Spiritual Life and Leadership

In a time of immense change, how should churches do ministry?  How should pastors and leaders lead their churches and organizations?  Should we set a BHAG--a Big Hairy Audacious Goal?  Should we set one-year, five-year, and ten-year goals?Or is there another way?  Could it be that what we need are not big, enormous goals, but simple to take small steps and achieve short-term wins?THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDES:Markus Watson questions whether or not churches today should set BHAGs--Big Hairy Audacious Goals.“Small steps and short-term wins are the best approach, rather than big programs or large-scale planning.”  --Alan Roxburgh, The Missional LeaderWe are living in a time of discontinuous change.Continuous change is the kind of change that is expected and understood.Discontinuous change is unexpected and hard to understand.In times of discontinuous change, Markus Watson suggests churches should not set large goals; rather they should conduct small experiments.Missteps and small losses can be just as valuable for churches today as small steps and short-term wins.Whether through wins or losses, the most important thing, according to Markus Watson, is to keep learning.Through their small wins and losses, churches can learn about their neighbors, about themselves, and about God.To learn more, join one of these learning experiences:Leading Your Church Through Change, a free online course that teaches the process of action-reflection as a method for leading change in your church.Adaptive Church Leadership Cohort, an 18-month deep-dive learning cohort led by Tod Bolsinger and the Church Leadership Institute to help you navigate change in a disruptive world.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Books mentioned:The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World, by Alan Roxburgh and Fred RomanukBuilt to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, by Jim CollinsOnline courses and cohorts:Leading Your Church Through ChangeAdaptive Church Leadership CohortSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Kevin Nye is the author of Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness, and Housing Director of a non-profit youth center.  In this episode, Kevin helps us understand some of the misconceptions about homelessness—what’s really going on—and what we can do about it.  Specifically, he helps us understand why the first thing we should do is provide housing for those who need it, not because they’ve earned it, but as an act of grace.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Kevin Nye is the author of Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness, and Housing Director a non-profit youth center.Having attended Fuller Seminary, Kevin Nye initially intended to be a pastor.Kevin Nye helps us understand some of the common misconceptions about homelessness.One common misconception about homelessness is that people who experience homelessness somehow deserve it.Kevin Nye invites us to respond to the challenge of homelessness with grace.  That is, we should not focus on what people deserve or earn in order to receive help when struggling with homelessness.Markus shares about an encounter he had with a homeless person that day and Kevin offers his response.Every challenging or uncomfortable encounter we have with a person experiencing homelessness is likely the result of some kind of systemic failure that has led or kept that person where they are.A person who experiences homelessness has fallen through every social safety net.Challenges like addiction and mental illness are much easier to address and manage when a person has housing.The housing first strategy costs less than the current system which tends to keep people where they are.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Kevin NyeWebsite – www.kevinmnye.comTwitter - @kevinmnye1Instagram - @kevinmnyeFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/knye1Books mentioned:Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness, by Kevin NyeSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Todd Hall, author of The Connected Life and professor of Psychology, discusses the importance of secure attachments in healthy leadership. He explores the impact of attachment styles on relationships, the role of positive experiences in healing, and how past attachment experiences can affect our relationship with God. The discussion emphasizes the significance of building healthy connections and embracing our leadership potential.

Allen Hilton is the author of A House United: How the Church Can Save the World and founder of the non-profit, A House United.  In this episode, we discuss the rise of political divisiveness that has invaded our churches.  And we address what we can do about it.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Allen Hilton is the author of A House United: How The Church Can Save the World. Allend Hilton has been a New Testament professor at Yale Divinty School, has served as a pastor for 15 years, and in 2016 started a non-profit called A House United.The problem that America is facing today is that we don’t “stay at the table.”According to Allen Hilton, the church bears responsibility for the polarization in America today.Allen Hilton shows how the church throughout history—even the early church—has been prone to polarization.In choosing the twelve disciples, Jesus chose people who were politically diametrically opposed to each other.Allen Hilton suggests that if we can get 70% of Christians to be willing to have conversations with people they disagree with, things will begin to change.They way we increase shalom is by getting good at being together across difference.People’s primary identity is their political affiliation.  If churches never address politics in our discourse, then we will fail to connect with what is most important to people.Allen Hilton explains Mission 4.0:Mission 1.0 is evangelism.Mission 2.0 is charity and service.Mission 3.0 is justice.Mission 4.0 is unity in the church and beyond the church.Allen Hilton does a daily devotional which you can sign up for HERE.