Tag Archives: spiritual life

Measuring Success God’s Way – EHS Leadership Podcast

Measuring ministry impact is biblical. The question is how do we that? The world’s way is measuring only numbers. How many people attend? How many are in small groups? How many people are serving? While measuring numbers as one measure of success is biblical (we do see this in Scripture), when it is ALL we measure, it is unbiblical. (We also see this in Scripture e.g. Jesus, John the Baptist.) Success is first and foremost doing what God has asked us to do, doing it his way, and in his timing. Have you ever considered that your ministry, organization, or team may be growing and yet actually failing? Join me on this podcast with Rich Villodas on this very theme! Warmly, Pete LISTEN HERE Space is limited. REGISTER TODAY! Save Save

EH Leader Podcast: Endings and New Beginnings

Every new year marks an ending and a new beginning. In fact, embracing endings in order to receive new beginnings is one of the fundamental tasks of the spiritual life–and this is especially true for Christian leaders. Join Pete Scazzero and Rich Villodas in this month’s EH Leader Podcast as they look deeper into this central leadership theme. Click the video below to watch or the link to listen to the audio file. LISTEN HERE

CHRISTMAS AND GOD’S HEART FOR THE POOR

God calls us to serve the poor and marginalized, the people the world discards. We do so because we need them for our own spiritual lives as much as they need us. The prisoner, the mentally ill, the elderly, the “illegal” immigrant, the oppressed, the orphan, the homeless, the severely disabled, etc. – keep us grounded and honest, reminding us of what is important in life. I recorded this 4 minute video for the Nines Conference sponsored by Leadership Network around this topic. At EHS we felt it was particularly appropriate to share this at Christmas. So take a look. And remember, the roots of gift giving at Christmas is St. Nicholas, the former bishop of Myra, who took the churches gold and gave it to poor families. He did so in hope that they would not sell their daughters into slavery in order to put food on the table!

The Pursuit of Humility

One of the topics God opened up to me on Sabbatical was related to the indispensability of growing in humility. I was struck at what a major theme this was for the early church, especially in her first 500 years. Their understanding was that humility is the face of a pure heart. It was considered the one, unmistakable quality of the Christian life. I recommend Humility Matters: For Practicing the Spiritual Life byMargaret Funk. Her work led me back to John Cassian and Benedict of Nursia’s excellent writings on humility. The following is my adaptation and applications for my own leadership. I am following their classic schematic of progressively climbing a ladder with rungs. (Please note that any of these can be easily abused without a framework of emotional health). Step 1 – Put to death all desires but God – Application: Ensure I have ample time with God, balancing time alone with Him. Read more.

Autism, Slaughterhouses and the Spiritual Life (Temple Grandin)

We (Geri and Pete) recently watched a movie that we have talked about for days – Temple Grandin. The movie describes her life as an autistic young girl who courageously overcomes the limitations and severe challenges of life with autism in the 1960’s when so little was understood about it. She goes on to high school and college, and today is a professor at Colorado State University. Through the telling of her life with autism, Temple gives to the world numerous gifts. Two of those gifts, in particular, resonated deeply with two of our foundational spiritual practices. 1.We Each Need a “Squeeze Machine.” Temple created this “hug box” or “squeeze machine” to help calm her down as a hypersensitive, autistic person when overwhelmed. We too know what it is like to have our nervous system overloaded by the crisis of life. Every one of us needs a means to calm us down and to. Read more.

Silence

Today we will launch our first “Silent” sermon at New Life. I will introduce the theme of how God met Elijah in “the sound of sheer silence” (1 Kings 19:10-18) for 5 minutes. This will be followed by a 25 minute power point slide show of images, quotes, and guided silence. We then will close it out with a few words and be dismissed in silence. (www.newlifefellowship.org). What better way to teach a biblical truth than actual experiencing it? I have been preparing for this by reading and gathering insights about silence for the past few months. I am convinced, more than ever, that silence remains one of the most powerful ways God transforms us. As Kathleen Norris once said, “The ordinary, daily practice of silence is a prophetic stance in our world of noise. It is one of the greatest gifts we can offer the world.” The following are a few rich quotes around silence for you to ponder that. Read more.

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