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Names Before Numbers: The Dramatic Shift True Shepherds Must Make
Posted on: Tuesday November 26, 2024

🎄Christmas Sermon Prep Webinar -   Join me for a FREE webinar on Dec. 5th at 2 pm ET to learn about preaching a Christmas message that deeply changes lives. https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/sermonprep/

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The truth is, you can’t shepherd numbers. You can only shepherd names. And yet, in a culture obsessed with metrics, many leaders feel trapped, measuring success by attendance, budgets, and fast growth rather than the flourishing of the people God has entrusted to them.

In this episode, Pete unpacks the heart of biblical shepherding—leading with Jesus’ love, slowing down to be present, and praying over the specific names God has placed under your care. He explains how this dramatic shift, though countercultural and painfully slow, leads to a deeply transformative and spacious life for both shepherds and sheep.

If you’re longing to move beyond hurried leadership into a ministry marked by patience, prayer, and personal connection, this episode is for you. Pete shares four practical ways to shepherd like Jesus and invites you to reflect: Who is on your list?

 

Archives: 2020
Tuesday December 29, 2020

For the final podcast episode of the year, we compiled moments from the highest-rated episodes of 2020. Listen to today's episode to hear a series of short snippets or link to the full episodes

Tuesday December 22, 2020

In today's episode, Pete shares a sermon from the prophet Jeremiah that will help us step over fear in the strength and power of God.

Tuesday December 15, 2020

We are in the season of Advent - a time of hopeful expectation!

Yet we remain several months away from the end of the global pandemic. Across the board, many churches are closing down and others are hanging on with all of their strength.

Tuesday December 08, 2020

In today's podcast, Pete shares some insights from the prophet Isaiah to help us see what God is doing when our plans change drastically.

Pete believes this episode will help you enter more deeply into the Advent season AND prepare well for the coming year.

Tuesday December 01, 2020

In today's podcast, Pete shares with you this conversation and prays it spurs you on in your own prayer journey. 

Tuesday November 24, 2020

In today's podcast, Pete makes the case for why the practice of thankfulness is the antidote to a pervasive ingratitude that causes our hearts to shrink.

Near the end, Pete invites you to consider 6 categories of life in which you have the opportunity to give thanks to God.

Tuesday November 17, 2020

In today's podcast, Pete shares a message from years ago that is especially important for leaders today. It's about embracing the work of the cross so we can experience resurrection life.

Tuesday November 10, 2020

In today's podcast, Pete addresses how we can live, lead, and meet God in the confusing-in-between.

Tuesday November 03, 2020

In today's podcast, Pete shares a sermon in which he explores Jesus' parable of the wheat and tares. In this passage, Jesus reveals an astounding picture of how God intends to deal with the good and the evil - especially in the church.

Tuesday October 27, 2020

In today's podcast, we learn an important lesson from Martin Buber, a well-known German-Jewish theologian who lived during WWI. From there, we'll explore 3 questions for how we can know whether or not we are actually loving our enemies.

Tuesday October 20, 2020

In today's podcast, Pete concludes a three-part series on how Scripture invites us to live and lead in such deeply polarizing times. Throughout this series, we are exploring a total of six radical invitations.

Tuesday October 13, 2020

In last week's podcast, Pete explored how our overly-politicized climate is not different from when Jesus walked the earth. Today, he continues the conversation by offering the next two radical invitations from Scripture that will help leaders navigate this moment with health, wisdom, and maturity.

Tuesday October 06, 2020

In the first episode of this three-part series, Pete explores how our overly-politicized climate is not different from when Jesus walked the earth. He offers six radical invitations from Scripture that will help leaders navigate this moment with health, wisdom, and maturity.

Tuesday September 29, 2020

Following up on last week's podcast called "Relax. It's going to be ok.", I continue the theme by entering into God's invitation for us found in Psalm 23.

But how do we rest in a time like this? Listen along to find out.

Tuesday September 22, 2020

Have you noticed that everyone is a little on edge? (This may be the understatement of the year!)

Tuesday September 15, 2020

In today's podcast, Pete shares with you a message from the book of Revelation that has grounded him for years - especially in times of uncertainty.

