The Discerning Leader Podcast

"I'm so grateful for how He redeems. Sometimes we have to wait a long, long time for His redemptive work to come to reality. But it's worth the wait." —Steve Macchia

In the final episode of Season 33, Steve Macchia and Matt Scott discuss the names of Jesus and the comfort we find in knowing that God became flesh and lived among us. This conversation looks at the fulfillment of prophetic promises and the way Jesus' life on earth showed us the fullness of God in human form.

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott

"A glimpse of light shines in the darkness, a future reality for us to hang our hats on. And it's called hope." —Steve Macchia

With all the joyous anticipation of the Advent season, we're still faced with the reality of surrounding darkness and despair. This episode of The Discerning Leader podcast features a conversation that offers practical and intentional ways to anchor our souls in the hope and light that is Emmanuel, God with us.

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott

"We want his healing, his strength, his comfort, his mercy. We want the gifts that only he can provide for us as we find ourselves hurting and sometimes, hopeless." —Steve Macchia

Healing for others. Healing from sickness. Healing in our communities. We long to see the healing power of God in our lives and in the lives of those whom we love. What does it look like to pray for healing? Episode 02 of Season 33 invites you to lift your eyes heavenward and look to Christ for healing in our bodies, minds, and souls.

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia & Matt Scott

"Everybody has a bucket of tears right next to them, and we need to acknowledge for each of us, there's heartache, pain, suffering, and sorrow. And those don't come to an end just because it's Christmas." —Steve Macchia

Season 33 begins with an invitation to notice this Advent season what often goes unattended: our heartache and hunger. Are you facing overwhelming grief? Do you have unmet longings and desires? Have you lifted up prayers that seemingly remain unanswered? In this conversation, Steve Macchia and Matt Scott invite you to consider the hopeful reality that God is with us and lovingly meets us in the deepest longings of our soul.

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Rich Villodas

"The greatest gift we offer the world around us is our ongoing transformation in Jesus Christ." - Rich Villodas

In this special edition episode of The Discerning Leader podcast, Steve Macchia sits down with author, speaker, and pastor Rich Villodas. Their conversation explores how to order our lives around a particular pace, grow a capacity for interior examination, and live a deeply formed life through spiritual practices. You don't want to miss this conversation!

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: A.J. Swoboda

"The invitation to sabbath offends just about everything we value as Americans." - AJ Swoboda

In this special edition episode of The Discerning Leader podcast, Steve Macchia has a conversation with AJ Swoboda, writer, professor and pastor. AJ shares about the subversive power of sabbath, how we can care for creation, and the formative power of our daily patterns and habits.

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott, Guest: Suz Skinner

"A good gardener listens and watches and wants to work with what God is already doing" - Suz Skinner

Suz Skinner is a member of the Emmaus Faculty, Abide Faculty, and a Spiritual Formation Associate for Leadership Transformations Inc. and the Pierce Fellowship at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Suz joins Steve and Matt to talk about what it means for God to be the gardener of our souls. Using the garden as a motif, Suz shares how the big story throughout the Bible is of God's desire to dwell with humanity. Reflecting upon the parable of the fig tree, Suz reminds us that the Gardener has a heart of mercy. Finally, Suz shares how wise gardeners are aware of what is already happening in the garden.

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott, Guest: Fyfe Blair

"Understanding the pruning that is happening with Christ. Yes, it's hard, but there's deep soul care work here going on. It's about your fruitfulness" - Fyfe Blair

Fyfe Blair is a faculty member of LTI's Selah Certificate Program in Spiritual Direction (Europe cohort). Fyfe is also the Project Lead for "The Caim" - a large garden in the small village in rural Scotland where he resides. With hands-on knowledge of horticulture, Fyfe joins Steve and Matt to share reflections between tending to a garden and tending to the garden of the soul.

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott

"Are you creating space in your life to be alone, to be quiet, to be reflective, to be relational, to put technology away, to hang out with those you love and to be loved?" - Steve Macchia

The Bible is full of agrarian imagery. The words of Genesis, the prophet Isaiah, Apostle Paul, and Jesus himself all talked about gardens, plants, trees, seeds and soil, and farming. We see dry and dusty, sun-scorched land; we also see fertile, thriving, flourishing gardens. In Jesus's parable of the sower, He emphasized the state of the soil. This parable can also be understood as a metaphor for the state of our souls. Season 32 will consider what it looks like to discern God in the garden of our soul. In this first episode, Steve and Matt share insight about what factors contribute to souls that are hard, rocky, and thorny versus souls that are receptive to God.

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott

"When was the last time you've been awed by God?" - Steve Macchia

How can slowing down help us embrace the mysterious work of God? In this episode, Steve and Matt tackle this question as they invite you to "slow down and be more curious."

Our technological, information-rich age can make us resistant to wonder. What do we gain from surrendering control of knowing everything? Looking at the encouragement from Romans 11:33-35 and Job 31, Steve and Matt talk about how wonder releases our sense of control, deepens our dependence on God, and enables us to worship God more fully.

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.