Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership with Ruth Haley Barton

We continue to celebrate the launch of Ruth’s newest book, Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest From Sabbath to Sabbatical and Back Again. This week, Ruth sits down with pastor and poet Drew Jackson to discuss the idea of sabbath as resistance. Ruth and Drew discuss how the practice of sabbath itself can be a critique of a culture that does not value human beings, and the ways sabbath has helped them to in turn resist that culture. And, of course, because of their shared love of poetry, both Ruth and Drew share poems that bring language to the beautiful gift that is sabbath.    Drew E. Jackson is a poet and pastor. He is the author of God Speaks Through Wombs: Poems on God’s Unexpected Coming and the forthcoming collection Touch the Earth: Poems on The Way. His work has appeared in Oneing, Made for Pax, The Journal from the Centre for Public Christianity, Fathom Magazine, and other publications.   Mentioned in this episode:  God Speaks Through Wombs: Poems on God’s Unexpected Coming by Drew Jackson Touch the Earth: Poems on The Way by Drew Jackson A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems 1979-1997 by Wendell Berry This Day: Collected and New Sabbath Poems by Wendell Berry A Small Porch: Sabbath Poems 2014 and 2015 by Wendell Berry   Purchase Ruth’s new book! Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest comes out on October 11, 2022. You can preorder now, wherever you buy books (Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org). If you buy it directly from our publisher, Intervarsity Press, you can get it before October 11th! If you pre-order the book be sure to sign up to attend our Release Day Virtual Celebration!   This season of our podcast is sponsored by GoodKind. GoodKind is all about helping people cultivate the GoodKind of habits and holiday practices that allow them to engage with God and one another throughout the year. They have a great tool for Advent, a Sabbath Box to help you practice unplugging, and more. To learn more about them and the products they make, you can find them at goodkind.shop    Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Grace and Peace from Transforming Center Resource Music in Solitude   Support the podcast! This season, patrons will receive an overflow of bonus content from the episodes, including exclusive conversations between Ruth and guests, clips that we couldn’t fit into the final cuts, and more! Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

We’re back! This season we are celebrating the launch of Ruth’s newest book, Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest From Sabbath to Sabbatical and Back Again. Ruth has invited a number of friends to come on the show to discuss the themes found in her book. These episodes are for pastors and leaders who are tired and longing for new rhythms of rest and work.   This week, Ruth has invited her friend, Pastor Rick McCall. Ruth and Rick discuss why creating a regular Sabbath practice can be so difficult; why Ruth is unabashedly addressing church leaders in her book; how Sabbath can be transformational, and more.    Purchase Ruth’s new book! Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest comes out on October 11, 2022. You can preorder now, wherever you buy books (Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org). If you buy it directly from our publisher, Intervarsity Press, you can get it before October 11th!   This season of our podcast is sponsored by GoodKind. GoodKind is all about helping people cultivate the GoodKind of habits and holiday practices that allow them to engage with God and one another throughout the year. They have a great tool for Advent, a Sabbath Box to help you practice unplugging, and more. To learn more about them and the products they make, you can find them at goodkind.shop    Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Chasing Butterflies from Transforming Center Resource Music in Solitude   Support the podcast! This season, patrons will receive an overflow of bonus content from the episodes, including exclusive conversations between Ruth and guests, clips that we couldn’t fit into the final cuts, and more! Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

We can't wait for you to hear this encouraging conversation between Ruth and Glenn Packiam, a pastor and author of The Resilient Pastor: Leading Your Church in a Rapidly Changing World. Glenn and Ruth shared their thoughts on why it's so hard for pastors to prioritize their life with God, performing our spirituality vs. cultivating a spiritual life, challenges facing pastors and the church, and what we’re learning about pastors' spirituality. We hope this conversation encourages you today.  Check out The Resilient Pastor and Glenn's podcast, "The Resilient Pastor Podcast."   You can preorder Ruth's next book, Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest: From Sabbath to Sabbatical and Back Again! Want to be a part of the book launch? Learn more.   Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Innocence from Music in Solitude   Support the podcast!  Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

