March 17, 2026 • 30 mins
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Church scandals don’t begin the day they are exposed. They begin years earlier—in quiet compromises, ignored red flags, and leaders whose gifting has grown faster than their maturity.
In this episode of The Emotionally Healthy Leader Podcast, I go beneath the headlines to name the real issue: church scandals are not first a PR problem. They are a formation problem.
Jesus told us pressure would come. He told us not to be surprised. And He made clear that what will matter in the end is not image management, but whether we have become the kind of leaders who can stand firm under pressure without collapsing.
I unpack four essential pillars every pastor and church leader needs if they hope to lead with integrity over the long haul: facing your shadow, leading out of your marriage or singleness, slowing down for loving union with Jesus, and practicing Sabbath delight.
This is not about quick fixes. It’s about deep transformation.
If you care about the name of Jesus, the witness of the church, and finishing well, this episode is for you.
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September 30 – October 1, 2026
14th St. Salvation Army, NYC
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SPEAKER_00 (01:17):
Hi, my name is Pete Scazaro.
I want to welcome you today tothe Emotionally Healthy Leader
Podcast.
Our topic today is the scandalbeneath all the church scandals
and what to do about it.
All right, let's begin now.
Our focus today of scandals.
And uh scandals have been goingon for the decades since I've
(01:41):
been a Christian, since the1970s.
And it's not just any more sotoday than it was then.
It's been continuous through mydecades of walking with Jesus.
And it's not just here in theUnited States, in North America
and Canada, it's not just aWestern church issue.
It's a global church issue fromAfrica to Latin America to Asia
to the Mideast, Australia, NewZealand, you name it, it is a
(02:02):
global issue.
Now, I heard a statisticrecently that only 30% of
leaders finish well.
I don't know how true that is.
However, uh, in my ownexperience, I'd say that's
probably about right.
Uh, but we want to get today atthe scandal beneath the scandal.
And so uh uh a unique moment weare living in is because of
(02:26):
social media and globalcommunications, when there's a a
high-level scandal, uh, it's nowyou know spoken all over the
world.
It goes everywhere.
Uh, the lack of integrity in thechurch, of us claiming to be
something countercultural butnot living up to it, now becomes
secular news.
And so we all have a vestedinterest in this topic.
(02:46):
It's so critical, not just forpastors, board members, uh
leaders and churches, all of uswho name the name of Jesus,
because the very name andmission of Christ, the glory of
God is at stake in this.
And it applies to everyminister.
I don't care how small or largeyour church is, the future of
the mission of Jesus is at stakeand the next generation of
leaders that we're forming.
(03:07):
So scandals don't begin the daythey're exposed.
They they begin years earlier,very, very quietly.
They in in small decisions made,whether it's boardrooms, staff
teams, behind closed doors, andin small compromises and ignored
red flags and poor decisionsmade.
Um and if we're going to addresswhat's happening today, we've
(03:31):
got to get this beneath thescandal.
So I want to I want to suggestto you, I want to suggest
something, a very simple answeruh that you can take to the
bank, and that's this.
And it's a very serious answerthat church scandals are not
about public relations.
It's not about structures, it'snot about the pressure of living
in the 21st century.
It's not financial.
It's way bigger and clearer thaneven that.
(03:55):
It's about formation, it's aboutinsufficient formation of our
leaders and pastors around theworld.
Uh, and Jesus told us thatthere's going to be great
pressure on the church.
He in Matthew 24, for example,you read about him talking about
the end of history and whichwhich we're in the end times
before he returns.
(04:15):
And he speaks about wars andrumors of wars and false
teachers coming out anddeceptions and the love of many
growing cold and that many willfall a well.
And he speaks about this what'scalled in Greek phylipsis,
intense pressure that's going tobe on the church.
Um, but he says, don't bealarmed.
This is God's plan and it'snecessary.
And he describes it as birthpangs, that these are, these
(04:36):
are, these are agonizing, it'sbloody, but something God is
birthing is happening here.
And uh, so he puts the anguishand the pressure in the context
of labor birthing, of somethingis ending and something new is
coming forth, which is a a newheaven and a new earth, and the
glory of God will fill the earthas we know it.
And so so the church will bebesieged at the end, he says, by
(04:59):
false time teachers, and andmany will even be deceived.
And so he says at that time, uhthe love of many will grow cold.
And so it's happened.
Many have uh, because ofscandals, become so discouraged
by you know the church thatthey've left uh in great
numbers.
And we're actually seeing thatuh today.
(05:20):
So and actually Jesus refers tothe fact that much of which is
despicable in the church isgoing to be exposed.
And that's why he calls itintense pressure.
But he says, listen, I've toldyou this ahead of time.
So, so relax, he says, and anduh you know, he says almost be
calm, you know, relax.
I'm telling you ahead of time.
And then secondly, he goes, doyour assigned task, do what I've
(05:40):
given you to do faithfully.
He who he who perseveres to theend, he says, will be saved.
So stay faithful, stay firm,stay anchored.
And so again, because it canfeel very destabilizing uh
what's going on around us.
But Jesus is not wringing hishead, his hands in heaven,
frustrated.
So the question is, how do weform leaders in the midst of
great pressure so that leadersdon't collapse over time, a long
(06:05):
period of time?
So scandals happen when people'spower and authority outpaces
their character.
Scandals happen when theirpeople's influence grows faster
than their formation.
Scandals happen when giftinggrows faster than people's
maturity in Jesus.
(06:26):
And scandals happen whenministry expands faster than
people's inner life expands withit.
And so scandals reveal, theythey reveal what's happening
underneath, this the shallowdiscipleship, because all
leadership is really high-leveldiscipleship.
It's Jesus with the 12, he'smaking disciples, he's forming
(06:47):
leaders.
So I put discipleship in thesame category as leadership
development.
It's just intense leadershipdevelopment.
So the structure I want to givefor our podcast today is going
to come out of a book I wroteactually 11 years ago called The
Emotionally Healthy Leader,because it's a great structure.
And I stand by those, uh, what Iwrote there in that book about
(07:09):
the inner life informing theouter life.
And I give four core inner lifeissues that have got to be
addressed.
If anything, my thinking theselast 11 years has only expanded
and matured from these fourprinciples.
And I'll share that more at theend towards the podcast, and
you'll fill it.
So I take the image uh in theemotionally healthy leader book
(07:31):
from uh a New York Cityskyscraper, because Manhattan is
built on sky, it's built onrock.
And you have all these massive80, 90, 100-story skyscrapers
filling the skyline.
But the to build theseskyscrapers, they have to put
steel beams or pilings deep intothe rock.
