Category Archives: Pathway to Church Transformation

The School of Discretion

I have invested my adult life in studying and understanding Christian leadership. I’ve attended conferences, earned advanced degrees, and read broadly – for decades. But I cannot recall any discussion of discretion. For the first 500 years of the church, discretion was considered the most precious gift, or charism, for the church (John Cassian’s Conferences). They understood that without discretion individuals and communities could easily be ruined. In fact, all abbots of monastic communities were to be distinguished by discretion (The Rule of St. Benedict). Without it we are dangerous – speaking too freely, giving people burdens they cannot bear, and offering superficial spiritual counsel. Discretion is the opposite of our 21st century leadership culture that emphasizes bigger, better, and maximum impact as quickly as possible. Discretion is the ability to wait to see what unfolds, to not act. It involves the humility and patience to know when to leave things alone, knowing. Read more.

Lose Your Life to Find It

Jesus said we must lose our lives to find it. One essential way we do this is by learning the art of interior silence. This choice to turn away from internal and external noise in order to be with Jesus is work…a difficult work. Externally, we face the unrelenting pressure of our culture– the noise, the clutter, the grasping, the confusion, the distractions, the excessive amount of information – all of which make it difficult to hear ourselves think. Internally, our stillness and silence muscles are weak. As beginners, we have problems focusing attention and facing the normal distractions of body and mind. Just like we cannot simply read a how-to book on running a marathon and run, so we must build up muscle and stamina slowly over time. Maggie Ross, in her Silence: A User’s Guide – Volume 1: Process, argues that the tradition of silence was handed down unbroken from the time. Read more.

The 4 Questions of Emotionally Healthy Supervision

Every year at our Emotionally Healthy Leadership Conference I am asked: “How is supervision in an emotionally healthy church different? What makes it distinct?” In emotionally healthy teams, role expectations are openly talked about and agreed upon. We evaluate how we are doing. But that is not enough. How people care for their inner lives is also important. The question is, “How important?” The answer is: “Very important.” Minimally transformed leaders will always result in minimally transformed teams doing minimally transforming ministry. How could we expect it to be any other way? As a result, there are four areas that we ask about on a regular basis: 1. How is your walk with Jesus? In other words, tell me about your rhythms of being with God and doing for God. How are you living out of your Rule of Life in this season? How has God been coming to you? I was so blessed. Read more.

The Power of The Genogram in Building Healthy Teams

Building healthy leadership teams and cultures is one of the most important tasks we engage in as leaders. In this unique podcast, Pete and Rich share how understanding genograms has served as a powerful tool to create a healthy, transformational, team culture at New Life over the last twenty years. Click below to watch the video or the link to listen to the audio file. LISTEN HERE Save Save

EHS and the Millennial Generation

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality was created in a multiracial, socio-economically and generationally diverse community. New Life Fellowship, where EHS was birthed and where I serve as the lead pastor, has been exposed to EHS far longer and deeper than any other community. Because of this, we have seen profound fruit in the lives of our church family, especially among the Millennial Generation. The Millennial Generation is the group of people whose birth years range from 1980 to 2000. (You may want to look at Thom Rainer’s book, The Millennials to understand more about this generation). I was exposed to EHS as a 28-year old (I’m 37 as I write this), and, for the past decade my formation in Christ has been deeply impacted and shaped by this paradigm. In the process I have had innumberable conversations with many others from my generation about EHS. As a result, I have up with 3 primary reasons EHS. Read more.

Radically Changed by the EHS Course

Changed people change the world. EHS is the fruit of 20 years of wrestling with the problem of superficial discipleship. Over the years, we have seen its power in transforming lives, time and time again. Click on the image below to view some stories of the impact EHS is having in peoples lives: We believe the EHS Course is a powerful discipleship model that goes deep beneath the surface of people’s lives and results in long-term missional impact in the world. People are so changed they can’t help but change the world around them. And so we are committed to offering the best training, equipping and resources possible to empower you as a pastor or church leader to immerse yourself in bringing this radical discipleship model to your church. We invite you to consider these exceptional opportunities as you prayerfully plan your church discipleship pathway this fall: Live Training: How to Lead the. Read more.

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