The Discerning Leader Podcast
The Discerning Leader podcast is for Christian leaders who are interested in discovering the joy of "practicing a preference for God" in all aspects of their personal lives and relationships, their leadership and service to others. Each episode our host, Steve Macchia, founder and president of Leadership Transformations, Inc. (LTI), with friends from the LTI community, will explore one aspect of spiritual discernment as a way of life. Join us on this refreshingly transformational journey and add your voice to this leadership conversation.
Episodes
Host: Steve Macchia Guest: James Hauptman
"Without a humble, attentive heart our self centeredness will not lead to the abundance of a God-empowered life." - Steve Macchia
2026 begins with a brand new season of The Discerning Leader Podcast. Featuring James Hauptman, Steve Macchia hosts a rich conversation around well-ordered living that comes fro...
Host: Steve Macchia Co-Host: Matt Scott
As we step into a new year, this episode invites us to resist the urge to sprint and instead begin 2026 with deliberate, unhurried intentionality. In this final episode of Season 37, Steve Macchia and Matt Scott offer a thoughtful conversation about the gift of slowing down and embracing inefficiency. They explore how slowness creates space for the deeper formation our souls long for—an invit...
Host: Steve Macchia, Co-Host: Matt Scott
"Solitude and silence are a gift when experienced together. And when they are practiced within a community, they can become a place of significant growth and maturation." - Steve Macchia
Many people find solitude uncomfortable. The idea of being alone with our own thoughts can feel overwhelming—even daunting. Yet solit...
Host: Steve Macchia, Co-Host: Matt Scott
"Silence is the place where the deepest work happens in our lives." - Steve Macchia
Advent loses its meaning when it is overwhelmed by constant noise. Silence invites the noise to quiet down, helping us recognize the inner distractions we often ignore. It is in these moments of stillness ...
Host: Steve Macchia, Co-Host: Matt Scott
"We have to say no to the demands of this world. We have to create some space that is sacred and holy and dedicated wholly to our heart's devotion to Jesus." - Steve Macchia
We often give into a compulsion to complicate the simple and clutter that which is spacious. What if this Advent was different for you? In this podcast conversation, Steve Macchia and Matt Scott explore way...
Host: Steve Macchia, Co-host: Matt Scott
"Simplicity? It goes against the grain of our society. We're needing to make a concious choice to say no to the excess and to the busyness." - Steve Macchia
How is it that the most wonderful time of the year often draws us into excess and exhaustion? Tune into the first episode of Season 37 as Steve Macchia and Matt Scott explore th...
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: J.R. Briggs
"We don't know how to ask good questions and point to another because we're just so fixated on ourselves." - Steve Macchia
Steve Macchia and J.R. Briggs remind leaders that transformation begins by asking better, more honest questions. Their conversation invites us to slow down, listen deeply, and cultivate curiosity that leads to wiser, Spirit-led discernment. Receive the invit...
Host: Steve Macchia Guest: Gary Thomas
"A simple definition of spiritual formation is that the pathway to a deeper walk with God is aligning a deep understanding of the truth about God with the truth about ourselves." – Steve Macchia
In this week's episode of The Discerning Leader Podcast, Steve Macchia shares a conversation with long-time friend Gary Thomas. In Gary's most recent book,
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Alison Cook
"To have a healthy sense of identity and focus intently on what matters most, that's what we're all longing for." - Steve Macchia
Curiosity, boundaries, healing, and integration. In Episode 10 of Season 36, Steve Macchia interviews Dr. Alison Cook as she shares wisdom and insight from these themes in her recent book "I Shouldn't Feel This Way." A psychotherapist, author, online educator and t...
"Relational health and vitality is based on our ability to be empathetic toward one another as God has been empathetic toward us." - Steve Macchia
In Episode 36.09 of The Discerning Leader Podcast, Steve Macchia interviews Bill and Kristi Gaultiere of Soul Shepherding as they share wisdom from their recent book, Deeply Loved. Together, they discuss how the life-giving and life-changing power of empathy raises emotional intelligence...
"Reading is yet another way we can notice and discern the work of God in everyday life." – Steve Macchia
Why should we read? It's a qu...
"There's so much of us that is yet to be explored because we don't access our imagination." - Steve Macchia
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Bill Simmons
"We tend to go other places…our work, our relationships, our hobbies, our attachments as opposed to simply finding our rest in God." - Steve Macchia
In this episode of The Discerning Leader Podcast, Steve Macchia welcomes Bill Simmons to share themes from his new book, The Way of Interruption: Spiritual Practice for Organizational Life. Bill is the president and CEO of Hope Rises, Internatio...
Host: Steve Macchia, Guests: Mimi Dixon
"Let us reflect with gratitude on this movement-making piece of literature that has entered our hearts and the spiritual formation world. We are so grateful for the faithfulness of Richard Foster." - Steve Macchia
Miriam (Mimi) Dixon began her ministry in 1979 and has been building up local churches ever since. Holding both an MDiv and DMin degree from Fuller The...
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Jimmy Mellado
"When we have an awareness of a need, will we run to the need? Are we going to be known for our generosity or fo...
Host: Steve Macchia, Guests: Nicholas and Sheila Rowe
<...
Host: Steve Machia, Guest: Dave Ripper
"In essence, the number one question we ought to be asking ourselv...
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Suz Skinner
"Our pr...
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Gordon Macdonald
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Gordon Macdonald
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