Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership with Ruth Haley Barton

By Ruth Haley Barton

Religion & Spirituality Christianity

What's Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership with Ruth Haley Barton about?

A lively dialogue with Ruth Haley Barton about forging and maintaining a life-giving connection with God in the midst of leading. Learn more at www.transformingcenter.org.

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Special Mini-Episode: A Sta...

05.16.2023

Hello! We’re popping in the podcast feed with a little “State of the Podcast” announcement (don’t worry! It’s not ending!). Ruth gives a peak behind the curtain as to what is happening over at the Transforming Center this year and ...

Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership with Ruth Haley Barton episodes:

05.16.2023 Special Mini-Episode: A State of the Podcast Announcement Hello! We’re popping in the podcast feed with a little “State of the Podcast” announcement (don’t worry! It’s not ending!). Ruth gives a peak behind the curtain as to what is happening over at the Transforming Center this year and ...
04.10.2023 Season 19: Easter Monday \| Transforming Post-Resurrection Encounters with Jesus He is Risen, indeed! Happy Easter Monday, friends. Today, Ruth helps us celebrate the Risen Christ with five stories of post-resurrection encounters with Jesus. In each story she helps us consider our own invitations to transforming encounters with Jesus that ...
04.03.2023 Season 19: Lent Week 6 \| Lament: Saying No to Triumphalism As we head into Holy Week Ruth is joined by Rev. Dr. Soong-Chan Rah to discuss the importance of Lament as a part of justice work. What is lament and why is it important? How does it help us to ...
03.27.2023 Season 19: Lent Week 5 \| Communal Suffering: Can These Bones Live? Our dream team from episode one returns this week to discuss communal suffering and the Paschal Mystery. Ruth is joined again by David Bailey and Tina Harris to explore these topics. How do oppressed people experience the Paschal Mystery? What ...
03.20.2023 Season 19: Lent Week 4 \| Opposing Violent Injustice: Bringing Light to the Darkest Places Ruth is joined by Gary Haugen on today’s episode. Gary Haugen has spent most of his career fighting injustice at the systemic level as a lawyer and founder of International Justice Mission. Ruth and Gary discuss the moment Gary realized ...
03.13.2023 Season 19: Lent Week 3 \| The Work of Justice: Healing our Broken Ways This week, Ruth and Tina are joined by Sheila Wise Rowe to discuss racial trauma and collective healing. What exactly is racial trauma and what is the long term impact of this trauma on people of color? How can the ...
03.06.2023 Season 19: Lent Week 2 \| Colonialism and Christianity: Bible Translation as a Work of Justice In week two, Ruth and Transforming Center team member Tina Harris sit down with Terry Wildman, translator of the First Nations Version of the New Testament. The three discuss the tragic impact colonialism has had on indigenous people, the part ...
03.03.2023 Season 19: Lent Week 2 \| Colonialism and Christianity: Bible Translation as a Work of Justice In week two, Ruth and Transforming Center team member Tina Harris sit down with Terry Wildman, translator of the First Nations Version of the New Testament. The three discuss the tragic impact colonialism has had on indigenous people, the part ...
02.27.2023 Season 19: Lent Week 1\| Confession: What We Have Done and What We Have Left Undone In week one, Ruth brings back Transforming Center team member Tina Harris, and guest Dominique DuBois Gilliard to look at the theme of confession. The three discuss the relational nature of justice, how our silence, inaction, and indifference to injustice ...
02.20.2023 Season 19: Lent Ash Wednesday \| Invitation to a Just Lent: Learning to Love What God Loves This season we are focusing on justice as an aspect of spiritual formation and we believe Lent to be the perfect season to explore this connection. Using A Just Passion: A Six-Week Lenten Journey, and the lectionary, we will look ...
02.07.2023 Season 18: Episode 5 \| What about the Congregation? How Everyone Benefits from a Pastor’s Sabbatical We are wrapping up our sabbatical season by turning our attention to the congregation; how does a congregation benefit from a pastor’s sabbatical. Ruth sits down with her brother, Pastor Jonathan Haley, to discuss the thoughtful and intentional ways he ...
01.31.2023 Season 18: Episode 4 \| Are You Willing to Quit Your Job: Sabbatical for the Rest of Us Are sabbaticals just for pastors? This week, Ruth sits down with guest Andy Crouch to talk about sabbatical from an everyman perspective. Andy has taken full responsibility for his own rhythm of regular sabbaticals by saving up and risking the ...
01.24.2023 Season 18: Episode 3 \| Boundaries: Protecting What is Precious Inevitably, every sabbatical will meet a challenge, a place where the outside world creeps in and threatens to call you back to the work you’ve committed to set aside. When that happens, what is a leader to do? Ruth sits ...
