Jake and Bob welcome a very special guest onto the podcast from Portland, OR: Archbishop Alexander Sample. Appointed a Bishop at the young age of 45, Archbishop Sample has served over 15 years in the episcopate and has recently embarked on a journey of healing that has totally transformed his approach to spiritual fatherhood of priests. Together with Jake and Bob, Archbishop Sample shares some key childhood wounds and healing in parts of his story, demonstrating how healing helps unite us to Christ and those we lead.

 

Guiding Quote: It’s not the critic who counts… The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. - Theodore Roosevelt

 

Key points:

• How the Archbishop began his healing journey about two years ago
• The Archbishop shares vulnerably about father wounds and bullying he experienced as a young boy
• Jake affirms strength in vulnerability and the safety it creates
• How brokenness has affected Archbishop Sample and his leadership, particularly in his relationship as a spiritual father to his priests
• How healing has impacted the Archbishop’s spiritual fatherhood and relationship with the priests in his Archdiocese
• The importance of having people in your life who are instruments of healing
• How a leader’s healing and transparency can lead to healing in the people he leads 

 

Practical Application:

1. Ask yourself, “Am I willing to do what I ask of others?”
2. What are some parts of your story that you aren’t ready to tell yet? Might you need more healing in these areas? 
3. Write an encouraging letter to a priest or bishop in your diocese. We often only reach out to them when we have a bone to pick! 

 

Resources: 

• Archbishop Sample’s bio with the Archdiocese of Portland, OR
• Archbishop Sample’s Twitter: @ArchbishpSample
• Forty Weeks to Healing and Transformation for Priests (book)
• Be Healed (book)
• Man in the Arena quote from Theodore Roosevelt

 

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