Over on Patreon, we concluded season 16 with our fifth installment of our Ask Ruth series. This episode included questions specific to this past season on Transforming Leadership: Managing Anxiety Within Our Communities with Steve Cuss. Patrons submitted questions that arose from their listening of the podcast, and Ruth provided her trademark thoughtfulness, wit and wisdom in answering them. Today, we wanted to share an excerpt from this episode with all of our podcast listeners. The Ask Ruth series is available to patrons at both the $5 and $10 monthly levels. Patrons at the $10/month level also receive regular Beyond the Episode content when the podcast is in season. These episodes include conversations that go further or deeper than what was on the main feed episode or guided spiritual practices. We'd love for you to join us over on Patreon! You can sign up to become a patron and support our podcast ministry over on our Patreon page.

We are ending this season just as we started it: with Ruth going solo behind the mic. This time, she recaps Bowen’s 8 concepts, with particular emphasis on differentiation, encouraging us to reflect on what is ours to do in this work. Then, she shares about Bowen’s undeveloped 9th concept about spirituality, including some of her own ideas about the topic. What are the spiritual resources that will help us in this work of recognizing our anxiety and bringing a calm presence to our leadership? We close with a poem from our beloved Ted Loder.   Mentioned in this Episode: Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle by Ted Loder   Steve Cuss Resources: Steve’s website Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss   General Resources for Systems Theory: Season 9 Episode 6 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Season 9 Episode 7 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Family Systems and Congregational Life: A Map for Ministry by R. Robert Creech Lombard Mennonite Peace Center Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue by Edwin H. Friedman Extraordinary Relationships: A new Way of Thinking about Human Interactions by Roberta M Gilbert Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Anthem (from Music in Solitude) Chasing Butterflies (from Music in Solitude) Support the podcast! This season, patrons will receive exclusive bonus content that includes conversations with Ruth and Steve that delve into episode topics a little deeper. Our next Patreon episode will be a special Ask Ruth episode all about this season of the podcast. Submit your questions to podcast@transformingcenter.org. Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!   The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

We’re nearing the end of our season on Systems Theory and leadership anxiety! In this last episode with Ruth and Steve together, the two give really practical help with concrete tools that can help diffuse anxiety. These tools range from personal to relational, and they are rooted in deep care for the soul of the leader. Finally Ruth and Steve discuss how Systems Theory informs and aids transformational leadership. Next week, Ruth will wrap up the season with one final solo episode of closing thoughts and wisdom on this important topic. Steve Cuss Resources: Steve’s website Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss   General Resources for Systems Theory: Season 9 Episode 6 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Season 9 Episode 7 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Family Systems and Congregational Life: A Map for Ministry by R. Robert Creech Lombard Mennonite Peace Center Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue by Edwin H. Friedman Extraordinary Relationships: A new Way of Thinking about Human Interactions by Roberta M Gilbert Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist   Support the podcast! This season, patrons will receive exclusive bonus content that includes conversations with Ruth and Steve that delve into episode topics a little deeper. This week Steve takes control of the mic and asks Ruth and last week’s guest, Tina Harris, what systems theory looks like within the culture of the Transforming Center. Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

