Host: Steve Macchia and Dave Ripper This is a reprise of season 23 episode 2 of The Discerning Leader Podcast. “We suffer from a severe depletion of spiritual expectancy. Moments of waiting can actually rekindle the flames of hope.” – Dave Ripper Dave Ripper serves as lead pastor of Crossway Christian Church in Nashua and Milford, NH, and as the chaplain of the Boston Bruins.  He’s a graduate of Denver Seminary and is finishing his Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Direction from Fuller...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Susan Currie This is a reprise of season 23 episode 1 of The Discerning Leader Podcast. “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...

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.” – Psalm 136: 1 The Leadership Transformations lead team enlighten us with formative insights about the spiritual significance of giving thanks. Susan Currie, Rick Anderson, Jeremy Stefano, and Matt Scott join the conversation and add their reflections on gratitude. They begin with their favorite Scripture passages that focus on a thankful heart in the Psalms and throughout the Old and New Testament. They shared notable...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Brandon Moore “When you are dealing with the worst of the world, how do we begin to nurture our souls and then in doing that nurture the souls of others.” – Brandon Moore  Brandon Moore has served as an Army Chaplain for more than two decades, serving three tours in Iraq, as a Strategic Communication Officer at the Pentagon, and now as Chief of Army Chaplain Recruiting and Accessions. Brandon joins the podcast to share how leading a discerning life has changed...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Trent Casto “It’s incredible what a man who is united to Jesus and weak in the eyes of the world can accomplish” – Trent Casto Author and Pastor Trent Casto joins the podcast to talk about God’s strength in our weakness. In this episode, he shares ideas and practices that have enabled him to lead in a way that displays God’s grace. From his newly released commentary on 2 Corinthians in the Reformed Expository Commentary series, Trent shares that the heart of all...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Jeremy Stefano “Everyone knows whether they are living a spacious or a cluttered life. The question is, are we tapping into our longings that those quiet hours feed in our soul” – Steve Macchia A discerning leader builds their life upon the teachings of Jesus. For the past two decades, Leadership Transformations has been coming alongside leaders and learners who are engaged in important and meaningful service in the body of Christ. Steve Macchia and Jeremy...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Jeremy Stefano “Paying attention to the people we are serving is crucial, otherwise it’s all me.” – Jeremy Stefano A controlling leader has a need to power over others, leaving no space for others. This kind of leader creates an atmosphere of anxiety and fear rather than one of welcoming and mutual contribution. A discerning leader is attentive, listens to, and offers a hospitable presence to others. Jeremy Stefano and Steve Macchia return to the podcast to share...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Jeremy Stefano  “Jesus is gentle. Surely those who lead in His name must be typified especially by gentleness also.” –  Jeremy Stefano A stingy leader is stingy with grace, kindness, gifts, and generosity. A discerning leader is aware of God’s abundance and leads with liberty and graciousness. Jeremy Stefano and Steve Macchia return to the podcast to share five more attributes of the heart of a discerning leader. In this episode, you will hear how a spiritually...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Jeremy Stefano  “As a leader, we often love people who we need in our leadership. The love has to be unconditional, not measured out in increments to those we see as more deserving.” –  Jeremy Stefano What does it look like to lead well? Over the next few episodes, Jeremy Stefano and Steve Macchia will unpack this question, offering twenty attributes of a spiritually mature leader. Fresh off a team retreat together, Jeremy and Steve share the first five...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Winn Collier “You had this sense that you were with someone who knew Jesus.” – Winn Collier Winn Collier is the author of Eugene Peterson’s authorized biography, A Burning in My Bones. Few people have had an opportunity to know Eugene’s life as a pastor, theologian, author, and poet like Winn. Winn shares personal stories of Eugene’s upbringing and transformation. Winn describes that Eugene was transformed by prayer, slow reading, attentiveness, and deep...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Ken Shigematsu “If you can put yourself in a pathway of beauty every day, it can awaken you to God’s love for you and it leaves less room for shame to work so that you can become your truest self.” – Ken Shigematsu Author and Pastor Ken Shigematsu joins the podcast to talk about shame. In this episode he shares the spiritual practices that work to awaken us to God’s forgiveness and love for us, making less of shame and more of the self that God created us to be....

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Jeff Crosby “Embracing the mystery is good enough” – Jeff Crosby Jeff Crosby joins the podcast to talk about longings - the inner ache and sadness that we feel at times. From Jeff’s newest book, The Language of the Soul: Meeting God in the Longings of our Hearts, Jeff teaches that the longings we experience are places for God to meet us. Jeff walks us through several longings from the book - the longing for home, for friendship, for heaven and for an undivided...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: KeumJu Jewel Hyun “Whether you like it or not, you are in the leadership position. Who do you think you work for?” – KeumJu Jewel Hyun KeumJu Jewel Hyun joins the podcast to talk about the role of servant leadership within the heart of a discerning leader. Jewel is an author, a professor, and the founder of Matthew 28 Ministries, which focuses on Christian women’s leadership development and economic empowerment in Kenya. Jewel’s most recent work, The Quest for...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Philip Yancey “Nature, beauty, love, these are good things. They must have been given to us by God. That’s what grace is. It’s a free gift we didn't deserve. That’s my story, being drawn back to God, not by fearsome threats, but by the experience of God’s grace.” – Philip Yancey Award-winning author Philip Yancey is on the podcast this week to share his own life story. He candidly shares about his discovery that God is not the “super cop in the sky” looking for...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: David Vryhof This is a reprise of season 2 episode 1 of The Discerning Leader Podcast.  A discerning leader understands that service to others is based upon a relationship with God and thereby prioritizes the nurture of the soul.  Commencing a new series, Steve Macchia and his spiritual director, Br. David Vryhof (www.ssje.org), explore the importance of spiritual practices as a foundation on which to deepen a life with God. Since we generally live unreflective...