Tag Archives: discipleship

John the Baptist: The Unlikely Emotionally Healthy Leader – EH Leader Podcast

Imagine making your personal list of the top 10 most emotionally healthy leaders found in the Bible. Would John the Baptist make the list as a strong leadership role model? Possibly not. Taken from the opening sermon of the 2017 Emotionally Healthy Leadership Conference, Pete looks at three aspects that make John the Baptist an extraordinary model of leadership. He knew himself and he knew God. John the Baptist was very aware of who he was and was not influenced by what others thought of him. He was free from impressing people but was completely attuned to what God’s mission was for him. He was deeply aware of issues surrounding him. John the Baptist realized there was a cultural crisis of shallow spirituality in which people kept the rules but did not have a vibrant relationship with the Father. He knew his limits. John the Baptist realized that his job was not to change. Read more.

Loving Your Enemies as “Saint-Makers” – EH Leader Podcast

Who is your “enemy” today? I’m referring to someone who drives you crazy, who irritates you, a person you resent because they’ve hurt you or betrayed you. This is, undoubtedly, one of the largest challenges for each of us A number of years ago, while on a Trappist monastery retreat, the Prior shared a profound insight about enemies as “saint-makers,” and that, whenever we live in community, God sends them to us as a gift. Why? So that we mature into the likeness of Jesus. In this podcast I talk about a number of powerful truths around Jesus’ command: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? (Matthew 5:43,46). For example, you will learn why: Few things are more important than learning not to judge, or despise, others. Our enemies are not an interruption to our spiritual life with God,. Read more.

Climb the Ladder of Integrity – EH Leader Podcast

If you will master The Ladder of Integrity, the theme of this podcast, you will live more freely and joyfully as a leader. You will waste a lot less energy living in reaction to the expectations, demands and agendas of others so that you can invest your energy in what God has given you to do. When helping a pastor/leader who is struggling with an inner conflict, I often ask, “What is your integrity calling you to do?” Most hesitate before responding because they have rarely thought deeply about what they believe and value. They have seldom considered the dissonance between their outer and inner life, between their actions and their values. Twenty-one years ago, Geri and I began developing practical skills to help us (and others) live with greater integrity and clarity amidst the complexities of church leadership. These became the core of we call today The Emotionally Healthy Relationships Course. One tool,. Read more.

Your Integrity and Your Leadership: Part 2 – EH Leader Podcast

Living with integrity, whether you are in your twenties or seventies, is no small task. In this podcast, I lay the foundation for a leader’s integrity by discussing four critical areas: 1. Integrity with God. Throughout church history, one of the seven deadly sins was described as sloth. This referred not just to laziness, but to busyness with the wrong things. We are overly active because we cannot bear the effort demanded by a life of solitude with God. The Desert Fathers had no patience for activism, even godly activity, unless it was nourished by a rich interior life with God. They repeatedly warned about being engaged in activity for God before the time is ripe. 2. Integrity with Yourself. Leadership in the church can do violence to your soul. When we give to others out of our emptiness, we are of little value to those we serve. One of our greatest challenges is. Read more.

Your Integrity and Your Leadership: Part 1 – EH Leader Podcast

The first crisis the early church confronted was a crisis of integrity. In the book of Acts, a married couple named Ananias and Sapphira pretend to sell their property and give all that money to the church. The reality, however, was they kept back part of it. They pretend to be something on the outside that they are not on the inside. And God’s immediate and drastic judgment falls on them. The apostle Peter, the leader of the church, sees this lack of integrity as an invasion of the powers of darkness into their community of the Holy Spirit. He knows the power of the Spirit will be quenched without truth and integrity. Thus, he calls it out. I have rushed through areas of my leadership more times than I want to remember. I have avoided meetings I knew would be hard. I have skimmed on truth when it was uncomfortable. I have preferred. Read more.

10 Questions to Ask in the Crucible of Differentiation – EH Leader Podcast

When I was in a very painful season of differentiation during 2006 and 2007, I developed a set of questions that I wrote in my journal and returned to over and over again. They became an anchor for me as I regularly and prayerfully brought them to God during my morning prayer time, asking Him for wisdom and power to deeply change me. I mark that season as a crucible – painful, severe, purifying, yet liberating. Without doubt, it was a turning point in my 30 years of growing into a more effective pastor. And they formed the foundation of The Emotionally Healthy Leader book that I wrote eight years later. When I accidentally rediscovered them in an old journal recently, I was taken aback at how carefully I had crafted the questions for myself, and how they had become so much a part of me after that two-year period. I offer them to. Read more.

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