And the higher up thatbuilding's gonna go, the deeper
(07:51):
in the rock they must go.
And uh, so I had a friend whowas a construction engineer, and
he told me about when they didnot put the steel beams or
pilings in properly, that whenthey started to build the
skyscraper, the building startedto lean to the right or to the
left, or or cracks began toappear in the walls, or they
couldn't open the windows.
And so I either had to knock theskyscraper down and redo the
(08:15):
steel beams going into the rock,or they had to um knock the, you
know, knock the building down,lift it up, uh, and redo it all
over again.
And so um, in the same way, Ifound there's four core steel
beams that must go into the rockuh in our inner lives if we're
gonna build outer ministries,planning, decision-making, team
(08:36):
building, exercising power,fueling mission around the
world.
But these four issues are core.
And I want to take them one byone here today uh and expound on
them.
If we're gonna get to thescandal, we need the scandals
and really address theinsufficient formation that I
believe we're engaging inleadership development all
around the world in allcontexts.
(08:58):
The first one is this that we'vegot to uh in our formation,
we've got to really equip peopleto face their shadow.
We've got to help leaders facetheir shadow.
Now, I'm gonna define shallowvery simply uh is the
accumulation of untamedemotions, less than pure motives
and thoughts, and they'relargely unconscious, not all the
(09:20):
time, but they influence our andshape our behaviors.
So it's this damaged version ofwho we actually really are.
So another way to look at it iswounds from our histories, from
from living in a sinful world.
We all get wounded.
And sometimes the wound ortrauma, you can call it also, we
all have trauma.
There's big T trauma, thenthere's small T trauma.
It's just part of living in abroken, fallen world, regardless
(09:42):
of the kind of family you grewup in or context.
And those wounds are things thathappen to us that should never
happen to anybody or as a child,or things like, for example,
abuse.
I know that was the case withme, emotional, uh, physical
abuse that really damaged me,and some dynamics of my family
growing up that really impactedand wounded me deeply.
(10:02):
I had to do a lot of work toactually deal with it and look
at it and break its power overmy life.
But then less obvious wounds aregood things that should have
happened to us, but didn't.
Good things that we should havegotten that we never did get.
And it and a wound creates ascar tissue.
Scar tissues get hard.
(10:23):
They don't feel, they they theydon't have end, they don't have
endings to grow.
And so people get stuck in theirwounds.
And when you're in leadership,if we don't face our shadow, we
end up casting that shadow,impacting all those around us.
But if we have light flowing outof our inner being, we also cast
light to all those around us.
So facing our shadow, we'retalking about these sinful
(10:46):
tendencies inside of us orwounds that they they come out
in sinful behaviors.
They come out in things likeperfectionism, overfunctioning,
outbursts of anger, severeanxiety, jealousy, resentment,
uh, triggers or defensiveness orisolating ourselves.
Um, a need to be liked, um,rigidity.
(11:08):
So, for example, a person likeme, or many of you are listening
to this podcast, you're you'republic figures, and you speak in
front of folks and you're in,you're leading.
Um, but a shadow side of that isyou have you may have this great
need for affirmation andvalidation from other people.
So you may have a great drivefor excellence and high quality.
(11:28):
Well, that that's a good thing,but the shadow side of
excellence is that there's noroom for mistakes and you're
perfectionistic.
Or you're zealous for God'swork, but uh the shadow side is
you don't listen to people.
Uh, you don't let peopledisagree with you because you're
on fire going forward.
Or uh you you have a you have agreat desire to achieve, you're
(11:50):
a three on the Enneagram.
That's a good thing.
You'll have objectives, but theproblem is when you end up
setting a pace for all thosearound you where you're working
a pace that actually exhaustspeople.
So, and again, if we're notaware of our shadow, we end up
impacting everybody around us,not just ourselves.
So, how do we face it?
We we we face it uh in a numberof ways.
(12:10):
We face it the my my number oneway is is we actually do we
actually look at our geneagramto explore the impact of the
past on the present.
The geneagram is a tool wedeveloped over a 17-year period.
It's a way of getting at theshadow.
I yeah, I mean, uh many of youare familiar with the Enneagram.
I think it's a great tool.
We have things like um all kindsof tools out there, you know, my
(12:35):
exactly enagram, I think isgreat.
But the nothing like thegeneogram gets at the shadow.
And there's different levels ofdoing the geneogram.
And if you I hope you're engagedin the emotionality,
spirituality, and relationshipscourse where you do a geneagram,
you look at your family fromdifferent angles.
Um, it took us 17 years todevelop that tool to help people
face their shadow, especiallyleaders.
(12:55):
But by getting at it, it beginsto help us look at things from
our past that are hindering usin the future.
It helps us face our shadow.
A second way to uh do it is tofind trusted people to give
impact and to give um uh uh asense of feedback to us.
It can be in a form oftherapists, which I I think I
(13:17):
think every leader should dotherapy at some point, things
holding us back from what Godhas for us, or spiritual
directors or mentors, uh,finding men and women who are
spiritually ahead of you, whocan speak into your life, who
can reflect back to you whatit's like to be with you.
Um I'm just a believerthroughout your whole life you
need mentors.
And so I trust you have a way toget at your shadow is having
(13:39):
these people ahead of you inyour life.
And thirdly, is to do a 360.
360 is a tool used often inbusiness, but it's a way of
getting people around you whoare maybe ahead, above you,
below you, next to you.
And they they is it's a it's astructured process where they
give feedback of what it's liketo be around you in different
kinds of relationships.
(14:00):
It's very powerful, but you'vegot to be open to it.
Uh, and I would encourage you tolook that up for your team, for
you personally, you go first.
But it's it takes courage.
This summons courage from all ofus because when we do this kind
of work, we have to allowourselves to be asked tough
questions and to be able to hearfeedback that is difficult.
(14:21):
And so when we lead a team,facing our shadow is so
important because to the degreethat we have faced our shadow,
we can help those on our teamface theirs and help them grow
through it and mature in Jesus.
Because you can't take peoplewhere you haven't gone yourself.
Um, that is that is just theprinciple.
How could you take people whereyou haven't gone yourself?
(14:42):
So you ought to know thevulnerabilities of those on your
team that you're supervising,volunteered or paid.
And then you shape yoursupervision and feedback to
them, not just for theirperformance, but also for their
formation.
You're doing formation andyou're integrating this now into
your supervision.
So, for example, you're askingpeople as part of their your
supervision, you're asking aboutareas where their shadow is be.
(15:06):
So for example, I think if oneperson was a high perfectionist
and and um did not, so theydidn't take any risks.
Uh, they didn't want to failever or look weak.
