Preaching for Transformation: 8 Vital Skills You Need
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Most of us were trained to read the Bible the way we were trained to lead — move fast, cover ground, extract what's useful, and get back to work. But what if that approach, by itself, is keeping you from the very transformation you're trying to produce in others?
In this episode, I want to share a practice that has shaped my life for almost thirty years. A practice I cannot live without. It's called Lectio Divina — holy reading — and I believe it may be the single most important shift a Christian leader can make in their relationship with Scripture and with God.
I'll take you through the history of this practice, the ancient monastic stream of reading that treated the Bible not as a text to be mastered but as a sacrament — a place of encounter with the living God. I'll share the four movements that structure it, and exactly what it looked like in my own devotional life this past week.
This isn't theory. I'll be honest with you about the years I spent reading the Bible the way I approached leadership: achieve, produce, get it done. What that approach cost me — in my prayer life, my preaching, my soul — is something I wish someone had told me at 30.
Lectio Divina interrupts the cycle of leading from information rather than formation. It doesn't just inform your sermons — it transforms the person preaching them. And it begins with something shockingly simple: slowing down long enough to let the Word read you.
Learn more about the EH Global Leader Conference 2026: emotionallyhealthy.org/conference
Take your team through the Emotionally Healthy Leader Book. Download the FREE discussion guide: http://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leader
Let’s get honest.
Power makes most of us uncomfortable.
So we avoid it, minimize it, or misuse it.
In this episode, Pete Scazzero shares a defining leadership failure—one that cost him deeply: relationships, trust, and a 20-year community.
At the center of it?
Unclear boundaries and dual relationships.
You’ll discover:
- Why every leader must name and steward their power
- The danger of trying to be both a friend and a supervisor
- How blurred roles quietly damage teams and culture
- Why the burden of boundaries always falls on the leader
- What it means to do the inner work required for healthy leadership
This is not about leadership theory.
It’s about formation.
Because if you don’t deal with power and boundaries, they will deal with you.
Learn more about the EH Global Leader Conference 2026: emotionallyhealthy.org/conference
Take your team through the Emotionally Healthy Leader Book. Download the FREE discussion guide: http://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leader
Church scandals don’t begin the day they are exposed. They begin years earlier—in quiet compromises, ignored red flags, and leaders whose gifting has grown faster than their maturity.
In this episode of The Emotionally Healthy Leader Podcast, I go beneath the headlines to name the real issue: church scandals are not first a PR problem. They are a formation problem.
Jesus told us pressure would come. He told us not to be surprised. And He made clear that what will matter in the end is not image management, but whether we have become the kind of leaders who can stand firm under pressure without collapsing.
I unpack four essential pillars every pastor and church leader needs if they hope to lead with integrity over the long haul: facing your shadow, leading out of your marriage or singleness, slowing down for loving union with Jesus, and practicing Sabbath delight.
This is not about quick fixes. It’s about deep transformation.
If you care about the name of Jesus, the witness of the church, and finishing well, this episode is for you.
Learn more about the EH Global Leader Conference 2026: emotionallyhealthy.org/conference
Free Resource: Download the “8 Traps That Kill Your Spaciousness” ebook:
👉 https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/spaciousness
Churches don’t just have problems.
They are emotional systems.
In this episode of the Emotionally Healthy Leader Podcast, I introduce one of the most powerful frameworks I’ve ever learned for understanding leadership, conflict, and why anxiety spreads so quickly in churches: Family Systems Theory.
Much of this work comes from psychiatrist Murray Bowen and was later brought into church leadership by Edwin Friedman in Generation to Generation. But don’t worry — we’ll keep this practical, spiritual, and grounded in real ministry life.
If you’ve ever:
Walked into a meeting calm and left reactive
Worked harder at someone’s growth than they are
Watched conflict spread like electricity through your church
You’re not crazy. You’re leading inside an emotional system.
The greatest gift you will ever give your church is not better strategy.
It’s your own inner transformation.
Emotional health isn’t a side issue.
It’s leadership.
Listen in.
Learn more about our School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership:
👉 https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/school
Download the “8 Traps That Kill Your Spaciousness” ebook:
👉 https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/spaciousness
Emotional health isn’t optional. It’s essential.
Learn more about the EH Global Leader Conference 2026: emotionallyhealthy.org/conference
