we lead • Resilience comes when we are able to ground ourselves in something other than our own success as leaders • Leading in exile • Looking and Listening: Listening as attunement; Looking from the balcony Resources: For more from Tod Bolsinger, text UNCHARTED to 66866 and connect to his resources. Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory Leadership for a Time of Pandemic Thank you for listening. If you enjoy listening to The Leader’s Journey Podcast, the best way to support us is to take just a few seconds and leave a rating and/or comment over on iTunes or share it with your friends on Facebook … Thank you!

Today's world is far too complex to understand in terms of linear, either/or thinking. Emotionally intelligent leaders are able to hold tension in complex situations--to let go of binary thinking and experience the power of "AND."  Have you ever . . .  felt more than one feeling at the same time?  seen more than one perspective at once? held competing values without giving up either? felt the tension of seemingly contradictory ideas that are both true? If so, you have experienced the power of “AND.” The ability to hold tension helps us to lead at higher levels, avoid thinking errors, solve intractable problems, have better relationships and improve our emotional health. Learn to harness the power of "AND." Conversation Overview: Emotionally intelligent leaders are able to hold tension in complex situations and experience the power of “And.” We hold tension when we hold on to multiple perspectives at the same time. Examples of the power of holding tension, the power of “And,” when new and creative solutions emerge Real life practice for holding tension as a skill Managing cognitive dissonance Resources: Richard Rohr: The Naked Now 

The journey toward anti-racism and racial justice leads us through deep reflection on our own theological pilgrimage. We look at how our view of missiology, ecclesiology and Christology has changed over the years and how it has informed and transformed our views on racial equality in the culture and in the Church. Simple but complex leadership principle: Effective leaders hold deep convictions and they regularly invite those convictions to be challenged by others who see the world differently. Conversation overview: The close relationship between Christianity and colonization contaminated our missiology and our views on race We considered that the center of God’s activity in the world is not getting me to heaven. We began to see the Kingdom of God as the center of God’s activity rather than the programs of a local church We wondered what it means when discipleship doesn’t lead to changing views on race or to good news for people who have been traumatized. Paradigm shifts are painful. In the midst of the pain, God gives birth to something new. For new patterns of anti-racism to emerge, some things will have to die. Repentance means giving up our need to be “good white people” and cleaning up our messes. Resources: The Gospel in A Pluralistic Society by Leslie Newbigin The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard UnChristian: What A New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity and Why It Matters  by David Kinnamon and Gabe Lyons Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurmon Jesus of the East: Reclaiming the Gospel for the Wounded by Phuc Luu Thank you for listening. If you enjoy listening to The Leader’s Journey Podcast, the best way to support us is to take just a few seconds and leave a rating and/or comment over on iTunes or share it with your friends on Facebook … Thank you!

Trisha's friend said to her, "None of this gets better unless white people start talking to white people."    This is that conversation.    Jim and Trisha talk about how they were influenced to think about race, about how they have changed their perspective through the helpful feedback of others, and about how they are learning to live anti-racist lives in the present.    Resources:  The podcast with Jen Hatmaker and Lisa Sharon Harper I'm Still Here by Austin Channing Brown. Here is a video that describes the history of racial inequality that persists into the present day

The pain related to racial injustice in the US found its voice in recent weeks and we have all been challenged to listen and learn from the experience of our Black friends and neighbors. As leaders, our challenge is to see the air we breathe and the water we swim in, then respond with empathy and action while inviting others to do the same.   Our friend Pastor Johnny Gentry sat down to talk with us about his experience and blessed us with his vulnerability and courage. Pastor Johnny is lead pastor, apostle and visionary at Free Indeed Church International in Northeast Houston and he is the CEO and founder of Community Works CDC. He leads side-by-side with his wife Jenice Gentry. They have four children.   We hope you'll listen in. Resources: Visit https://www.communityworkscdc.org/ to learn more about Pastor Johnny's nonprofit, Community Works CDC, a faith-based community outreach ministry committed to At-Risk Youth, Ex-offender Re-entry and Economic Redevelopment in Northeast Houston. More information about Pastor Johnny's church can be found at http://freeindeedchurch.org ---- Thank you for listening. If you enjoy listening to The Leader’s Journey Podcast, the best way to support us is to take just a few seconds and leave a rating and/or comment over on iTunes or share it with your friends on Facebook … Thank you!

The pandemic is not just about working from home and watching Netflix. It's not even just about the heightened levels of stress that almost everyone is feeling. For many, the pandemic has brought varying levels of grief and trauma, and leaders are not immune.    Grief and trauma require different kinds of leadership and different kinds of self-care. Offering realistic hope looks different when people are grieving or traumatized. Minimizing the effects of grief and trauma makes things worse, not better.    In this episode, Sherri Meyer-Veen and Greg Town join us to explore the ways that many are experiencing traumatic losses even if they have not been infected with Covid-19 or faced the loss of loved ones from the disease.    References: All Our Losses, All Our Griefs Leading Beyond the Blizzard Trauma for leaders podcast series: An Introduction to Trauma for Leaders Part 1 An Introduction to Trauma for Leaders Part 2 An Introduction to Trauma for Leaders Part 3

