The Discerning Leader Podcast

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Barbara Peacock

"I believe the foundation of effective leadership is understanding and embracing and living out the discipline of love." – Barbara Peacock

The Discerning Leader podcast returns from a summer break to focus on the Heart of a Discerning Leader. Our first guest for Season 27 is Barbara Peacock - an award-winning author, spiritual director, teacher, and intercessor. Her recent book, Spiritual Practices for Soul Care, has just been released by Baker books.

Barbara joins Steve to talk about leadership as loving people. She reminds us that we are first called to love God and then to love people and not things. Barbara shares an original poem she wrote entitled Silencing Today and encourages us to be attentive in our love for God and towards others.

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: Susan Currie

This is a reprise of season 3 episode 5 of The Discerning Leader Podcast.

"In the celebration of Sabbath, we explore the command and accept the invitation to dwell with God with a deep, resounding yes – with gusto!" – Susan Currie

The fourth rhythm of Sabbath is "celebrating" the joy and delight of our identity and freedom in Christ. When we gather with the family of God on Sabbath – for worship, fellowship, prayer, and relationship building – we are reminding each other of the with God life we share. Weekly worship with our faith community is like a dress rehearsal for a wedding: the wedding feast of the Lamb, when the bridegroom returns for his bride once more. In this life we "make every effort" to enter that rest (Hebrews 4: 9) with a Jubilee taste of heaven on our hearts and minds.

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: Susan Currie

This is a reprise of season 3 episode 4 of The Discerning Leader Podcast.

"We realize our deepest, truest, eternal part of us as God's dearly loved children when we rest. What God does in us when we rest is carried into all aspects of life." – Susan Currie

Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath and when he frustrated the religious leaders by healing on the Sabbath, he was a delight to those he came to serve and set free. Sabbath reminds us of our true identity in Christ, in all aspects of our personhood, and ushers us into the fullness of our salvation. Embracing our eternal identity is best known and experienced in times of Sabbath rest and ever-deepening trust. "You are my beloved" are the words from God that restore and renew us, as we welcome and embrace creativity, spontaneity, imagination, and beauty.

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: Susan Currie

This is a reprise of season 3 episode 3 of The Discerning Leader Podcast.

"You have been set free (in God), so keep the Sabbath! This is what Sabbath rest is all about. We don't want to lose our memory for tasting the goodness of God." – Susan Currie

God's loving invitation and specific commandment is to Sabbath rest – for all. The people of God were ushered into the Promised Land and reminded to rest, always to remember their years of bondage in Egypt. God urges us likewise to live fully and abundantly, in freedom and joy, recalling how we too can let our daily work become bondage for our soul. Our drivenness and constant effort keeps us from refreshing and renewing rest. But, trusting God with heart, soul, mind, and strength will lead us to a restful lifestyle, renewed in the grace of 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: Susan Currie

This is a reprise of season 3 episode 2 of The Discerning Leader Podcast.

"Sabbath ceasing is meant for everyone and every living creature our lives touch: our children, our animals, all in our household. God rests in order to delight in his creation. So too are we made to rest in order to engage our creational identity." – Susan Currie

Sabbath rest is the turnkey to the deeper life. Ceasing can be the most difficult of all the Sabbath rhythms, as it requires us to stop what we normally do in order to embrace that which offers us more of the abundant life. Sabbath reminds us not to be productivity machines, but instead be people who value relationships, first and foremost with God. As God says "trust me" he knows how hard that will be for us, especially if we have a tendency toward a hurried and harried life. Ceasing work and technology are two examples of stopping in order to rest well.

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: Susan Currie

This is a reprise of season 3 episode 1 of The Discerning Leader Podcast.

"Discernment is about being with God, paying attention to God, letting our every word and effort come from attentiveness to God. Sabbath is the place that nurtures that attentiveness." – Susan Currie

Sabbath nurtures our attentiveness to God and thereby enhances our practicing a preference for God. From the creation account in Genesis we see God's choice to rest after completing his work, delighting in the beauty of all that was established. We are invited to join God in the blessing and holiness of Sabbath rest and enjoy the gifts offered as we're attuned to his priority. Sabbath rest encourages a pace of life that allows us to see, hear, and notice God's goodness and grace amidst our very full lives. Let's slow down enough to listen more restfully 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: David Vryhof

This is a reprise of season 2 episode 5 of The Discerning Leader Podcast.

Reflection is an important spiritual discipline, inviting us to notice, remember, and give thanks. It is practiced in a variety of ways, from journaling to photography, and especially in the ancient practice of Examen. In reflection we are seeking the Spirit's guidance to illuminate the path we've walked and attend to his presence and power every step of the way. As discerning leaders, it's preferable to live a reflective life, noticing our feelings, actions, and attitudes, and intentionally realigning our motivations, drives, and values toward God's delightful priorities.

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: David Vryhof

This is a reprise of season 2 episode 4 of The Discerning Leader Podcast.

Prayer is a huge, somewhat daunting subject. No one has mastered prayer. In fact, if we're honest, we are all simply beginners. This episode explores the inward, upward, and outward nature of prayer, in both the "secret place" of our prayer closet, as well as in our public worship and community life. Prayer is a conversation between God and his children, with God as primary initiator, offering his love and inviting our love in return. Our posture is to be one of receptivity, openness, listening and noticing God's loving voice of comfort, guidance, and joy.

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: David Vryhof

This is a reprise of season 2 episode 3 of The Discerning Leader Podcast.

Instead of studying the Word to preach or teach it, Lectio Divina invites us to simply listen and receive the Word as a gift of love from God to us, his beloved children. Discerning leaders know the power of the Word and delight when the Scriptures come alive in our prayer closets. As a primary spiritual practice, lectio divina encourages us to feast on a slow and prayerfully meditative reading of God's Word. In this episode we look at the six rhythms of lectio and behold how the Word comes alive as it's prayerfully and repetitively held as a gift of love.

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: David Vryhof

This is a reprise of season 2 episode 2 of The Discerning Leader Podcast.

We live in an incredibly noisy world. Distractions abound, vying for our attention all throughout our days. Choosing a subversive, counter-cultural pursuit of exterior and interior silence is what separates a discerning leader from society's norm. Silence and solitude is where we hear the whisper of God, enveloping us with love and affection. It's the place where Jesus often was found, before the sun rose or late in the evening, discerning the loving voice of the Father.

Finding our way to interior stillness is a great challenge but an even more significant reward.

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.