And so part of, I'd ask themeach week, where have you failed
this past week?
Where have you taken a risk, youknow, for God?
Or someone else who who wasvery, uh, again, back to his
(15:26):
wounds, uh would not sharevulnerably or would not express
any weakness.
Uh, very smart guy, very gifted.
So every week, his supervisorwould ask him, where were you
vulnerable this week?
Where did you uh, like Paul,embrace weakness versus using
your gifts and intellect tobasically do the ministry?
(15:50):
Uh another person was, you know,uh she she was an excellent
leader, uh, but she had uh somereal abuse growing up.
And so she had challenged reallydifficulty using her voice.
And then being a female pastor,another challenge uh with that.
And so every week, asking herabout she'd be asked in her
supervision about self-care,because that was her shadow was
(16:11):
she didn't allow herself to takecare of herself.
She didn't allow herself tofeel, she didn't allow herself
to dream, she didn't know, shewould just take care of
everybody else.
And so part of her shadow withcaretaking is good, but you need
to do that out of a full cup.
So she'd be asked that weekly.
Uh and another fellow I knew whowas a uh another excellent
pastor on staff, but he didn't,he didn't um uh he was he was a
(16:34):
task, do, do, do, do, do.
And so he had it, he had to hehad difficulty connecting with
his spouse, with his wife.
And so to put marriage as apriority was really a shadow for
him to shift his life to whereconnection with her and then
other people became now primary,not something tertiary after all
(16:55):
the work was done.
And every week I'd ask him,how's it going with your you
know, leading out of yourmarriage, which is our second
point.
Uh, and he grew.
And then finally, another fellowI knew who never did anger, he
was a gifted guy, pastor,overseeing other pastors, but he
didn't do conflict.
He didn't do anger, he didn't dodisagreements, but he came from
a family where nobody got angryexcept his father.
(17:16):
And so he could never, I askedhim, was, could you ever fire
anybody?
He said, No, never.
And so it was a huge limit tohis life because he was so
averse to conflict, but it was ashadow and he worked through
that.
So let me ask you this.
Based on your history, yourcommandments of your family of
origin, what does someone needto ask you every week?
(17:37):
Think about that.
What does someone need to askyou every week so they make sure
that you're facing your shadowand in a sense, conquering it?
Listen, we all are like Jacob.
We have a limp, but we want tobe walking to what God has for
us.
Let me encourage you, justbefore I go to point two here,
uh check out the EmotionallyHealthy Leader book.
We in our website, there's athere's a free study guide.
There's some free short videos.
(17:59):
Uh just go toemotionallyhealthy.org slash
leader.
It is a book used in seminariesand leadership schools all over
the world.
It is worth your team uh takingweek by week over the nine
chapters and discussing it uhchapter by chapter, uh, each of
the topics to four, at least thefour I'm gonna mention today.
There's others that how thisbuilds out into a church
(18:22):
leadership team, the emotionallyhealthy leader.
But just go toemotionallyhealthy.org slash
leader.
Lots of free resources there foryou, and I think you'll you'll
find it really helpful.
Okay, so so if we're gonnaaddress the insufficient
formation in ourselves and ofour leaders, we've got to face
our shadow.
But and that's emotional health.
(18:42):
The second one is is anothercore I call emotional health
piling or steel beam, and it'sleading out of your marriage or
singleness, leading out of yourmarriage or singleness.
The church's greatest failureshappen behind closed doors in
homes for singles and marriages.
Uh, and yet the issue of singlesand marriage is probably the
(19:04):
greatest neglect in ourformation of people, both in our
churches and of course inleaders, because our marriages
or our singleness is actuallythe loudest gospel message we
preach.
And if our private life is thin,our public life erodes.
Uh, every marriage and everysingle person is meant to be a
(19:27):
missional sign and wonder to theworld.
Uh, it's the truest window intoour integrity and the quality of
our walk with God.
That's why Paul makes it in 1Timothy 3 what are the
requirements for an overseer.
Our whole life is to bearwitness to the love of God.
Uh, what it'll be signs andwonder to that.
But in our marriage andsingleness in particular, uh we
(19:49):
are we are to do that as in asense, we're called to Jesus and
we're called to be married orsingle, or we are for a season.
And it's our it's meant to beour first ambition as followers
of Christ is to integrate ourwalk with Jesus into our
marriages or singleness.
It's our first ambition that wemight be signs and wonders that
taste of heaven, that oursingleness or our marriages are
(20:10):
suffused with heaven.
They they taste of heaven.
They're a concrete, visible signof the kingdom of God here on
earth, because we'll all bemarried to Jesus someday.
That's the there's a picturegiven in scripture from Genesis
to Revelation.
We will spend eternity one withhim, married to him.
We'll see him face to face.
There will be no earthlymarriage.
And so we are signs and wonderswhile on earth, uh, bearing
(20:34):
witness.
We're like a, I like to call ita we're trailers, like a like a
free book chapter on Amazon.
You read a chapter, it's atrailer to buy the book or a
trailer of a movie.
It's meant to you watch two,three minutes and it tastes of
something.
Say, I want to watch that wholemovie.
Well, our marriages andsingleness are meant to reveal
the depth and the breadth of alove of God in different ways.
(20:56):
And they are meant to givepeople a taste of God's love in
the world, of something ofheaven concrete on earth.
We're small working models ofGod's new creation, of the
kingdom of God here on earth, inus in the church, and our
marriages and singleness.
But that requires training, thatrequires equipping, that
requires formation.
I know I didn't get that uh inmy formation, uh, in my first 17
(21:21):
years.
Uh, but we but it's something wedesperately need to address in
our church.
And we're making somethingconcrete that is invisible.
So again, facing your shadow andleading out of your marriage or
singleness are are, I call them,these are core emotional health
anchors.
Okay.
This numbers three and four areactually more contemplative or
(21:44):
slow down spirituality.
The third one is so this one isthe next one is slowing down for
loving union with Jesus.
We've got to live our liveswhere we slow down our our our
the pace of our lives so that weare abiding, we're remaining, we
are uh we're we're praying,praying always, we're always
(22:06):
remembering Jesus all throughour days.
We are in loving union, onenesswith our Lord to whom we're
married.
That's a you know, it's one ofthe best images of our
relationship with God.
Um we're we're loving union,nice definition is we're giving
Jesus full access into our lifeand our will.
We're praying always.
(22:26):
Uh the great image of that is uhto me, one of the great stories
is Acts 19, the sons of Skeva.
Uh, they these seven sons ofSkeva had watched Paul's
powerful ministries of signs andwonders.
They're like, they're like, wow,they saw his quote success and
they wanted it.