In this episode, John Sparks talks about a way of thinking about discipleship that is elegantly simple and comprehensive enough to align us with the example and teachings of Jesus for the abundant life. He also shares about the importance of highly effective teams in reaching our goals in our congregations and organizations. This is the sixth and last episode in our series on our book Learning Change: Congregational Transformation Fueled by Personal Renewal. That book came out of our work with what was then known as Ridder Church Renewal and is now known as Churches Learning Change. A group of leaders in that first group came to be dear friends and also contributors to this book, describing their experience with learning to lead in new ways. John Sparks is the Pastor of Adult Ministry at Centerpoint Church in Kalamazoo, MI. His passion is spiritual formation and discipleship along the lines of the teaching of Dallas Willard and others. John and his wife Sarita have 3 grown children. Conversation Overview What is a disciple?  What is the connection between discipleship and transformation?  Mental model of transformation  What role do spiritual practices play in transformation? Community of grace and truth  When do we need to put a team around something?  How do committees from thee teams we’re talking about? Register for our upcoming webinar! Thank you for listening. If you enjoy listening to The Leader’s Journey Podcast, the best way to support us is to take just a few seconds and leave a rating and/or comment over on iTunes or share it with your friends on Facebook … Thank you!

As we continue to think about moving from crisis management to leadership, we explore how leaders are confronting “the new normal, the now normal, and the next normal.” In our conversation with Nate Pyle, we think about how leaders can help their organizations hold on to their core identities while also making bold adaptations to a changing reality. As the pandemic continues to unfold, the only constant is change, and leaders are having to make new decisions and prepare for their organizations for what is next. Conversation Overview The need for routine Differentiation from government and societal forces The push-pull of keeping the operational work going while also leaning into the adaptive demands of the crisis Holding on to core identity while also adapting and experimenting Before coronavirus, our context was changing but the pandemic has disrupted us enough to make deep change possible What gets us through coronavirus is what will help us get through what is after coronavirus Communicate widely and stay connected Prepare for the impact of long-standing emotional wounds after the crisis ends About Nate Pyle:  Nate is an author, blogger and ordained pastor in the Reformed Church of America. In addition to contributing to Learning Change, Nate has written two books: Man Enough: How Jesus Redefines Manhood, and More Than You Can Handle: When Life’s Overwhelming Pain Meets God’s Overcoming Grace, Currently, Nate serves as the pastor of  Christ’s Community Church in Fishers, Indiana where he lives with his wife and three children. He tweets at @natepyle79.  Source: Toni Kennedy Register for our upcoming webinar! Recommended Episodes:  The Big Picture: Pandemic, Anxiety, and Society From Crisis Management to Leadership in a New Normal After the Adrenaline: Self-care in a Time of Crisis Leading in Uncertain Times (COVID-19) The Overfunctioning Trap: Learning to be responsible FOR me and TO you Getting From Here to There: The Power of Creative Tension Courage and Love with Jessica Shults and Brian Stone Naked and Unashamed with Chip Sauer Personal and Congregational Transformation with Drew Poppleton Thank you for listening. If you enjoy listening to The Leader’s Journey Podcast, the best way to support us is to take just a few seconds and leave a rating and/or comment over on iTunes or share it with your friends on Facebook … Thank you!

We've been focused on leadership in our own little part of the world but when we watch the news or see what people post on social media, we find ourselves wondering, “What is going on in the big picture?”  Maybe a better question is, “What happens to us collectively, as a society, when we go through a time like this?” What happens when we get to the 30,000-foot view? Systems thinking can help us with this. In this episode, we laugh a lot as we talk about one of the lesser-known principles of systems theory—societal regression—as we look at the ways that our collective anxiety shows up in some patterned and predictable ways—conflict, distance, polarization, and blame. We also talk about how to be the kind of leader that our society needs right now. Conversation Overview Bowen’s 8th concept of emotional process in society Symptoms we can see The vicious cycle Looking at ourselves—how we contribute to the reactivity and how we can respond differently Resources: For a  short and accessible explanation of societal emotional process theory, we recommend chapter 8 of The 8 Concepts of Bowen Theory by Roberta Gilbert.  For a deeper dive and for the information Mike referenced, you can go to: Family Therapy in Clinical Practice by Murray Bowen (p. 279) and Family Evaluation by Michael Kerr and Murray Bowen (pp. 342-343).  About Michael De Ruyter Michael has been a Pastor for over 20 years. He attended Calvin College and Calvin Seminary (Grand Rapids, MI) and Fuller Seminary (Pasadena, CA). He is passionate about how people grow and change and how churches can walk along with someone on the journey towards a flourishing and whole life. Thank you for listening. If you enjoy listening to The Leader’s Journey Podcast, the best way to support us is to take just a few seconds and leave a rating and/or comment over on iTunes or share it with your friends on Facebook … Thank you!

Virtually all of us agree that we’re in a crisis and none of us know how long it will last. How do we prepare ourselves and our organizations for whatever is going to be normal? Leaders are beginning to make a shift from crisis management to long-term leadership toward an uncertain future. In this episode, we explore what it looks like for leaders to resist the temptation to accelerate a return to normal and instead to evaluate our mental models, imagine new possibilities and recapture our sense of mission. Conversation Overview:  Self-leadership What to do when you don't know how long a season will last Scenario planning The importance of thoughtful leadership Here are some additional resources regarding leading in these times of uncertainty and anxiety Leading in Uncertain Times (COVID-19) Systems Thinking in Anxious Times 20 Questions to Help with COVID-19 Anxiety Practices of Calm Presence Managing Stress by Managing Yourself Thank you for listening. If you enjoy listening to The Leader’s Journey Podcast, the best way to support us is to take just a few seconds and leave a rating and/or comment over on iTunes or share it with your friends on Facebook … Thank you!