Spiritual Life and Leadership

What happened to Solana Beach Presbyterian Church?  Oh, it's still a big church, but it's half the size it was twenty years ago.  Some would say that Mike McClenahan, the Senior Pastor, failed in some way.  He must have done something wrong and that's why this church has declined so much.

Maybe.  Or maybe it's just a reflection of what's going on... Read more

I’ve discovered that therapy—good therapy—is something that everyone needs. Especially if you’re in leadership.  In this episode, I speak with Elaine Hamilton, founder of a therapy group in San Diego called the Soul Care House. Elaine helps to demystify therapy for us.  What is it?  Why is it important?  Why do leaders, especially, need good therapy?

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There is no easy solution to homelessness and extreme poverty.  But some solutions are definitely better than others.  In this episode, Michelle LeBeau, Director of Church Partnerships at the San Diego Rescue Mission, shares why deep inner life transformation is so important for helping people escape poverty.

THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

Can an atheist participate with God in the healing of the world? If one who doesn’t believe in God volunteers at the local homeless shelter, should Christians dismiss that? If an atheist adopts an abused child into a home of love and acceptance, a place where that child can heal from the wounds of their past, are we to dismiss that?

Those are the kinds of questions that Kutter Callaway and I wrestle with in this episode.  ... Read more

In this episode, Trevor Lee discusses the importance of getting past the ministry model that just tries to get people through our discipleship programs. Instead, we need a model that values the uniqueness and inherent worth of each person.  We also talked a lot about suffering.  And we talked about the part suffering plays—ironically!—in the healing of the world.

THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

In a broken and confusing world, it is realy hard to know the right thing to do.  In this episode, Lisa Slayton doesn’t come with a bunch of clear-cut answers, but she does raise the right questions. And I think she points in the right direction.  We need to become people of integrity, people who live lives of coherence. The Hebrew word for this is tamim. Lisa Slayton, the CEO of Read more

In this episode Steve Cuss, the author of Managing Leadership Anxiety discusses the way anxiety can affect, not only ourselves, but all those around us. We also talk about something called family systems theory, which has to do with recognizing and managing the anxiety in a system of relationships—be it a family, a church, a business, a bas... Read more

In her book,  A Little Manual for Knowing, Esther Lightcap Meek says that in order to truly know something, we must welcome “the yet-to-be-known with respect, humility, patience, and attentiveness.”

In this episode, Esther Lightcap Meek unpacks what she calls “covenant epistemology,” an approach to knowing that acknowledges the relationship between the knower a... Read more

We are called to participate with God in the healing of the world through our very work–as teachers, as mechanics, as doctors, as attorneys, as salespeople.  Our work brings the goodness of God into the world.

But what about when we retire?  How can we participate with God in the healing of the world then?  Is it possible to live a full life in retirement in which we understand our post-work life as more than just a big va... Read more

If we want to keep growing in our faith we have to go deeper than merely reading a chapter of the Bible per day. That’s where lectio divina comes in. Lectio divina is a way of not merely getting information about God or about Jesus, but a way of truly experiencing Jesus. It’s a type of reading that involves silence and listening and receiving from Jesus his presence and his spirit. Read more

The world today is nothing like the world as it was fifty years ago. Because of this, a lot of churches are really struggling with how to be the church in the 21st century.  People used to go to church because, well, that’s just what you did. But not anymore. Today, even a lot of Christians don’t go to church—at least not the typical Sunday morning kind of church.

My new book, Beyond Thingification: Helping Yo... Read more

When I first read Raise Your Voice: Why We Stay Silent and How to Speak Up, I was captivated almost immediately by a story the author, Kathy Khang, told about a situation in which a friend physically covered her mouth to keep her from asking a challenging question in a meeting. Kathy wrote, “I didn’t real... Read more

What happens when a couple of Hawaiian fisherman hit King Kamehameha over the head with a canoe paddle so hard that the paddle breaks?  You get the Law of the Splintered Paddle.

THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

Jennifer Ackerman, Director of the Lloyd John Ogilvie Institute of Preaching and the Director of the Ogilvie Instutute’s Micah Groups tells us all about Micah Groups in the interview.  What are Micah Groups?  Micah Groups are a way for spiritual... Read more

Jimm Greer is the Founder and President of UMTR2ME (pronounced “You matter to me”), an organization that provides hope, encouragement, and counseling to individuals who are struggling with thoughts of suicide. In this interview, Jimm shares his own story of struggling with mental health challenges and how those challenges led him to start UMTR2ME.

THIS EPISODE’S HIG... Read more

How do we measure success as churches?  Generally, we measure success the same way the rest of our society does:  How many people show up?  How big is your budget?  How does your facility look?  I’ve heard it refurred to as “bodies, bucks, and buildings.”  But is that how God measures success?

The story of the Prodigal Son is a wonderful reminder that God doesn’t measure success the same way we do.  What matters to God is ... Read more

Journaling.  Ugh…  Some people love it.  Some people hate it.  Some people feel like they should be doing it because they’ve been told it will help them grow in their faith.  But writing about their thoughts and feelings in a diary just doesn’t work for them.

Well, along comes Tracy Winchell to give all of the non-journalers a way to keep track of their inner life that will probably work much better for them.  So, if you h... Read more

Mandy Smith, Lead Pastor of University Christian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, has written a wonderful book titled, The Vulnerable Pastor: How Human Limitations Empower Our Ministry, in which she shares about the ways our humanity and our weakness are actually a source of strength in our ministries.   Too often, we think we have to fit a particular ministry stereotype in order to experience success in our ministries. Mand... Read more

Youth ministry is not easy.  Especially in our Post-Christendom context.  But Nate Landis, President and Founder of Urban Youth Collaborative has created an incredibly effective way for churches to reach out to the next generation. Any kind of church. A young, hip, millennial congregation, or an aging Baby Boomer and beyond congregation.  In this episode, Nate Landis shares his passion for kids, for churches, and for helping chu... Read more