Tuesday September 08, 2020

In today's podcast, Pete dives into the story of Moses and explore the excuses that could have kept him from responding to God's call on His life.

Tuesday September 01, 2020

In this podcast Pete and Geri address topics such as revival, anxiety, and the need for well-differentiated, non-anxious leadership.

Tuesday August 25, 2020

In today's podcast, I explore a revelation that came to the prophet Isaiah in a time of great change. In this vision, he saw God on a throne and that a great future was going to spring out of an unlikely place.

Monday August 17, 2020

In today's podcast, I share with you a sermon based on Isaiah 43 exploring God's divine purpose in a season of disorientation and how we can step into the plan of God.

Monday August 10, 2020

In today's podcast, Pete addresses this concern head-on. Drawing from historical and global case studies, Pete helps us reframe how the church can thrive even when we can't gather.

Monday August 03, 2020

In today's podcast, I offer a few ways for us to reframe "success" that will serve us well as we continue our journey through the unknown.

Tuesday July 28, 2020

Back in June, I released the first part of today's topic, making a case that leaders must dramatically change the way we approach our devotional life with Jesus.

In today's podcast, I recommend a new way forward. I'll share with you four keys that will breathe life back into your devotions.

Tuesday July 21, 2020
This week's podcast focuses on how we can stay anchored in God and ourselves in the midst of such continued uncertainty. Unless we find solid ground on which to stand, it will be nearly impossible for us to help others who are struggling to find their footing in the midst of storms.
 
Monday July 13, 2020

Building on last week's podcast theme, today's episode features a deeper exploration of the church as described in Ephesians 3:1-13. We must be gripped by God's design for the church to be one body that spans race, culture, gender, and class.

Monday July 06, 2020

Today’s podcast features part one of a time-tested sermon in which Pete explores God’s plan to create a new international family. Exploring Ephesians 2:1-11, we are introduced to God’s vision for the church - a revelation so powerful that it dismantles complacency and burns through the sin of racism.

Monday June 29, 2020

In this podcast I address one of the most important tasks before us as leaders – declaring the certainty of God’s future in the face of the multiple crisis facing our people, our nations, and our churches. 

Monday June 22, 2020

The world is reeling from three global upheavals.

The coronavirus pandemic, the outrage over racial injustice, and the global recession have exposed us. They've put pressure on the church in uncomfortable ways.

Today's podcast is my passionate plea to respond to God’s invitation.

Monday June 15, 2020

In this podcast, Pete addresses fundamental discipleship issues confronting the church today in the midst of the global awakening around racial injustice – grief and loss. 

Monday June 08, 2020

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.

Monday June 01, 2020

In today's podcast, Pete introduces the elements of one way to move from traditional devotions to transformative devotions through the integration of the practice of the Daily Office. 

Tuesday May 26, 2020

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

Monday May 18, 2020

In this podcast, we 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.

Tuesday May 12, 2020

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.

 

Tuesday May 05, 2020

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.

Monday April 27, 2020

In this podcast, Geri and Pete introduce a foundation spiritual practice called the Community Temperature Reading (CTR for short). This is especially relevant as so many of us are under particular relational pressures during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Monday April 20, 2020

In this podcast, Pete shares a message from Isaiah 36-37 when Israel found herself under enormous pressure surrounded by the armies of Assyria.

Monday April 13, 2020

Pete is joined by his wife Geri as they address one of the great challenges we face during COVID-19  The prolonged, stay-at-home time in which we find ourselves – our relationships.  

In this podcast, they introduce a life-changing skill called “Clarify Expectations.”

Tuesday April 07, 2020
In this week's podcast, Pete applies John of the Cross’ extraordinary work on the dark night written almost 500 years ago to the unique situation in which we find ourselves – a global, collective dark night of the soul. 
We may not know what God is doing, where He is going, how He is getting us there, or when this will be over. But the truth is-God is doing something extraordinary in us. 
Pete shares with us a list of 7 things that God might be doing in us.
Tuesday March 31, 2020

In this week's podcast, Pete's wife Geri joins him in sharing with us four ways to transition from surviving to flourishing during this COVID-19 pandemic. Using the framework of a "Rule of Life", they share ways to structure our days amidst our involuntary isolation. May this podcast be a blessing for you during this time.