01.17.2023 Season 18: Episode 2 \| More Than a Vacation: Planning for a Meaningful Sabbatical We have two extra special guests this week! First, Ruth sits down with Christine Lee, Priest-in-Charge of St. Peter’s Chelsea in New York City. She and Ruth discuss how Christine discerned what was most important for her sabbatical and how ...
01.10.2023 Season 18: Episode 1 \| When Sabbath Isn’t Enough: Embracing the Gift of Sabbatical Happy New Year! We are ringing in the new year by talking about sabbatical! Friend of the Transforming Center Rick McCall is back with us, and he and Ruth are sharing their experiences with sabbaticals, what ways Ruth sees it ...
11.22.2022 Bonus: Advent 2022 Year A We find ourselves again beginning a new Christian year with Advent. This year the lectionary finds us in Cycle A. In this episode Ruth helps us prepare for advent with an invitation to use this season as actual space to ...
11.08.2022 Season 17: Episode 11 \| Sabbath Journey: Do Something Before You Do Everything We’re wrapping up our sabbath season with a solo episode. Ruth is on the mic to help us discern the something we can do to start our sabbath journey. What are your invitations and resistances? What are the obstacles you ...
11.01.2022 Season 17: Episode 10 \| Fruit and Frustration: Creating a Culture Where Everyone Can Rest As we’ve camped out around this idea of a “sabbath community” the last few weeks, we’ve explored the possibility and very real struggles of what that kind of commitment to sabbath looks like for pastors. This week we’re speaking with ...
10.25.2022 Season 17: Episode 9 \| Getting Honest About the Challenges of Sabbath Community Today’s conversation is an honest and vulnerable one about the challenges of leading communities in the ways of the sabbath. Ruth sits down with Christine Lee who leads a busy church in New York City. Christine shares her own journey ...
10.18.2022 Season 17: Episode 8 \| Sabbath Leaders Cultivating Sabbath Communities Over the next few episodes we are turning our attention from a leader’s personal sabbath practice towards how they can form and shape their communities around sabbath. We’ll be talking to a number of pastors and leaders about their efforts ...
10.11.2022 Season 17: Episode 7 \| Sabbath Rhythms During Seasons of Singleness and Care-giving In this episode we continue discussing how each season or stage of life presents its own challenges and opportunities with regard to sabbath keeping. Today we’re joined by two guests, Phaedra Blocker and Vicki Degner. In the first half Phaedra ...
10.04.2022 Season 17: Episode 6 \| Sharing Sabbath Presence Within Our Families As we continue to discuss the idea of a sabbath practice and the very practical ways one can incorporate it into one’s life, we want to acknowledge that each season or stage of life presents its own challenges and opportunities ...
09.27.2022 Season 17: Episode 5 \| The Power of Unplugging We’re here this week to talk about the elephant in the sabbath room… technology. Ruth and guest, Tiffany Shlain, talk all about how our technology impacts our ability to truly rest, why a “tech Shabbat” has been a lifeline for ...
09.20.2022 Season 17: Episode 4 \| Shabbat: Conversation with a Jewish Rabbi Our guest this week is Rabbi Evan Moffic, a rabbi leading a congregation in the Chicago suburbs who also teaches and writes about the Jewishness of Jesus. He and Ruth discuss the importance of the sabbath and its roots in ...
09.15.2022 Season 17: Episode 3 \| Sabbath as Resistance We had so much goodness in our conversations around the idea of sabbath as resistance that we decided to release them as separate episodes. In this episode, Ruth and guest Cole Arthur Riley continue the discussion with a conversation around ...
09.13.2022 Season 17: Episode 2 \| The Poetry of Sabbath 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 ...
09.06.2022 Season 17: Episode 1 \| Awakening to God’s Gift of Sabbath 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 ...
07.22.2022 BONUS: A Conversation with Glenn Packiam on Being a Resilient Pastor, Challenges Facing the Church, and Cultivating A Spiritual Life 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 ...
07.08.2022 BONUS: Ask Ruth #5 Excerpt 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 ...
06.27.2022 Season 16: Episode 9 \| Transforming Leadership: Spiritual Resources for the Journey 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 ...
06.20.2022 Season 16: Episode 8 \| Systems Theory and Leadership: Picking Up the Tools that Diffuse Anxiety 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 ...
06.13.2022 Season 16: Episode 7 \| It’s a Human Thing: Systems Theory in Non-Majority Spaces 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 ...
06.06.2022 Season 16: Episode 6 \| Second Order Change: Recognizing and Dissolving Stuck Patterns 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 ...
