Leadership succession is one of the most sacred — and most difficult — tasks for any pastor or ministry leader.

In this episode, I share the behind-the-scenes story of my second major succession — passing the baton of Emotionally Healthy Discipleship to Drew Hyun as our new President. I've rarely seen a succession done well. And that's exactly why I knew I had to do it differently — with prayer, intentionality, and surrender.

I walk through both the joy and the deep pain of letting go. I reflect on the lessons learned from my first succession at New Life Fellowship, the emotional disorientation that followed, and the profound spiritual formation that only comes through grief and relinquishment.

This is not a leadership technique. It's a spiritual crucible. A death and resurrection.

Whether you're years away from stepping down or you're mentoring the next generation now, this episode will help you face your limits, resist control, and steward your calling with integrity — for the sake of Jesus' mission in the world.

Every leader will face succession. The question is not if, but when.
Let's do it well.

Too many pastors live with a low-grade ache that their ministry—and they themselves—simply don't measure up. Quietly, comparison creeps in. We look at the growth of others' churches, their charisma, their staff, their buildings… and wonder, What's wrong with me?

In today's episode, I share deeply from my own journey of wrestling with these very questions. I was driven, angry, and often frustrated with my people and context—trying to build something God never asked of me.

But freedom came. Slowly. Through emotional honesty, interior silence, and deep formation.

We'll explore:

• The deadly cost of living from your false self

• How to spot comparison in your soul (and how to resist it)

• Why embracing your unique call is a spiritual breakthrough

• The ancient desert wisdom that reshapes your ministry success metrics
  
  

If you're a pastor, leader, or ministry worker who's tired of chasing an illusion of "success," this episode will give you permission to stop striving—and instead, lead from a place of joy, contentment, and union with Jesus.

⚡FREE E-BOOK: Spaciousness: Avoiding the 8 Traps That Steal Your Margin - Download at emotionallyhealthy.org/spaciousness

In this powerful replay of one of our most listened-to episodes, Pete Scazzero invites pastors and leaders into a radical, countercultural way of leading: unhurried, unrushed, and deeply rooted in Jesus.

Are you constantly running at a pace you can't sustain? Exhausted, overextended, and wondering how much longer you can keep going? This episode is for you.

Pete explores the cultural and spiritual forces that keep us trapped in busyness and offers practical, time-tested rhythms that create space for rest, reflection, and deep communion with God. Drawing from his own journey and decades of leadership, Pete names the lies we believe about productivity and success and points us back to a slower, more spacious life anchored in emotional and spiritual health.

This episode will:

• Help you identify what's driving your pace

• Offer 15 practical practices to embrace a slower rhythm

• Encourage you to lead out of your being, not just your doing

This is more than a podcast. It's an invitation to freedom.

⚡FREE E-BOOK: Spaciousness: Avoiding the 8 Traps That Steal Your Margin - Download at emotionallyhealthy.org/spaciousness

In this powerful replay of one of our most listened-to episodes, Pete Scazzero invites pastors and leaders into a radical, countercultural way of leading: unhurried, unrushed, and deeply rooted in Jesus.

Are you constantly running at a pace you can't sustain? Exhausted, overextended, and wondering how much longer you can keep going? This episode is for you.

Pete explores the cultural and spiritual forces that keep us trapped in busyness and offers practical, time-tested rhythms that create space for rest, reflection, and deep communion with God. Drawing from his own journey and decades of leadership, Pete names the lies we believe about productivity and success and points us back to a slower, more spacious life anchored in emotional and spiritual health.

This episode will:

• Help you identify what's driving your pace

• Offer 15 practical practices to embrace a slower rhythm

• Encourage you to lead out of your being, not just your doing

This is more than a podcast. It's an invitation to freedom.

⚡DOWNLOAD FREE E-BOOK: 8 Marks of Emotionally Healthy Preaching & Teaching - https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/preaching/

In this episode, I invite you to rediscover an ancient path of powerful preaching and teaching — one that's been largely lost in the modern church.

