The Discerning Leader Podcast
Religion & Spirituality Podcasts
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.
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.
Location:
United States
Description:
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.
Language:
English
Episodes
Michelle Sanchez | Your Discerning Life Story, Episode 13
6/23/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Michelle Sanchez
“In a racially broken world, what we need for disciples to be is not color-blind, but color-courageous.” – Michelle Sanchez
Michelle Sanchez is Executive Ministry of Make and Deepen Disciples for the Evangelical Covenant Church, a multiethnic denomination of over 900 congregations throughout North America. She is also the author of Color-Courageous Discipleship book series. As she notes, it’s far better to become color-courageous than to be...
Duration:00:36:33
Jenn Giles Kemper | Your Discerning Life Story, Episode 12
6/16/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Jenn Giles Kemper “What if the things that bring you joy are an arrow pointing you to God?” – Jenn Giles Kemper
Jenn Giles Kemper is the Founder of Sacred Ordinary Days, offering intentional spiritual guidance for those desirous of a wholistic life in Christ. They create tools and curate resources for a global community of ecumenical believers. Jenn’s a contemplative entrepreneur with a heart for the health and vitality of the body of Christ. She’s creative,...
Duration:00:42:00
Al Lopus | Your Discerning Life Story, Episode 11
6/9/2022
Host: Steve Macchia | Guest: Al Lopus “Divine providence called me and I answered the phone.” – Al Lopus
Today’s discerning life story features the founder of Best Christian Workplace Institute, Al Lopus, who joins us to share his wisdom about the keys to outstanding organizational life. His new book, The Road to Flourishing: Eight Keys to Boost Employee Engagement and Well-Being covers eight priorities to greater effectiveness. Based on extensive research, the eight keys also spell the...
Duration:00:37:57
Mindy Caliguire | Your Discerning Life Story, Episode 10
6/2/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Mindy Caliguire "Everything I believe about soul care came about because of the collapse of my interior life." – Mindy Caliguire
President and Co-Founder of Soul Care, Mindy Caliguire shares about her experiences in spiritual formation ministry and a life of soul care for herself and others. She looks back to the challenges of church planting and her early days of releasing a life of the strategic and analytical in order to “swan dive” into the depth of her...
Duration:00:40:27
Cheryl Buchanan | Your Discerning Life Story, Episode 9
5/26/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Cheryl Buchanan “It was me that needing saving from my prejudice, judgments, and ignorance. It was me that needed to grow.” – Cheryl Buchanan
Cheryl Buchanan is the co-founder of New Story Community (NewStoryCommunity.net), a ministry designed to promote the flourishing of indigenous women in safety, beauty, and community. Meeting in a retreat center in British Columbia, Canada, this new ministry is a safe haven for women who are seeking to be freed of addictions...
Duration:00:42:14
Debby Mills | Your Discerning Life Story, Episode 8
5/19/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Debby Mills “Debby, you are a peacemaker, but you are deeply troubled.” – Debby Mills
Growing up, Debby Mills became disillusioned with the church but never gave up on God. And he never gave up on her. In her professional career and her family life, Debby naturally serves from a belief that every life matters to God and should therefore matter to us. As an adult, she was baptized and confirmed in her local church, which led her into a deeper exploration of faith....
Duration:00:44:51
Sara Singleton | Your Discerning Life Story, Episode 7
5/12/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Sara Singleton “In my painful disappointments, I learned how to be content, and I learned of God’s love and sufficiency.” – Sara Singleton
Sara Singleton shares her story about the obvious and mysterious ways that she has been discerning the hand and heart of God for several decades. She begins with how she and her husband Jim met during college, and fell in love thanks to the grace of God. Jim was for her “the safest person on earth” and their marriage has been...
Duration:00:42:30
Gordon MacDonald Part 2 | Your Discerning Life Story, Episode 6
5/5/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Gordon MacDonald "Expect to reorganize your interior life every 7-10 years." –Gordon MacDonald
Gordon MacDonald’s “View From Eighty” continues in this episode with the following issues and ideas:
Live modestly, stay free of debt, be generous, develop a financial plan, and be wary of those who try to buy your favor;Expect to reorganize your interior life every 7-10 years;Receive complements, criticism and counsel with humility and appreciation, avoid whining,...
Duration:00:35:27
Gordon MacDonald Part 1 | Your Discerning Life Story, Episode 5
4/28/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Gordon MacDonald “Your number one priority in the Lord’s work is your family.” –Gordon MacDonald
“The View from Eighty” is a synopsis of Gordon MacDonald’s discernment today. What are the 15 things I’ve observed in myself and others, that make you either a success or failure in life and ministry, fulfilling all that God invites? In this episode we cover the first 7 items:
Prioritize the most significant people in your world;Never (ever!) stop growing; stay...