05.30.2022 Season 16: Episode 5 \| The Freedom of Taking Responsibility 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 ...
05.23.2022 Season 16: Episode 4 \| Calm Presence: Leadership, Anxiety, and the False 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 ...
05.16.2022 Season 16: Episode 3 \| The Sins of the Fathers (and Mothers): How Family of Origin Impacts Our Leadership This week, Ruth and Steve delve into the topic of family of origin and its impact on leadership. Why do we need to do the messy work of untangling our childhood issues? How do we carry childhood wounds into our ...
05.11.2022 Season 16: Episode 2 \| The Most Powerful Leadership Tool: Diagnosing and Diffusing Anxiety In today’s episode Ruth welcomes our season-long guest, Steve Cuss, a pastor and author of Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs. Steve and Ruth dive into the deep end of Systems Theory as they discuss the most powerful leadership tool: ...
05.09.2022 Season 16: Episode 1\| What’s Really Going On? Systems Theory and the Soul of Leadership In today’s episode Ruth is flying solo to give us an introduction to Systems Theory. She lays the groundwork for the season by detailing Bowen’s 8 concepts, while also giving us a general idea of Systems Theory and how it ...
04.18.2022 Season 15: Easter Monday \| Practicing Resurrection We couldn’t leave you hanging in the darkness of Good Friday, so to wrap up season 15 of the podcast we are concluding with a conversation about Easter and the Resurrection. Ruth and Steve discuss the story of Mary and ...
04.13.2022 Season 15: Holy Week \| Following Jesus All the Way Ruth and Steve guide us into Holy Week with the reminder of the importance of keeping vigil and a discussion on the temptation to fall asleep. In what ways do we turn our gaze away from that which is difficult ...
04.06.2022 Season 15: Lent Week 6 \| Living Between Two Passions We have arrived at Palm Sunday and this week Ruth and Steve discuss the disorienting swing the people create between hailing Jesus as King and calling for his crucifixion in a matter of days. It brought us to wonder, in ...
03.30.2022 Season 15: Lent Week 5 \| Out With the Old, In With the New We seem to be turning a corner during this week of Lent! Ruth and Steve discuss the lectionary readings for the fifth Sunday of Lent and the call to prepare ourselves for whatever new things God desires to do in ...
03.23.2022 Season 15: Lent Week 4 \| The Power of Confession This week’s temptation may bring us to the hardest, deepest places of Lent. We are talking about the temptation to be silent about our sin and the power of the practice of confession. Why are leaders especially tempted to hide ...
03.16.2022 Season 15: Lent Week 3 \| Seeking God While He May Be Found This week Ruth and Steve address the temptation to invest in that which does not satisfy. So many of us leaders find ourselves turning towards escapist behaviors in our exhaustion and grief. How do we discern between what is distracting ...
03.09.2022 Season 15: Lent Week 2 \| Consenting to God’s Will Deep Within What is it about leaders that we seem to struggle so much with the temptation to take matters into our own hands and “help” God out when we distrust His plans or when we are impatient with His timing? And ...
03.02.2022 Season 15: Lent Week 1 \| Fashioning Our Own Wilderness In week one, Ruth and Steve examine the temptation of Jesus in Luke 4. How do we see these temptations to be relevant, spectacular, and powerful show up in our own lives? How can the practice of hiddenness be the ...
02.23.2022 Lent 2022 Teaser \| Lent for Leaders: With God in the Wilderness Our next podcast season begins next week! Season 15 will help us walk through Lent together. Steve Weins is back with Ruth and together the two will tackle this time that invites us to self-examination and intimacy with God. In ...
02.02.2022 BONUS: A Conversation with Rory Noland about Transforming Worship We have another bonus conversation about worship, this time with our friend and former Transforming Community worship leader, Rory Noland. Rory has a new book out called Transforming Worship: Planning and Leading Sunday Services as if Spiritual Formation Mattered. He ...
01.20.2022 BONUS: A Conversation with Aaron Niequist about Fixed Hour Prayer and Transforming Community 18 Please enjoy this bonus episode, a conversation between Ruth Haley Barton and Aaron Niequist, recorded at the Becoming A Transforming Church retreat. Ruth and Aaron discuss Aaron’s experience as both a participant and worship leader of Transforming Communities and the ...
01.06.2022 Bonus: Christmastide \| Epiphany We dusted off our podcasting microphones to have a conversation about Epiphany. Epiphany celebrates the coming of the Magi to the manger to visit and worship the baby Jesus. In this discussion, Ruth and members of the Transforming Center staff ...

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