And so they began to preach, andthey would say uh they would,
(22:47):
they would uh try to cast outevil spirits in the name of
Jesus.
But the problem is they didn'thave a relationship with Jesus
that of loving union.
And so at one point, you know,the seven sons of Skeva, a demon
screams back at them and says,Jesus I know and Paul I know,
but who are you?
In other words, we know Jesus.
The demons say, We know Paul,because he has a he's one with
(23:09):
Jesus, but we don't know you.
And then a Demons, you know,take them and beat them up, you
know, and and uh Acts 19, it's agreat story.
But they don't have arelationship of loving union.
When we don't do the work ofJesus out of a relationship of
loving union with Jesus, uh, itends up really bad.
We see that Moses, the samething in Moses, and uh uh as he
(23:30):
approaches the promised land inthe book of Numbers, he gets
really frustrated and angry withthe people uh because they're
complaining and bitter to him.
And he's so frustrated.
It's been 40 years he's beenleading these people.
He he wants to go to thepromised land, and it's just to
the very end, they're giving hima hard time.
And he strike, God says, speakto the rock, you know, and I'll
I'll I'll take care of them.
(23:51):
Uh, but no, he strikes the rocktwice.
He's so frustrated, uh, and hegets out of loving union with
the Father.
And as a result, he doesn't goand see the promised land.
But I'm talking here aboutslowing down your life for
loving union with Jesus,spaciousness, um, being with
Jesus, being with yourself soyou can be with others and
discern what he's doing.
(24:13):
This this is so big, and uh, youknow, it this has to be
addressed in our formationbecause uh to be busy, to not
have sufficient loving unionwith Jesus, it just is a crack
and it influences everything.
It's uh and if anything I'velearned over these decades is
that this is so massive thatwe've got to make some kind of a
(24:37):
drastic shift.
Now, you've heard me in otherpodcasts talk about scripture
and silence and stillness anddaily offices and sabbaticals
and a rule of life and all this,and drawing from the riches of
2,000 years of monasticism inthe church to form us so that
we're active, but we're in asense, we've gone to the desert
(24:57):
as you know, monks, all of us.
Like we're living a con we'recontemplatives with God.
We've we've made such a shift inour lifestyle that we're so
deeply anchored.
It's almost like we're living,you know, daily offices,
anchored three, four times aday.
We're Sabbathing, we're we'vegot rhythms, but we're we're
we're not, we're in the world,but we're not part of it.
I really actually believe thescandals we're living in are a
(25:19):
kairos moment because there'ssuch a hunger and thirst from
the, especially the younggeneration, 20s, 30s, uh, 40s,
of those who are pastoring andleading around the world saying,
I want something more.
And I think we've seen it inemotionally healthy uh
discipleship, the enormousnumbers of people coming to us
(25:41):
and saying, what is this orderof emotionally healthy leaders
that you guys are piloting?
We've heard something aboutthat.
What is this rule of life forpastors and leaders?
How do I get in this thing?
Because there's a need forcommunity.
That's why I think it's a kairosmoment.
I think it transcendsdenominations and races and
cultures and movements andnetworks.
It's it's folks, leaders saying,I want to walk in loving union
(26:03):
with Jesus, and I I want to, Ineed community for that.
And that's that's one of thegreat learnings I've had.
And it's taking me to churchhistory and learning from the
past and what the church hasdone in similar moments as ours,
which is gathering together asleaders around the rule of life
for the sake of mission incommunity.
So, again, one of our biginitiatives is community.
(26:25):
And that's why we're having thisemotionally healthy leaders
conference, September 30th,October 1st, for two days in New
York City, so we can begin toform community on a wider scale
around the world.
So this insufficient formationhas one more, one more topic,
and I'll just touch on one moresteel beam.
So it's face your shadow, it'slead out of your marriage or
singleness, it's slow down forlove and union, and finally,
(26:48):
it's practice Sabbath delight.
Practice Sabbath delight.
It's it's it's it's a 24-hourtime frame where each week I
stop, rest, delight, andcontemplate God through what I
do.
But Sabbath is about a rhythm inmy days.
That's that's first.
Uh, and we learned this, ofcourse, from from Judaism, 3,500
years.
It's a spiritual formationpractice, it's not all legalism.
(27:10):
It's like prayer and Biblestudy.
Uh, you're not if you're notpraying and reading scripture,
you're probably not growing verymuch.
Well, same way, if you're notSabbathing, you know, weekly,
you're you're too busy.
You got too much going on.
Uh, and not just weekly, butquarterly, annually, sabbaticals
every seven to eight years.
I've had four.
Um, but in in Sabbath, we breaksomething.
(27:34):
We break that addiction todoing, to task.
It's like getting off crack,heroin.
It's, it's, it's, it regulatesus.
We were wired to work, paid andunpaid work, six days, and we
were wired to Sabbath to theLord our God.
There's a lot to Sabbath.
And and uh I like what WalterBrigaman says.
It's resistance.
Sabbath is resistance to thepowers and principalities.
(27:57):
We are warring against powersand principalities as leaders.
Uh, Ephesians 3.10, we we'remaking, we're manifesting the
powers and principalities thatthe eternal purpose of God, that
Jesus is Lord.
And we do this by thistransformed lifestyle.
And so Sabbath is just afoundational pillar in that.
So it's one of the ways thatwe're also a sign and wonder to
(28:18):
our people.
And so again, we're building aculture, we're modeling culture
uh to those that we lead.
And it's for us, it's for ourfolks we love and love us, and
it's for those we lead.
It's for the sake of mission inthe world uh that we practice
Sabbath delight that of God'sgifts that come to us every day.
(28:39):
And so I want to encourage youuh to get that anchor in place
because we're headed to aneternal Sabbath where we see Him
face to face.
But every week we're invited totaste it, to swim in eternity on
a 24-hour period.
Uh so again, it's face orshadow, it's lead out of your
marriage or singleness, it'sslow down for love and union,
(29:00):
and it's practice Sabbathdelight.
These are anchors.
And we want to invite you to geton this journey with us in
emotionally healthy discipleshipand get part of a community and
you're part of the world uh towalk this radical way out
because it is a kairos moment.
God is doing something, it is anew day that in the midst of
what seems like uh fragmentationand death, God is birthing and
(29:24):
resurrecting some new things.
I believe we are actually one ofthose new things.
So uh let me invite you again togo to emotionallyhealthy.org
slash leader and uh check outthe discussion guide for the
emotionally healthy leader book,get with some people and uh go
through each of the chapters.
I've mentioned four of thechapters here today, uh, but
(29:45):
begin to dig into some of the,maybe watch the free videos, use
the discussion guide.