Duration:00:48:14
John Pearson | Your Discerning Life Story, Episode 4
4/21/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: John Pearson “Once you taste spiritual discernment, you won’t want to go back to the old way of decision-making.” –John Pearson
John Pearson is a leadership and management consultant, who formerly served as CEO of the Willow Creek Association, Christian Camp and Conference Association, and Christian Leadership Alliance. His “Weekly Staff Meeting” email reviews at least one book per week, including The Discerning Life (sign up at www.managementbuckets.com). He...
Duration:00:45:03
Nate Foster | Your Discerning Life Story, Episode 3
4/14/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Nate Foster “The Jesus way is clear: hang out with 12 nobodies and then give them the keys.” –Nathan Foster
Nate Foster is the son of Richard Foster, renowned spiritual formation leader and founder of Renovare, where Nate serves as director of Community Life. He shares how his awareness of God’s engagement in his life grew from a lot of quiet reflection. It’s here that he notices God filling the gaps, often most apparent long after the fact and in quiet...
Duration:00:45:45
Eric Peterson | Your Discerning Life Story, Episode 2
4/7/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Eric Peterson "God is in everything, in all the details of life, and not just the pleasant ones." –Eric Peterson
Eric Peterson is the son of Eugene Peterson, author of The Message translation of the Bible, who found his way to faith and pastoral ministry with reluctance. As he reflects on his discerning life, he describes his journey as along a luminous trail, a metaphor based on mountain climbing. Slugging his way up the mountain, he looks back and down and sees...
Duration:00:43:26
The LTI Story | Your Discerning Life Story, Episode 1
3/31/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott "Formation, discernment, and renewal are threads woven into everything we do at Leadership Transformations." – Matt Scott
Season 18 will focus on life stories shaped around spiritual discernment as a lifestyle, beginning with the Leadership Transformations story, nearly 19 years in the making. Spiritual formation, discernment, and renewal are embedded into everything we are and do as a ministry. And, it all began in the summer of 2002. Steve recounts...
Duration:00:35:16
40-Day Guide | The Discerning Life Episode 10
3/24/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott "We need a common language and experience for how best to live a discerning life individually and collectively." –Steve Macchia
As we conclude season 17, we discuss The Appendices of The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything. Inspired by Rueben Job, Steve’s kind, gracious, humble and loving mentor, this 40-day guide to spiritual discernment introduces the reader to a common language and experience of discernment. This is helpful...
Duration:00:35:29
Radical Lifestyle | The Discerning Life Episode 09
3/17/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott "My true home is in Christ’s heart and Christ’s home is my heart. That’s radical!" – Steve Macchia
Today’s episode focuses on chapter nine and the Epilogue of The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything. In this conversation we discuss the radical nature of the discerning life, a lifestyle marked by a transformed heart. With God as the Mastermind of the necessary renovations of our hearts and lives, we learn to trust him in all...
Duration:00:32:36
Practical Process | The Discerning Life Episode 08
3/10/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott “Asking ‘Why?’ is the hardest and most important question to consider in virtually every circumstance of life.” – Steve Macchia
In chapter eight of The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything, today’s episode covers the very intentional and deliberative process of spiritual discernment for groups and individuals. Here we build on the foundation of a discerning life and enter into the phase of decision-making that grows from the...
Duration:00:47:19
Intentional Focus | The Discerning Life Episode 07
2/28/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott “The discerning life requires a radical and renewed change of heart and mind.” – Steve Macchia
Today we are diving into chapter seven of The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything. We unpack the importance of shifting from a self-directed to a Spirit-empowered life, and the radical choices that implies. A renewed mind is a changed mind, transformed by the invitation to consider the various levels of soul care and its parallel to...
Duration:00:45:35
Contextual Empathy | The Discerning Life Episode 06
2/24/2022
"All spiritual discernment happens within a story-laced context." – Steve Macchia Chapter six of The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything, is the topic of today’s conversation. Here we unpack the importance of understanding and appreciating the various contexts that have shaped our lives…as well as the lives of those we are called to love and serve in Jesus. The gift of empathy is the goal – walking in each other’s shoes and showing grace, mercy, kindness and love to...
Duration:00:42:58
Communal Hospitality | The Discerning Life Episode 05
2/17/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott “Practicing biblical hospitality is first and foremost toward the lost, the least, the lonely, and the left behind.” – Steve Macchia
Chapter five of The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything, is the topic of today’s conversation. In this conversation we explore the meaning of biblical hospitality, and how Jesus invites us to become receivable to all who cross our path. We acknowledge that our preparation is one of the greatest...
Duration:00:37:22
Relational Presence | The Discerning Life Episode 04
2/10/2022
Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott “The discerning life is relational and based primarily in a listening presence.” –Steve Macchia
Chapter four of The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything, is the topic of today’s conversation. A discerning life is best fulfilled in the presence of one another, as we offer grace upon grace to each of our relationships. It’s important to recognize the power of listening and learn to love and honor one another in spite of our quirks...
Duration:00:40:27