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Allen Hilton:House United Movement websiteNewsletterE-mail: allen@houseunitedmovement.orgBooks mentioned:A House United, by Allen HiltonSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Amy Sherman is the author of Agents of Flourishing and a Senior Fellow at the Sagamore Institute.  In this conversation, Amy is going to help us understand six “community endowments”—six arenas of life—that need to be strong in order for those communities to truly be flourishing communities.  And then Amy gives us some great starting points to help us discern how God may be calling us to contribute to and strengthen those endowments in our communities.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Amy Sherman is the author of Agents of Flourishing and a Senior Fellow at the Sagamore Institute.Agents of Flourishing is a response to the need Amy Sherman sensed from pastors and ministry leaders—the need to know how to bring shalom into the world.Amy Sherman explains that shalom is a Hebraic concept referring to total wholeness.Jesus came into the world as an agent of flourishing.  Jesus brought shalom into the world and calls us to join him in the ongoing work of restoring shalom.Amy Sherman structured Agents of Flourishing around six “community endowments,” originally developed by the Thriving Cities Group.The six community endowments are:The TrueThe GoodThe BeautifulThe Just and Well-orderedThe SustainableThe ProsperousA city that is strong in only one or two these won’t be a truly thriving city.  Cities need all (or at least most) of these endowments to be strong.The goal of Agents of Flourising is to help pastors and churches take stock of their own gifts and passions and discern which of these endowments they might contribute to.Amy Sherman encourages churches to take stock of their assets.  This might include physical assets like buildings and classrooms, relational assets like partnerships with other churches or organizations, and financial assets.Amy Sherman also recommends assessing the strengths, gifts, and assets of the community outside the church.Too often churches rush to start a new program.  Sometimes it’s better to partner with an organization already doing good work.Made to Flourish, together with Amy Sherman, designed a helpful “Skill Mapping Survey.”You can find out more about Amy Sherman at the Sagamore Institute’s Center on Faith in Communities website.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Sagamore InstituteCenter on Faith in CommunitiesThriving Cities GroupMade to FlourishSkill Mapping SurveyBooks mentioned:Agents of Flourishing, by Amy ShermanKingdom Calling, by Amy ShermanThe Last Juror, by John GrishamBeautiful on the MSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Scott Sabin is the Executive Director of Plant with Purpose, an organization that works with people in poverty all over the world to restore the land where they live so that they can become self-sustaining.  It’s an organization that recognizes that they are not the saviors of the poor, they are partners who work with the poor.In this episode, Scott shares about the work of Plant with Purpose.  Then, Scott and Markus draw connections between the way Plant with Purpose does its mission work and how  the healthiest churches do ministry in their neighborhoods.  And it all comes down to recognizing people as "partners, not projects."THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDES:Scott Sabin is the Executive Director of Plant With Purpose, author of Tending to Eden, and an elder at Mount Soledad Presbyterian Church.The mission of Plant with Purpose begins with the recognition that many of the world’s poorest people depend directly on the well-being of the land for their survival.Plant with Purpose works to alleviate poverty in three ways:Environmental restorationEconomic empowerment through Purpose Groups (savings groups)Spiritual renewal through a biblically based curriculumPlant with Purpose focuses its work around watersheds for a variety of practical reasons.Once Plant with Purpose identifies an area in which to work, they begin networking with local leaders.Asset-mapping is an important component of Plant with Purpose’s work.  What are the assets in a particular community?Plant with Purpose seeks to collaborate with other organizations in the area.It is critical to hear from all the different parts of a community (not just one or two groups).The staff that does the work locally are local to the region (or, at least, local to the country).  They are not outsiders.Plant with Purpose views the people the serve as “partners, not projects.”Scott and Markus reflect on how Plant with Purpose’s strategies and methods could be applied to local church ministry.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Plant with PurposeBooks mentioned:Tending to Eden, by Scott SabinWalking with the Poor, by Bryant MyersBeyond Thingification, by Markus WatsonRelated episodes:Episode 115: Poverty Alleviation and Spiritual Leadership, with Rob Gailey, author of Development in MissionSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Mark Roberts is the former Executive Director of Fuller Seminary’s DePree Center for Leadership.  Mark now leads the Third Third Initiative at the DePree Center.In this episode, Tod Bolsinger and Markus Watson discuss three clips from a recent webinar by Mark Roberts on the topic of nostalgia.  We learn about the difference between historical nostalgia and personal nostalgia.  We discuss the positive effects of nostalgia.  And then we reflect on how to lead people pastorally through the experience of nostalgia. THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Tod Bolsinger is the Executive Director of Fuller Seminary’s Church Leadership Institute and the author of Canoeing the Mountains and Tempered Resilience.Mark Roberts is the former Executive Director of Fuller Seminary’s DePree Center for Leadership.  Mark now leads the Third Third Initiative at the DePree Center.Mark Roberts and Tod Bolsinger have been friends for a long time.  The topic of this podcast episode came about as they were talking over dinner about the value of nostaligia.Mark Roberts, Clip 1:  The difference between historical nostalgia and personal nostalgia.Historical nostalgia has to do with thinking the past is better than the present.Many churches are in decline.  