 
Tuesday March 24, 2020
In part 2 of this week's podcast, Pete applies more fully and specifically last week’s message from the story of Job on the three biblical phases of grief – to us personally and to our leadership.
Pete gives us three main approaches to the enormity of grief around us and our loss of control. May this podcast be a blessing to you during these chaotic times.
 
 
 
Tuesday March 17, 2020

In this week's podcast, Pete shares his reflections on the difficult season of the coronavirus pandemic that we have just entered. Challenging, hard-to-believe news is coming at a pace that is demanding to absorb for ourselves – let alone the people we lead. 
What is God saying? How is He coming to us? How do we lead others in such an unprecedented time of crisis?

Tuesday March 10, 2020
In this podcast, Pete shares with us his first seventeen years as a Christ-follower and leader were in different expressions of the Pentecostal/charismatic stream. A dramatic shift, both theologically and practically, happened as God led Pete into the journey we call Emotionally Healthy Discipleship in 1996.
Pete examines three unique ways emotionally healthy discipleship enables us to tap into the explosive power of listening to the Spirit. Enjoy!
   
 
Tuesday March 03, 2020

In part 2 of this week's podcast, Pete focuses on the taming of "tiger" behaviors that happen on every team. In Part 1, he defined a “tiger” as someone who invades and damages the overall health of our community due to their own lack of awareness and immaturity. Pete addresses the top ten questions people ask around taming "tigers" and creating a healthy culture.


Tuesday February 25, 2020

Pete defines a "tiger" as someone who invades and damages the overall health of our community due to their own lack of awareness and immaturity. In part 1 of this week's podcast, Pete explores the issue of caging and taming "tigers" who emerge under our leadership. He shares with us three important lessons about what good leaders do to cage "tigers" in their midst. 

 

 
Tuesday February 18, 2020

In today's podcast, Pete shares an important truth from one of his favorite biblical characters – John the Baptist. John does not imitate other people, and part of leadership is to differentiate and bring that uniqueness of who God has made you to be. Pete will be sharing a message with us from John 1. To lead from who you really are, listen to this sermon and answer the 3 questions Pete gives you.

Tuesday February 11, 2020

In part 2 of this week's podcast, Pete continues to build on the theology of rhythms and limits from Genesis 2:15-17. Pete expands on how our teams must seek to apply this to our most important task which is cultivating a deep spirituality with Jesus. It is crucial that we understand how much of a critical theme this is for all of us going into the future. 

Tuesday February 04, 2020

In this week's podcast, we learn how limits and rhythms are two of the most difficult truths in Scripture to embrace; and how it is very important for teams to be able to embrace these limits and rhythms. Pete gives us two critical questions that teams must be asking in order to lead from a healthy place. 

 

 

Tuesday January 28, 2020

Each of us has been “formed/discipled” by our family of origin in the early years of our lives – whether we were Christians or not. In part 2 of his podcast, Pete invites you and your team to do three things that will encourage you to continue learning and being formed into disciples of Christ.

Tuesday January 21, 2020

One of the core pillars of "Emotionally Healthy Discipleship" is going back to go forward. In emotionally healthy teams, people understand that their family of origin has enormous significance in their ability to function maturely as a team. In this podcast, Pete shares five major points in how making sense of our stories can powerfully transform us, our teams, and those we lead. May it be an encouragement to you and those you lead.

Tuesday January 14, 2020

In last week's podcast, Pete introduced us to the first five questions that he has asked himself and others when preaching a message. In part 2 of this week's podcast, Pete dives into the final five questions, while making suggestions that will make your preaching experience rich and enjoyable. May this podcast be a blessing for you!

Tuesday January 07, 2020

In his first podcast of 2020, Pete shares with us the first five important questions that will make sure we make room for God to do His work in our lives. If we can learn to apply these questions to our lives, then these will surely help many leaders and preachers to preach in ways that will lead others to more authentic transformations.