Becoming: A My Spring Harvest Podcast

By My Spring Harvest

When leadership goes wrong we hear about it in the headlines, and it rightly stimulates important conversations. But do we talk enough about the changes we need to make and what it looks like to le

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FAQs about Becoming: A My Spring Harvest Podcast:

How many episodes does Becoming: A My Spring Harvest Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 12 episodes available.

Becoming: A My Spring Harvest Podcast episodes:

May 20, 2025 Hope and Leadership with Kate Middleton and Justin Humphreys
At the end of this series of conversations about psychologically healthy leadership, Abby Guinness turns the tables on Kate and Justin to ask them to reflect on their journey through the season. What are the key takeaways from these conversations they have been most influenced by? What issues feel important to them in this moment? And how do they - and we - find hope in our leadership through difficult times.
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1h
May 13, 2025 Compassion and Leadership with Joanna Collicutt
Is ministry really more complex than other leadership roles? Is it helpful for us to view ourselves as leaders, and in the midst of all the other complexity we experience, how can we understand our role in a healthy way? Joanna Collicutt is a psychologist and priest in the Church of England. As we consider challenges like trauma, identity and anxiety she explains why self-compassion and finding joy even in the tough phases of ministry might be the most important skills we cultivate.
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1h 23min
May 06, 2025 Trust and Leadership with Chuck DeGroat
Trust is an essential part of any human relationship. But how do we rebuild trust and heal the hurt when trust has been broken? What does that look like for individuals - and what about the whole church, in a season when many people have lost trust in that wider institution or a particular tradition? How do we balance the need for justice and the mission with needing time to heal and process? Chuck DeGroat has a particular interest in supporting people and churches in the aftermath of abuse or when damage has been done. Join us as we think about trust, vulnerability and what it looks like to start again.
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1h 29min
April 29, 2025 Theology and Leadership with Selina Stone
What does it look like to attend well to issues of power when we articulate theology and the Bible? How might our own experiences, biases and even tradition or culture influence the way we teach, maximising some voices but minimising others? Join us as we talk with Dr Selina Stone, a theologian from the University of Edinburgh, and press into what we need to understand about theology, power and the impact it can have on those who are most vulnerable.
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1h 28min
April 22, 2025 Innovation and Leadership with Chris Curtis
We all come to leadership with expectations of what it might need to look like. But what do you do when the surrounding culture requires a change of direction? What does innovative leadership look like - and when we face challenging situations, how do we tease apart the good from the bad or even the ugly? Chris Curtis has a leadership track
record over decades, first pioneering what became Youthscape - a national youth work organisation based in Luton but with a national reach and influence - but also in youth work in the local church. Join us as he shares lessons he has learned from the unexpected moments - including the pandemic - and why the team around you is so important.
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1h 15min
April 01, 2025 Courage and Leadership with Olivia Amartey
Olivia Omartey is often introduced as a trailblazer leader. She’s the first black female executive director of the ELIM pentecostal denomination and also leads as a pastor in a church in Birmingham. And she brings a wealth of experience from her background leading in the NHS, as well as in the Anglican church and the voluntary sector. She’s heavily involved in encouraging other leaders too, with a particular passion for those who, like her, describe themselves as ‘reluctant leaders.’

She’s a great example of courage in leadership - but what does it look like to follow a call you’re not sure about? And how does courage and confidence in our leadership balance with the need for humility - in our understanding of what ‘success’ is, and in the moments when things haven’t gone according to plan. Join us as we explore what it looks like to hold failure well, why we shouldn’t believe our own publicity and what authentic leadership looks like when we don’t look like the leader people expect or perhaps think they need.

Olivia has written ‘The gift of Christ responding and living fruitfully: An ecumenical course in 5 sessions” (York courses)
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1h 18min
March 25, 2025 Security and Leadership with Steve Cuss
One powerful predictor of less healthy patterns and culture in leadership is when a leader is driven by or susceptible to anxiety. But what is the difference between acute and chronic anxiety, and might more of us be influenced by anxiety than we realise. Why is anxiety such a powerful influence in a team or culture, and what do we do if one person has become dominant in setting the emotional temperature of a space?

Steve Cuss brings decades of experience pastoring across different contexts and church traditions, and a compassionate insight into the dynamics of healthy relationships and healthy leadership. Join us as we explore how we might recognise and manage our own anxiety, how to deal with tricky people dynamics and why spending some time at ‘home’ might be the most important thing you do as a leader.

Steve’s books are “Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs” (pub Thomas Nelson) and “The Expectation Gap: The tiny, vast space between our beliefs and experience of God.” (Zondervan) He also refers to “The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive: A leadership Fable.” by Patrick Lencioni
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1h 19min
March 18, 2025 Power and Leadership with Lisa Oakley
One response to leadership failures is to conclude that leadership and power are just in essence unhealthy. However, we’re not called to throw out leadership or deny that we have power and authority, but to recognise, understand, and hold that power in healthier ways. Lisa combines both personal experience and professional wisdom as a psychologist and academic researching the impact of spiritual abuse and the misuse of power in spiritual contexts. She shares her learnings from the countless stories she has heard from those who have been impacted as we think about what healthy (and Biblical) power looks like, and how understanding this can help us reclaim healthy leadership and enable flourishing churches.

Lisa and Justin’s book is “Escaping the maze of spiritual abuse: Creating Healthy Christian Cultures.” (SPCK)
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1h 21min
March 11, 2025 Motivation and Leadership with Eun Strawser
One key job as a leader is to motivate people - yourself and others - vision casting, inspiring and (realistically!) getting volunteers in position so the necessary jobs get done!. Particularly in challenging times, where might we be at risk of using negative motivators (eg guilt, anxiety, people pleasing etc) and why is this a problem? What do you do if you start something, honestly, with an expectation you may well fail?! And how do we bring a positive energy to our leadership to build the right kind of passion and enthusiasm? Eun Strawser has two decades of experience of leadership and discipleship across a variety of contexts, and is currently co-vocational lead pastor of Ma Ke Alo o (which means "Presence" in Hawaiian), non-denominational missional communities multiplying in Honolulu, Hawaii. Join us as she brings her thoughtful challenge to ministry - particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic, and hear her thoughts on what needs to change and why. Eun’s book is “Centering Discipleship: A pathway for Multiplying Spectators into Mature Disciples.” (IVP)
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1h 17min
March 04, 2025 Culture and Leadership with Scott McKnight and Laura Barringer
We know culture is important. But building the right culture is not always easy. What does it look like to build really healthy culture, and to challenge dynamics or aspects of the culture that need to change? And how do the people IN the church bring influence to its culture? Scot McKnight and his daughter Laura are passionate about building healthy church cultures and together wrote two books on this subject: “A Church called Tov” and “Pivot: The priorities, practices and powers that can transform your church into a Tov Culture.” In this conversation we talk about what healthy ‘Tov’ culture looks like, how you know when a culture needs to change, and what it looks like in practice to bring something better. Their books are: “A Church Called Tov” and “Pivot” both from Tyndale publishers. The book Scott references near the end is “Being Real: The apostle Paul’s Hardship Narratives and the Stories we Tell Today.” by Philip Plyming.
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1h 19min

FAQs about Becoming: A My Spring Harvest Podcast:

How many episodes does Becoming: A My Spring Harvest Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 12 episodes available.