But this all it's it's a meatybook.
It needs to be discussed andtalked about, but more
importantly, it needs to belived.
And that's again why we'reinviting you to connect with us
at Emotionally HealthyDiscipleship.
So I pray God's blessing on you.
May his face shine on you, maythe spirit of God fall on you,
(30:08):
may God grant you energy, power,the power, the immeasurable
power of God that is for you,that is for me, that is for his
church, that the world mightknow that Jesus is Lord.
So God bless you and have awonderful, wonderful day!
Hi, my name is Pete Scazaro.
I want to welcome you today tothe Emotionally Healthy Leader
Podcast.
Our topic today is the scandalbeneath all the church scandals
and what to do about it.
All right, let's begin now.
Our focus today of scandals.
And uh scandals have been goingon for the decades since I've
(01:41):
been a Christian, since the1970s.
And it's not just any more sotoday than it was then.
It's been continuous through mydecades of walking with Jesus.
And it's not just here in theUnited States, in North America
and Canada, it's not just aWestern church issue.
It's a global church issue fromAfrica to Latin America to Asia
to the Mideast, Australia, NewZealand, you name it, it is a
(02:02):
global issue.
Now, I heard a statisticrecently that only 30% of
leaders finish well.
I don't know how true that is.
However, uh, in my ownexperience, I'd say that's
probably about right.
Uh, but we want to get today atthe scandal beneath the scandal.
And so uh uh a unique moment weare living in is because of
(02:26):
social media and globalcommunications, when there's a a
high-level scandal, uh, it's nowyou know spoken all over the
world.
It goes everywhere.
Uh, the lack of integrity in thechurch, of us claiming to be
something countercultural butnot living up to it, now becomes
secular news.
And so we all have a vestedinterest in this topic.
(02:46):
It's so critical, not just forpastors, board members, uh
leaders and churches, all of uswho name the name of Jesus,
because the very name andmission of Christ, the glory of
God is at stake in this.
And it applies to everyminister.
I don't care how small or largeyour church is, the future of
the mission of Jesus is at stakeand the next generation of
leaders that we're forming.
(03:07):
So scandals don't begin the daythey're exposed.
They they begin years earlier,very, very quietly.
They in in small decisions made,whether it's boardrooms, staff
teams, behind closed doors, andin small compromises and ignored
red flags and poor decisionsmade.
Um and if we're going to addresswhat's happening today, we've
(03:31):
got to get this beneath thescandal.
So I want to I want to suggestto you, I want to suggest
something, a very simple answeruh that you can take to the
bank, and that's this.
And it's a very serious answerthat church scandals are not
about public relations.
It's not about structures, it'snot about the pressure of living
in the 21st century.
It's not financial.
It's way bigger and clearer thaneven that.
(03:55):
It's about formation, it's aboutinsufficient formation of our
leaders and pastors around theworld.
Uh, and Jesus told us thatthere's going to be great
pressure on the church.
He in Matthew 24, for example,you read about him talking about
the end of history and whichwhich we're in the end times
before he returns.
(04:15):
And he speaks about wars andrumors of wars and false
teachers coming out anddeceptions and the love of many
growing cold and that many willfall a well.
And he speaks about this what'scalled in Greek phylipsis,
intense pressure that's going tobe on the church.
Um, but he says, don't bealarmed.
This is God's plan and it'snecessary.
And he describes it as birthpangs, that these are, these
(04:36):
are, these are agonizing, it'sbloody, but something God is
birthing is happening here.
And uh, so he puts the anguishand the pressure in the context
of labor birthing, of somethingis ending and something new is
coming forth, which is a a newheaven and a new earth, and the
glory of God will fill the earthas we know it.
And so so the church will bebesieged at the end, he says, by
(04:59):
false time teachers, and andmany will even be deceived.
And so he says at that time, uhthe love of many will grow cold.
And so it's happened.
Many have uh, because ofscandals, become so discouraged
by you know the church thatthey've left uh in great
numbers.
And we're actually seeing thatuh today.
(05:20):
So and actually Jesus refers tothe fact that much of which is
despicable in the church isgoing to be exposed.
And that's why he calls itintense pressure.
But he says, listen, I've toldyou this ahead of time.
So, so relax, he says, and anduh you know, he says almost be
calm, you know, relax.
I'm telling you ahead of time.
And then secondly, he goes, doyour assigned task, do what I've
(05:40):
given you to do faithfully.
He who he who perseveres to theend, he says, will be saved.
So stay faithful, stay firm,stay anchored.
And so again, because it canfeel very destabilizing uh
what's going on around us.
But Jesus is not wringing hishead, his hands in heaven,
frustrated.
So the question is, how do weform leaders in the midst of
great pressure so that leadersdon't collapse over time, a long
(06:05):
period of time?
So scandals happen when people'spower and authority outpaces
their character.
Scandals happen when theirpeople's influence grows faster
than their formation.
Scandals happen when giftinggrows faster than people's
maturity in Jesus.
(06:26):
And scandals happen whenministry expands faster than
people's inner life expands withit.
And so scandals reveal, theythey reveal what's happening
underneath, this the shallowdiscipleship, because all
leadership is really high-leveldiscipleship.
It's Jesus with the 12, he'smaking disciples, he's forming
(06:47):
leaders.
So I put discipleship in thesame category as leadership
development.
It's just intense leadershipdevelopment.
So the structure I want to givefor our podcast today is going
to come out of a book I wroteactually 11 years ago called The
Emotionally Healthy Leader,because it's a great structure.
And I stand by those, uh, what Iwrote there in that book about
(07:09):
the inner life informing theouter life.
And I give four core inner lifeissues that have got to be
addressed.
If anything, my thinking theselast 11 years has only expanded
and matured from these fourprinciples.
And I'll share that more at theend towards the podcast, and
you'll fill it.
So I take the image uh in theemotionally healthy leader book
(07:31):
from uh a New York Cityskyscraper, because Manhattan is
built on sky, it's built onrock.
And you have all these massive80, 90, 100-story skyscrapers
filling the skyline.
But the to build theseskyscrapers, they have to put
steel beams or pilings deep intothe rock.
And the higher up thatbuilding's gonna go, the deeper
(07:51):
in the rock they must go.
And uh, so I had a friend whowas a construction engineer, and
he told me about when they didnot put the steel beams or
pilings in properly, that whenthey started to build the
skyscraper, the building startedto lean to the right or to the
left, or or cracks began toappear in the walls, or they
couldn't open the windows.
And so I either had to knock theskyscraper down and redo the
(08:15):
steel beams going into the rock,or they had to um knock the, you
know, knock the building down,lift it up, uh, and redo it all
over again.