This week we invited two additional guests to tackle this tender and challenging topic. Ruth and Steve are joined by Pastor Tina Harris, a former pastor and lawyer and currently Transforming Center’s Cultivator of Community and Connection, and Pastor Marvin Williams, the pastor of Trinity Church in Lansing, MI, and a doctoral candidate doing his work in Systems Theory in Non- Majority spaces. These four pastors and teachers sit down to discuss whether Systems Theory is just a white person thing. They touch on code switching as it pertains to differentiation and the difference between chronic anxiety and real trauma, particularly generational racial trauma. They wonder what happens when majority culture is spreading an anxiety that non-majority culture has to carry, and how can System Theory help us to manage our anxiety and do better in the conversations around race that we so desperately need to have right now? This conversation is honest, challenging, and ultimately, hopeful. Mentioned in this episode: A Failure of Nerve by Edwin Friedman Steve Cuss Resources: Steve’s website Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss   General Resources for Systems Theory: Season 9 Episode 6 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Season 9 Episode 7 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Family Systems and Congregational Life: A Map for Ministry by R. Robert Creech Lombard Mennonite Peace Center Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue by Edwin H. Friedman Extraordinary Relationships: A new Way of Thinking about Human Interactions by Roberta M Gilbert Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist   Support the podcast! This season, patrons will receive exclusive bonus content that includes conversations with Ruth and Steve that delve into episode topics a little deeper. This week Ruth and Tina will continue the conversation with thoughts about Systems Theory across gender and race. Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

Sometimes our greatest anxieties can surround areas of stuckness, places where we know what we are doing isn’t working, but we can’t seem to find our way out. This week, Ruth and Steve will discuss second order change and how we can recognize and dissolve our stuck patterns. How does paying attention to process over content help us with this? And how can changing our own behaviors actually change the behaviors of others? Find out all this and more in this episode.   Helpful to this episode: Everything Isn’t Terrible by Dr. Kathleen Smith   Steve Cuss Resources: Steve’s website Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss   General Resources for Systems Theory: Season 9 Episode 6 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Season 9 Episode 7 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Family Systems and Congregational Life: A Map for Ministry by R. Robert Creech Lombard Mennonite Peace Center Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue by Edwin H. Friedman Extraordinary Relationships: A new Way of Thinking about Human Interactions by Roberta M Gilbert Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist   Support the podcast! This season, patrons will receive exclusive bonus content that includes conversations with Ruth and Steve that delve into episode topics a little deeper. This week we will offer a conversation about universal sources of anxiety. Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

This week, Ruth and Steve are talking about differentiation. What is differentiation and how does it differ from individualism? Steve shares his framework of the Four Spaces and explains how paying attention to these spaces can help us differentiate and understand what is happening in a group. As we wrapped up, Steve shared a few practices that can help us with differentiation.   Mentioned in this episode: CODA (Apple +)   Steve Cuss Resources: Steve’s website Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss Calm, Aware, Present Journal kickstarter campaign   General Resources for Systems Theory: Season 9 Episode 6 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Season 9 Episode 7 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Family Systems and Congregational Life: A Map for Ministry by R. Robert Creech Lombard Mennonite Peace Center Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue by Edwin H. Friedman Extraordinary Relationships: A new Way of Thinking about Human Interactions by Roberta M Gilbert Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist   Support the podcast! This season, patrons will receive exclusive bonus content that includes conversations with Ruth and Steve that delve into episode topics a little deeper. This week we will offer a conversation about universal sources of anxiety. Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

Ruth and guest Steve Cuss continue to explore Systems Theory. This week they look at leadership, anxiety, and the false self. What are some examples of false selves and false beliefs and how do they relate to anxiety? What is the calm presence? Ruth and Steve’s conversation covers all this and more, including an invitation to participate in the practice of the Welcoming Prayer. Steve Cuss Resources: Steve’s website Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss Calm, Aware, Present Journal kickstarter campaign   General Resources for Systems Theory: Season 9 Episode 6 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Season 9 Episode 7 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Family Systems and Congregational Life: A Map for Ministry by R. Robert Creech Lombard Mennonite Peace Center Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue by Edwin H. Friedman Extraordinary Relationships: A new Way of Thinking about Human Interactions by Roberta M Gilbert Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist   Support the podcast! This season, patrons will receive exclusive bonus content that includes conversations with Ruth and Steve that delve into episode topics a little deeper. This week we will offer some thoughts on the Welcoming Prayer. Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!