In the wake of George Floyd’s death, Americans and people around the globe are expressing outrage and grief on a level I’ve never seem in my lifetime. It appears to be a moment in which God is doing something significant in the world and the church. In this podcast, I offer one of the major contributions of EH Discipleship to this issue–the genogram as a tool to unlock the roots of generational racism in our families, cultures, countries, and institutions. Geri and I spent over 17 years developing this tool because of its unique power to help us get at roots in our discipleship with and for Jesus. I look at my particular genogram from the perspective of how issues of race were handled, and what was passed on to me growing up as an Italian American. I then talk about my journey as a new believer and, eventually a pastor, with bridging race,. Read more.

In this podcast, I introduce the elements of one way to move from traditional devotions to transformative devotions through the integration of the practice of the Daily Office. In particular, I focus on the four elements of this ancient treasure that utterly transformed my spiritual life: Rhythms Silence Focus on Communion Flexibility/Freedom I focus on only the first two in this podcast – rhythms and silence. I begin by offering tips to get started on developing a rhythm of stopping to be with Jesus each day. I then do the same with silence, sharing ideas on how to be still before the Lord – be it for two minutes or twenty. Persevering in the practice of silence and stillness as core to your time with God, however, is incredibly challenging – especially in the beginning. So, I close with ten reasons to encourage you to persevere and to not quit. They are: We know. Read more.

In this podcast I talk about one key, often overlooked, ingredient of mature leaders – prudence. As Proverbs says, “…she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.   Prov. 3:13-15 This is a topic particularly important today with the many conspiracy theories and misinformation around COVID-19 reaching new levels of intensity -both inside and outside the church.  But my passion around this biblical theme comes from a deeper source – that of making so many foolish decisions in my own leadership. How many times did I appoint volunteers and staff too quickly without asking hard questions? How often did I add a new ministry without thinking through the support it would need? How many times did I say yes to a commitment without looking at my calendar? In this podcast, I unpack the word prudence from the book. Read more.

In this podcast, I begin with the reminder that success is becoming the person God has called us to become and doing what God calls us to do. In other words, detaching from the outcomes and circumstances we want, and surrendering to God and his will, is success — regardless of where that takes us. Most of us want the world to unfold in a certain way – clinging to things we love and resisting those we don’t like. Covid-19 has introduced us into a reality that highlights our attachments and invites us to a deep place of surrender. After contrasting Mary’s surrendered will with the apostle Peter and his self-will, I invite you to three things in this podcast: Integrate Silence/Stillness and Surrender as Core to Your Prayer Life.  Surrender to the “Dark ways of God” by Detaching from our Small Ideas of Him. Lead for Jesus out of a Deep Place of. Read more.

This podcast addresses another critical biblical theme for leaders during this Covid-19 pandemic– detachment, that we might follow Jesus, allowing him to birth what he desires in and through us. God has revealed, through this present crisis, our attachment to our plans, our need for security and control, etc. and our strong self-will. In this podcast, I draw from Meister Eckhart, a Dominican theologian, pastor, and scholar from the 13th century in Germany who has done some of the most profound thinking around detachment in church history. He defines detachment as a “cutting off or cutting away” of every created thing to which our self-will has attached itself. As Jesus said, “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). As Eckhart says: “to be empty of all created things is to be full of God and to be full of created things. Read more.

Surrendering to God’s Season When Life Turns Upside Down Discerning what season you, your family, your ministry, and the world are in right now may be our most important leadership task. Discerning properly our season will determine our priorities, decisions, and pace – for ourselves and our teams. Failing to discern properly will result in all kinds of internal anguish and wasted energy.  That is the theme of this podcast. Scripture teaches us there is a time or season for everything under heaven: To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven…a time to plant and a time to uproot…a time to weep and a time to laugh… a time to be silent and a time to speak” (Eccl. 3:1 – 8). I expound on the seasons of Fall (transitions), Winter (death), Spring (fruitfulness), and Summer (abundance), examining, in particular, the winter season in which we now find ourselves. This. Read more.