And so um, in the same way, Ifound there's four core steel
beams that must go into the rockuh in our inner lives if we're
gonna build outer ministries,planning, decision-making, team
(08:36):
building, exercising power,fueling mission around the
world.
But these four issues are core.
And I want to take them one byone here today uh and expound on
them.
If we're gonna get to thescandal, we need the scandals
and really address theinsufficient formation that I
believe we're engaging inleadership development all
around the world in allcontexts.
(08:58):
The first one is this that we'vegot to uh in our formation,
we've got to really equip peopleto face their shadow.
We've got to help leaders facetheir shadow.
Now, I'm gonna define shallowvery simply uh is the
accumulation of untamedemotions, less than pure motives
and thoughts, and they'relargely unconscious, not all the
(09:20):
time, but they influence our andshape our behaviors.
So it's this damaged version ofwho we actually really are.
So another way to look at it iswounds from our histories, from
from living in a sinful world.
We all get wounded.
And sometimes the wound ortrauma, you can call it also, we
all have trauma.
There's big T trauma, thenthere's small T trauma.
It's just part of living in abroken, fallen world, regardless
(09:42):
of the kind of family you grewup in or context.
And those wounds are things thathappen to us that should never
happen to anybody or as a child,or things like, for example,
abuse.
I know that was the case withme, emotional, uh, physical
abuse that really damaged me,and some dynamics of my family
growing up that really impactedand wounded me deeply.
(10:02):
I had to do a lot of work toactually deal with it and look
at it and break its power overmy life.
But then less obvious wounds aregood things that should have
happened to us, but didn't.
Good things that we should havegotten that we never did get.
And it and a wound creates ascar tissue.
Scar tissues get hard.
(10:23):
They don't feel, they they theydon't have end, they don't have
endings to grow.
And so people get stuck in theirwounds.
And when you're in leadership,if we don't face our shadow, we
end up casting that shadow,impacting all those around us.
But if we have light flowing outof our inner being, we also cast
light to all those around us.
So facing our shadow, we'retalking about these sinful
(10:46):
tendencies inside of us orwounds that they they come out
in sinful behaviors.
They come out in things likeperfectionism, overfunctioning,
outbursts of anger, severeanxiety, jealousy, resentment,
uh, triggers or defensiveness orisolating ourselves.
Um, a need to be liked, um,rigidity.
(11:08):
So, for example, a person likeme, or many of you are listening
to this podcast, you're you'republic figures, and you speak in
front of folks and you're in,you're leading.
Um, but a shadow side of that isyou have you may have this great
need for affirmation andvalidation from other people.
So you may have a great drivefor excellence and high quality.
(11:28):
Well, that that's a good thing,but the shadow side of
excellence is that there's noroom for mistakes and you're
perfectionistic.
Or you're zealous for God'swork, but uh the shadow side is
you don't listen to people.
Uh, you don't let peopledisagree with you because you're
on fire going forward.
Or uh you you have a you have agreat desire to achieve, you're
(11:50):
a three on the Enneagram.
That's a good thing.
You'll have objectives, but theproblem is when you end up
setting a pace for all thosearound you where you're working
a pace that actually exhaustspeople.
So, and again, if we're notaware of our shadow, we end up
impacting everybody around us,not just ourselves.
So, how do we face it?
We we we face it uh in a numberof ways.
(12:10):
We face it the my my number oneway is is we actually do we
actually look at our geneagramto explore the impact of the
past on the present.
The geneagram is a tool wedeveloped over a 17-year period.
It's a way of getting at theshadow.
I yeah, I mean, uh many of youare familiar with the Enneagram.
I think it's a great tool.
We have things like um all kindsof tools out there, you know, my
(12:35):
exactly enagram, I think isgreat.
But the nothing like thegeneogram gets at the shadow.
And there's different levels ofdoing the geneogram.
And if you I hope you're engagedin the emotionality,
spirituality, and relationshipscourse where you do a geneagram,
you look at your family fromdifferent angles.
Um, it took us 17 years todevelop that tool to help people
face their shadow, especiallyleaders.
(12:55):
But by getting at it, it beginsto help us look at things from
our past that are hindering usin the future.
It helps us face our shadow.
A second way to uh do it is tofind trusted people to give
impact and to give um uh uh asense of feedback to us.
It can be in a form oftherapists, which I I think I
(13:17):
think every leader should dotherapy at some point, things
holding us back from what Godhas for us, or spiritual
directors or mentors, uh,finding men and women who are
spiritually ahead of you, whocan speak into your life, who
can reflect back to you whatit's like to be with you.
Um I'm just a believerthroughout your whole life you
need mentors.
And so I trust you have a way toget at your shadow is having
(13:39):
these people ahead of you inyour life.
And thirdly, is to do a 360.
360 is a tool used often inbusiness, but it's a way of
getting people around you whoare maybe ahead, above you,
below you, next to you.
And they they is it's a it's astructured process where they
give feedback of what it's liketo be around you in different
kinds of relationships.
(14:00):
It's very powerful, but you'vegot to be open to it.
Uh, and I would encourage you tolook that up for your team, for
you personally, you go first.
But it's it takes courage.
This summons courage from all ofus because when we do this kind
of work, we have to allowourselves to be asked tough
questions and to be able to hearfeedback that is difficult.
(14:21):
And so when we lead a team,facing our shadow is so
important because to the degreethat we have faced our shadow,
we can help those on our teamface theirs and help them grow
through it and mature in Jesus.
Because you can't take peoplewhere you haven't gone yourself.
Um, that is that is just theprinciple.
How could you take people whereyou haven't gone yourself?
(14:42):
So you ought to know thevulnerabilities of those on your
team that you're supervising,volunteered or paid.
And then you shape yoursupervision and feedback to
them, not just for theirperformance, but also for their
formation.
You're doing formation andyou're integrating this now into
your supervision.
So, for example, you're askingpeople as part of their your
supervision, you're asking aboutareas where their shadow is be.
(15:06):
So for example, I think if oneperson was a high perfectionist
and and um did not, so theydidn't take any risks.
Uh, they didn't want to failever or look weak.
And so part of, I'd ask themeach week, where have you failed
this past week?
Where have you taken a risk, youknow, for God?
Or someone else who who wasvery, uh, again, back to his
(15:26):
wounds, uh would not sharevulnerably or would not express
any weakness.
Uh, very smart guy, very gifted.
So every week, his supervisorwould ask him, where were you
vulnerable this week?
Where did you uh, like Paul,embrace weakness versus using
your gifts and intellect tobasically do the ministry?
(15:50):
Uh another person was, you know,uh she she was an excellent
leader, uh, but she had uh somereal abuse growing up.