If they try to go back to the glory days, they decline even faster.Mark Roberts, Clip 2:  The Positive Effects of NostalgiaPersonal nostalgia is a bittersweet yearning for the past.Part of personal nostalgia is knowing you can’t go back; so it’s not trying to go back.Nostalgia shouldn’t make you go back to the past.  It should energize you to live more fully in the present.There is something lifegiving about nostalgia.Reframing the values of the past to be the healthiest expression of the future is what is lifegiving to a church.Churches have to help people grieve that we’re never going to go back to the past.Mark Roberts, Clip 3:  Two Pastoral Responses to NostalgiaWhen people feel nostalgic about their church, the pastor can 1) turn the nostalgia to gratitude or 2) acknowledge the bittersweetness of remembering the pastGratitude is critical in a healthy, mature organization.Gratitude reminds us that God was faithful in the past and will be faithful as we move into the future.Attunement accelerates change.Attunement is what happens when people empathize with each other and their brains start firing together.The Church Leadership Institute’s Adaptive Church Leadership Cohort is designed to help churches respond to nostalgia in a healthy way so that they can navigate and lead change in a healthy way as they move into the future.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Church Leadership InstituteAdaptive Church Leadership CohortDePree Center for LeadershipThird Third InitiativeBooks mentioned:Canoeing the Mountains, by Tod BolsingerSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

What is a digital silent retreat?  In this episode, Laura Murray, a pastor and spiritual director, will tell the story of how she began to use Zoom to lead digital silent retreats while people were quarantining due to Covid, as well as offer insight into how to lead your own digital silent retreats. THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDES:Laura Murray is a pastor, a spiritual director, and regularly hosts digital silent retreats.Laura started leading digital silent retreats as a response to the experience of isolation due to the Covid quarantine that began in March 2020.Laura Murray knew it was important for people to have solitude and silence, but also to have connection—to be able to talk about their experience and what they were feeling.Laura explains how the digital silent retreat is structured.Participants in the digital silent retreats are asked to prepare before they show up, such as putting it on your calendar and letting their families know they’ll be unavailable during that time.The digital silent retreats are limited to the host plus eight people.Participants tend to find courage from one another in their sharing in the digital space.Laura Murray reflects on whether it would be better if they met in person.Meeting by Zoom has some advantages over in-person.  For instance, it levels the group socio-economically.According to Laura Murray, hospitality is a cornerstone practice for the digital silent retreats.Two other key practices are generosity and spacious guidance.Hospitality creates safe space for people to open up.  Hospitality also has boundaries.Laura Murray helps us understand the connection between leadership and hospitality.We need to have a clear “why” when doing digital silent retreats.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Laura Murray:Website – www.laurabmurray.com/retreatsBooks mentioned:This Here Flesh, by Cole Arthur RileyChurch Leadership InstituteSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Nicholas Pearce is the author of The Purpose Path.  He is also Clinical Professor of Management & Organizations at Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management and Founder & CEO of The Vocati Group.In this episode, Nicholas Pearce discusses what success really is.  Spoiler alert—it has nothing to do with bigger, better, and more.  It has to do with faithfully following the purpose to which God has called us.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Nicholas Pearce is the author of The Purpose Path.  He is also Clinical Professor of Management & Organizations at Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management and Founder & CEO of The Vocati Group.Nicholas Pearce says that many of us learn to define success from an early age based on how those around us define success.The question, “What is success?” is best answered by faithfulness.According to Nicholas Pearce, success is best thought of as simple faithfulness one decision at a time.Many people climb the ladder of success, but feel like failures when they get to the top.Our definitions of success are like rudders that orient us in certain directions, impacting our sense of purpose.Nicholas Pearce makes the case that sometimes moments of purpose present themselves as distractions or disruptions.Nicholas Pearce shares how he has had to redefine success in his own life in order to more faithfully pursue his purpose.Sometimes we need to pivot when pursuing our purpose.God is not always going to do the miraculous.  Sometimes God just wants to see if you’ll put into practice what you know.Nicholas Pearce suggests that instead of praying for clarity, maybe we should be praying for courage, specifically vocational courage.Nicholas Pearce offers words of advice and encouragement for ministry leaders and pastors who are struggling to follow their purpose path.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Nicholas Pearce:Twitter - @napphdInstagram - @napphdWebsite – www.nicholaspearce.orgBooks mentioned:The Purpose Path: A Guide to Pursuing Your Authentic Life's Work, by Nicholas PearceBrighter by the Day: Waking Up to New Hopes and Dreams, by Robin RobertsChurch Leadership InstituteSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

Authors Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch discuss the need to recalibrate the church around Jesus. They address the challenges faced by the evangelical church and the importance of refocusing on Jesus' teachings. The conversation highlights the significance of discipleship and the essential role of embodying Christ's values in the church community.