The Discerning Leader Podcast

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Susan Currie

"During Advent, we give space to the waiting. All of us are waiting for something." – Susan Currie

Susan serves as the Director of Leadership Transformation's Selah Certificate Training Program in Spiritual Direction. Over the past 30 years, she has offered retreat leadership and formation ministry to various church and parachurch bodies. Susan also serves as Affiliated Clergy with All Saints' Anglican Cathedral in Amesbury, MA. In our 21st century life we do not like to wait for anything. Sharing from the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Susan Currie returns to the podcast and invites us to come alongside the Biblical characters. We consider their longings, their waiting, and the things we ourselves are waiting for. She reminds us that all of us are waiting for something. In Advent, we are invited to slow down enough to recognize our longings and offer them to the only one who can come and make all things right.

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: Cindy Foley

"If my chief thing is to look for God, and look for His goodness in people, it makes me less critical." – Cindy Foley

Cindy Foley and her husband Tim are the Divisional Leaders of the Northwest Division of The Salvation Army, with headquarters in Seattle, WA. Tim and Cindy have served together in appointments in Hawaii, Arizona, and in a variety of roles in California, notably as the first Administrators of the Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in San Diego, at the College for Officers Training, and as Divisional Leaders for the Golden State Division. Cindy was later appointed as the Chief Financial Officer for The Salvation Army USA. Cindy shares highlights of noticing God throughout her life, including life lessons from the farm, teaching Sunday school at age 11, opening the first Salvation Army Kroc Center and serving with her husband in ministry. Cindy encourages us to notice God as we think of people - "There's a big difference between looking for the goodness of God in people instead of looking for mistakes or things that aren't done."

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, Guests: Bill and Kristi Gaultiere

"Ohh, I need to do some more inner journey work. This is an invitation." –Kristi Gaultiere

Bill and Kristi Gaultiere are Drs of Psychology and the Founders of Soul Shepherding, a ministry to help pastors, leaders, churches, and all those desiring to thrive with Jesus in emotional and relational health. They are authors of a number of soul care books and resources. They have been speaking and writing about following Jesus in life and ministry since 1987. Bill and Kristi join Steve for a rich conversation about spiritual practices, discerning together and soul care. For their book Journey of the Soul, they reflect on more than 70,000 hours of therapy and spiritual direction with people. From Journey of the Soul, Bill and Kristi share six stages of spiritual growth and different walls that we experience. These walls start as periods of disorientation but become transition times to a more Christ-centered way of being. Listen as they share personal stories of supporting one another during their own walls and offer a light and a map to help every person through their own journey 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.

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: James Bryan Smith

"Every need that my soul has, Jesus meets them – every single one of them." – James Bryan Smith

James Bryan Smith is the author of the Good and Beautiful Series which includes The Good and Beautiful God, The Good and Beautiful You, The Good and Beautiful Life, and The Good and Beautiful Community. He earned his MDiv at Yale and his D. Min at Fuller and is a theology professor at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, where he also serves as the director of the Apprentice Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation. A founding member of Richard J. Foster's spiritual renewal ministry, Renovaré, Smith is an ordained United Methodist Church minister and has served in various capacities in local churches. James joins Steve for a conversation about how our view of God transforms our understanding/experience of spiritual disciplines. With a toxic view of God, James says "spiritual formation not only won't help you, they might make you worse, you might turn them into legalism." With a right view of God, "the disciplines take on a new understanding. Now it's not, 'I'm doing these things to get this angry God to be less angry.' It's,'I'm doing these things because I want to be with this 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: Cindy Bunch

"When we develop self-compassion, we cultivate greater empathy towards others." – Cindy Bunch

Cindy Bunch is a divisional vice president and associate publisher for InterVarsity Press, where she has worked for more than thirty years. She acquires and develops for the Formatio line of spiritual formation books. She is the author of Be Kind to Yourself as well as several Bible study guides in IVP's LifeGuide® Bible Studies series. Cindy holds an MA in theological studies from Northern Seminary and completed her spiritual direction training at North Park Seminary. She and her husband live in the Chicago suburbs. Cindy shares with Steve how we can develop greater empathy towards others by first experiencing the kindness of Jesus to us. Hear how Cindy's training in Spiritual Direction has taught her to notice God in everything, including working with authors as an editor.

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: Molly Shafferman

"'I thought you were going to teach me to pray.' 'We are. We are listening a little bit.'" – Molly Shafferman

Molly Shafferman lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband Howard. They have two grown children and three adorable grandchildren. Molly grew up in Montgomery, Alabama and graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Family and Child Development. Molly has been active in church and civic groups all her adult life, including Healing Prayer and Women's ministries, Alpha, and home Bible studies. She is a graduate of LTI's Selah program and offers spiritual direction to many. Molly shares major turning points in her life. Highlights include stories about her mother who taught Molly how to pray, entrusting a child with Tourette's Syndrome to Jesus and the impact that Spiritual Direction has had upon Molly's own life and marriage.

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: Carolyn Arends

"The promise we always have is not no pain - it's no wasted pain. There's nothing that He can't redeem." – Carolyn Arends

Carolyn Arends is Renovaré's Director of Education where she oversees the Renovaré Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation, the Renovaré Book Club, and various other initiatives. Additionally, she has written and released 14 albums, earned 2 Dove awards and is the author of 3 critically acclaimed books. You can find more about her at www.renovare.org and www.carolynarends.com. Carolyn joins Steve and shares several turning points of her life. After reading Steve's book, The Discerning Life, she recognizes these watershed moments as discerning life moments. When asked about how she cultivates a discerning life, she noted that the formation that makes a discerning person is almost identical to the formation that makes a great writer or artist, it is living receptively to the Lord.

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: Trevor Hudson

"I thought to myself, 'God, did I really get all this wrong? I thought you were leading me in this direction.'" – Trevor Hudson

Season 22 will focus on life stories shaped around spiritual discernment as a lifestyle. Trevor Hudson is an ordained minister in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. After spending forty years doing pastoral ministry in a local congregation, he now gives his time to lecturing, teaching, and writing in the areas of spiritual formation and spiritual direction. His most recent book, Seeking God-Finding Another Kind of Life with St Ignatius and Dallas Willard, is available now from NavPress. Trevor and Steve discuss discerning what it means to follow Jesus in family and vocational life as well as through times of discontent and suffering. Trevor shares the common theme about seeking Jesus through the lives of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Dallas Willard.

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: Paul Borthwick

"You might be praying for someone who's never been prayed for before in Jesus' name." – Paul Borthwick

As we conclude season 21, Paul and Steve prompt us to ask: so, what? now, what? and what kind of person shall we become from this? We start with understanding the three big greats. The great commandment invites us to see the world that God sees it. Great compassion compels our heart to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. And the great commission leads us to proclaim the love of Jesus to those who cross our path and those who are around this world. These three things often impact our daily lives: changing our mindset, opening our worldview, and reminding us of the assurance - Jesus' promise to always be with us, even to the ends of the earth.

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: Paul Borthwick

"Prayer is our response to the global amount of information." – Paul Borthwick

During His ascension, Jesus commissioned His disciples to be "witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Here, Paul Borthwick shares five practices that help us see where God is at work locally and globally:

1. Information. God fuels our discernment through Scriptural knowledge and understanding of current events
2. Intercession. Prayer is our response to the global amount of information
3. Involvement. Notice where God is at work in the people around you and consider a short-term mission trip
4. Integration. Letting the things we know about the world influence our life
5. Investigation - Keeping our eyes, ears and hearts open to what God wants 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.