And so she had challenged reallydifficulty using her voice.
And then being a female pastor,another challenge uh with that.
And so every week, asking herabout she'd be asked in her
supervision about self-care,because that was her shadow was
(16:11):
she didn't allow herself to takecare of herself.
She didn't allow herself tofeel, she didn't allow herself
to dream, she didn't know, shewould just take care of
everybody else.
And so part of her shadow withcaretaking is good, but you need
to do that out of a full cup.
So she'd be asked that weekly.
Uh and another fellow I knew whowas a uh another excellent
pastor on staff, but he didn't,he didn't um uh he was he was a
(16:34):
task, do, do, do, do, do.
And so he had it, he had to hehad difficulty connecting with
his spouse, with his wife.
And so to put marriage as apriority was really a shadow for
him to shift his life to whereconnection with her and then
other people became now primary,not something tertiary after all
(16:55):
the work was done.
And every week I'd ask him,how's it going with your you
know, leading out of yourmarriage, which is our second
point.
Uh, and he grew.
And then finally, another fellowI knew who never did anger, he
was a gifted guy, pastor,overseeing other pastors, but he
didn't do conflict.
He didn't do anger, he didn't dodisagreements, but he came from
a family where nobody got angryexcept his father.
(17:16):
And so he could never, I askedhim, was, could you ever fire
anybody?
He said, No, never.
And so it was a huge limit tohis life because he was so
averse to conflict, but it was ashadow and he worked through
that.
So let me ask you this.
Based on your history, yourcommandments of your family of
origin, what does someone needto ask you every week?
(17:37):
Think about that.
What does someone need to askyou every week so they make sure
that you're facing your shadowand in a sense, conquering it?
Listen, we all are like Jacob.
We have a limp, but we want tobe walking to what God has for
us.
Let me encourage you, justbefore I go to point two here,
uh check out the EmotionallyHealthy Leader book.
We in our website, there's athere's a free study guide.
There's some free short videos.
(17:59):
Uh just go toemotionallyhealthy.org slash
leader.
It is a book used in seminariesand leadership schools all over
the world.
It is worth your team uh takingweek by week over the nine
chapters and discussing it uhchapter by chapter, uh, each of
the topics to four, at least thefour I'm gonna mention today.
There's others that how thisbuilds out into a church
(18:22):
leadership team, the emotionallyhealthy leader.
But just go toemotionallyhealthy.org slash
leader.
Lots of free resources there foryou, and I think you'll you'll
find it really helpful.
Okay, so so if we're gonnaaddress the insufficient
formation in ourselves and ofour leaders, we've got to face
our shadow.
But and that's emotional health.
(18:42):
The second one is is anothercore I call emotional health
piling or steel beam, and it'sleading out of your marriage or
singleness, leading out of yourmarriage or singleness.
The church's greatest failureshappen behind closed doors in
homes for singles and marriages.
Uh, and yet the issue of singlesand marriage is probably the
(19:04):
greatest neglect in ourformation of people, both in our
churches and of course inleaders, because our marriages
or our singleness is actuallythe loudest gospel message we
preach.
And if our private life is thin,our public life erodes.
Uh, every marriage and everysingle person is meant to be a
(19:27):
missional sign and wonder to theworld.
Uh, it's the truest window intoour integrity and the quality of
our walk with God.
That's why Paul makes it in 1Timothy 3 what are the
requirements for an overseer.
Our whole life is to bearwitness to the love of God.
Uh, what it'll be signs andwonder to that.
But in our marriage andsingleness in particular, uh we
(19:49):
are we are to do that as in asense, we're called to Jesus and
we're called to be married orsingle, or we are for a season.
And it's our it's meant to beour first ambition as followers
of Christ is to integrate ourwalk with Jesus into our
marriages or singleness.
It's our first ambition that wemight be signs and wonders that
taste of heaven, that oursingleness or our marriages are
(20:10):
suffused with heaven.
They they taste of heaven.
They're a concrete, visible signof the kingdom of God here on
earth, because we'll all bemarried to Jesus someday.
That's the there's a picturegiven in scripture from Genesis
to Revelation.
We will spend eternity one withhim, married to him.
We'll see him face to face.
There will be no earthlymarriage.
And so we are signs and wonderswhile on earth, uh, bearing
(20:34):
witness.
We're like a, I like to call ita we're trailers, like a like a
free book chapter on Amazon.
You read a chapter, it's atrailer to buy the book or a
trailer of a movie.
It's meant to you watch two,three minutes and it tastes of
something.
Say, I want to watch that wholemovie.
Well, our marriages andsingleness are meant to reveal
the depth and the breadth of alove of God in different ways.
(20:56):
And they are meant to givepeople a taste of God's love in
the world, of something ofheaven concrete on earth.
We're small working models ofGod's new creation, of the
kingdom of God here on earth, inus in the church, and our
marriages and singleness.
But that requires training, thatrequires equipping, that
requires formation.
I know I didn't get that uh inmy formation, uh, in my first 17
(21:21):
years.
Uh, but we but it's something wedesperately need to address in
our church.
And we're making somethingconcrete that is invisible.
So again, facing your shadow andleading out of your marriage or
singleness are are, I call them,these are core emotional health
anchors.
Okay.
This numbers three and four areactually more contemplative or
(21:44):
slow down spirituality.
The third one is so this one isthe next one is slowing down for
loving union with Jesus.
We've got to live our liveswhere we slow down our our our
the pace of our lives so that weare abiding, we're remaining, we
are uh we're we're praying,praying always, we're always
(22:06):
remembering Jesus all throughour days.
We are in loving union, onenesswith our Lord to whom we're
married.
That's a you know, it's one ofthe best images of our
relationship with God.
Um we're we're loving union,nice definition is we're giving
Jesus full access into our lifeand our will.
We're praying always.
(22:26):
Uh the great image of that is uhto me, one of the great stories
is Acts 19, the sons of Skeva.
Uh, they these seven sons ofSkeva had watched Paul's
powerful ministries of signs andwonders.
They're like, they're like, wow,they saw his quote success and
they wanted it.
And so they began to preach, andthey would say uh they would,
(22:47):
they would uh try to cast outevil spirits in the name of
Jesus.
But the problem is they didn'thave a relationship with Jesus
that of loving union.
And so at one point, you know,the seven sons of Skeva, a demon
screams back at them and says,Jesus I know and Paul I know,
but who are you?
In other words, we know Jesus.
The demons say, We know Paul,because he has a he's one with
(23:09):
Jesus, but we don't know you.
And then a Demons, you know,take them and beat them up, you
know, and and uh Acts 19, it's agreat story.
But they don't have arelationship of loving union.
When we don't do the work ofJesus out of a relationship of
loving union with Jesus, uh, itends up really bad.
We see that Moses, the samething in Moses, and uh uh as he
(23:30):
approaches the promised land inthe book of Numbers, he gets
really frustrated and angry withthe people uh because they're
complaining and bitter to him.
And he's so frustrated.
It's been 40 years he's beenleading these people.
He he wants to go to thepromised land, and it's just to
the very end, they're giving hima hard time.
And he strike, God says, speakto the rock, you know, and I'll
I'll I'll take care of them.
(23:51):
Uh, but no, he strikes the rocktwice.
He's so frustrated, uh, and hegets out of loving union with
the Father.
And as a result, he doesn't goand see the promised land.
But I'm talking here aboutslowing down your life for
loving union with Jesus,spaciousness, um, being with
Jesus, being with yourself soyou can be with others and
discern what he's doing.
(24:13):
This this is so big, and uh, youknow, it this has to be
addressed in our formationbecause uh to be busy, to not
have sufficient loving unionwith Jesus, it just is a crack
and it influences everything.
It's uh and if anything I'velearned over these decades is
that this is so massive thatwe've got to make some kind of a
(24:37):
drastic shift.
Now, you've heard me in otherpodcasts talk about scripture
and silence and stillness anddaily offices and sabbaticals
and a rule of life and all this,and drawing from the riches of
2,000 years of monasticism inthe church to form us so that
we're active, but we're in asense, we've gone to the desert
(24:57):
as you know, monks, all of us.
Like we're living a con we'recontemplatives with God.
We've we've made such a shift inour lifestyle that we're so
deeply anchored.
It's almost like we're living,you know, daily offices,
anchored three, four times aday.
We're Sabbathing, we're we'vegot rhythms, but we're we're
we're not, we're in the world,but we're not part of it.
I really actually believe thescandals we're living in are a
(25:19):
kairos moment because there'ssuch a hunger and thirst from
the, especially the younggeneration, 20s, 30s, uh, 40s,
of those who are pastoring andleading around the world saying,
I want something more.
And I think we've seen it inemotionally healthy uh
discipleship, the enormousnumbers of people coming to us
(25:41):
and saying, what is this orderof emotionally healthy leaders
that you guys are piloting?
We've heard something aboutthat.
What is this rule of life forpastors and leaders?
How do I get in this thing?
Because there's a need forcommunity.
That's why I think it's a kairosmoment.
I think it transcendsdenominations and races and
cultures and movements andnetworks.
It's it's folks, leaders saying,I want to walk in loving union
(26:03):
with Jesus, and I I want to, Ineed community for that.
And that's that's one of thegreat learnings I've had.
And it's taking me to churchhistory and learning from the
past and what the church hasdone in similar moments as ours,
which is gathering together asleaders around the rule of life
for the sake of mission incommunity.
So, again, one of our biginitiatives is community.
(26:25):
And that's why we're having thisemotionally healthy leaders
conference, September 30th,October 1st, for two days in New
York City, so we can begin toform community on a wider scale
around the world.
So this insufficient formationhas one more, one more topic,
and I'll just touch on one moresteel beam.
So it's face your shadow, it'slead out of your marriage or
singleness, it's slow down forlove and union, and finally,
(26:48):
it's practice Sabbath delight.
Practice Sabbath delight.
It's it's it's it's a 24-hourtime frame where each week I
stop, rest, delight, andcontemplate God through what I
do.
But Sabbath is about a rhythm inmy days.
That's that's first.
Uh, and we learned this, ofcourse, from from Judaism, 3,500
years.
It's a spiritual formationpractice, it's not all legalism.
(27:10):
It's like prayer and Biblestudy.
Uh, you're not if you're notpraying and reading scripture,
you're probably not growing verymuch.
Well, same way, if you're notSabbathing, you know, weekly,
you're you're too busy.
You got too much going on.
Uh, and not just weekly, butquarterly, annually, sabbaticals
every seven to eight years.
I've had four.
Um, but in in Sabbath, we breaksomething.
(27:34):
We break that addiction todoing, to task.
It's like getting off crack,heroin.
It's, it's, it's, it regulatesus.
We were wired to work, paid andunpaid work, six days, and we
were wired to Sabbath to theLord our God.
There's a lot to Sabbath.
And and uh I like what WalterBrigaman says.
It's resistance.
Sabbath is resistance to thepowers and principalities.
(27:57):
We are warring against powersand principalities as leaders.
Uh, Ephesians 3.10, we we'remaking, we're manifesting the
powers and principalities thatthe eternal purpose of God, that
Jesus is Lord.
And we do this by thistransformed lifestyle.
And so Sabbath is just afoundational pillar in that.
So it's one of the ways thatwe're also a sign and wonder to
(28:18):
our people.
And so again, we're building aculture, we're modeling culture
uh to those that we lead.
And it's for us, it's for ourfolks we love and love us, and
it's for those we lead.
It's for the sake of mission inthe world uh that we practice
Sabbath delight that of God'sgifts that come to us every day.
(28:39):
And so I want to encourage youuh to get that anchor in place
because we're headed to aneternal Sabbath where we see Him
face to face.
But every week we're invited totaste it, to swim in eternity on
a 24-hour period.
Uh so again, it's face orshadow, it's lead out of your
marriage or singleness, it'sslow down for love and union,
(29:00):
and it's practice Sabbathdelight.
These are anchors.
And we want to invite you to geton this journey with us in
emotionally healthy discipleshipand get part of a community and
you're part of the world uh towalk this radical way out
because it is a kairos moment.
God is doing something, it is anew day that in the midst of
what seems like uh fragmentationand death, God is birthing and
(29:24):
resurrecting some new things.
I believe we are actually one ofthose new things.
So uh let me invite you again togo to emotionallyhealthy.org
slash leader and uh check outthe discussion guide for the
emotionally healthy leader book,get with some people and uh go
through each of the chapters.
I've mentioned four of thechapters here today, uh, but
(29:45):
begin to dig into some of the,maybe watch the free videos, use
the discussion guide.
But this all it's it's a meatybook.
It needs to be discussed andtalked about, but more
importantly, it needs to belived.
And that's again why we'reinviting you to connect with us
at Emotionally HealthyDiscipleship.
So I pray God's blessing on you.
May his face shine on you, maythe spirit of God fall on you,
(30:08):
may God grant you energy, power,the power, the immeasurable
power of God that is for you,that is for me, that is for his
church, that the world mightknow that Jesus is Lord.
So God bless you and have awonderful, wonderful day!
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