We're not talking about TED-style talks, clever soundbites, or performance-driven content. We're talking about preaching birthed out of deep, slow formation in Jesus. The kind of teaching that carries weight because it has been lived.

This episode explores the story behind the phrase "monks in the pulpit" — how early church leaders, shaped by the deserts of Egypt and the rhythms of monastic life, became the world's most transformative preachers. We'll trace their journey, unpack 8 core practices of Emotionally Healthy Preaching, and reflect on what it means to teach from being, not just knowledge.

If you're a pastor, teacher, or spiritual leader of any kind, I want to challenge you: the most urgent work you can do is not just preparing sermons — it's preparing your soul.

Slow down. Be with God. Then preach.

⚡DOWNLOAD FREE E-BOOK: 8 Marks of Emotionally Healthy Preaching & Teaching - https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/preaching/

In this episode, I invite you to rediscover an ancient path of powerful preaching and teaching — one that's been largely lost in the modern church.

We're not talking about TED-style talks, clever soundbites, or performance-driven content. We're talking about preaching birthed out of deep, slow formation in Jesus. The kind of teaching that carries weight because it has been lived.

This episode explores the story behind the phrase "monks in the pulpit" — how early church leaders, shaped by the deserts of Egypt and the rhythms of monastic life, became the world's most transformative preachers. We'll trace their journey, unpack 8 core practices of Emotionally Healthy Preaching, and reflect on what it means to teach from being, not just knowledge.

If you're a pastor, teacher, or spiritual leader of any kind, I want to challenge you: the most urgent work you can do is not just preparing sermons — it's preparing your soul.

Slow down. Be with God. Then preach.

In this episode of the Emotionally Healthy Leader Podcast, Pete Scazzero shares a powerful word every church leader needs to hear: Focus on the Few. In an age of growing platforms, endless tools, and ever-increasing pressure to cater to the crowds, Pete brings us back to the model of Jesus — who chose to give his best energy to the few.

Whether you're leading 25 or 2,500, the temptation is the same: spend your strength on the many and ignore the long-term fruit that only grows through deep discipleship of a few. Pete explores why real transformation requires more than programs and volunteers — it demands formation from the inside out.

This episode is part of a series on the 8 Marks of a Church Culture that Deeply Changes Lives. If you're longing to lead differently, with intention, depth, and courage — this conversation is for you.

So much of modern church culture encourages us to hide.

Hide our struggles. Hide our doubts. Hide the messy, complicated truth of being human.

But Jesus never invited us into a sanitized faith. He called us into something real.

In today's episode, I explore the next mark of an Emotionally Healthy Culture: Creating a Church Where It's Safe to Be Human.

We'll unpack five countercultural practices that dismantle toxic judgment, challenge our compulsion to fix others, and build a community that mirrors the love of Jesus.

You'll hear stories, examples, and frameworks that will help you…

• Build emotional safety into your leadership core.

• Develop a high level of differentiation as a spiritual leader.

• Create a church culture that invites people to come out of hiding and into the light.

This isn't a side issue. It's central to deep discipleship.

Let's stop pretending—and start building churches where people experience the grace of God, not just hear about it.

Too often, we lead others while unaware of the emotional baggage we carry. In this episode, I share why genuine discipleship must go beneath the surface—into the depths of our emotional world and the generational patterns shaping us.

Using the haunting story of Nathan Price from The Poisonwood Bible, I reflect on my own early years of Christian leadership—driven, sincere, but stuck. Like many pastors, I loved Scripture and ministry, yet avoided the inner work required for lasting transformation.

In this second mark of an Emotionally Healthy Culture, I unpack how we follow Jesus into beneath-the-surface discipleship—marked by emotional honesty and breaking generational patterns that bind us.

You'll hear:

• How unprocessed pain sabotages leadership

• Why your family of origin disciples you more than you think

• Practical questions to begin your own journey inward

This isn't just another leadership podcast. It's a call to reclaim the radical discipleship of Jesus—starting from within.

In today's fast-paced world, Christian leaders are often caught on the "ministry hamster wheel"—spinning endlessly with meetings, sermons, crises, and expectations. But what if the most radical, missional act we could take isn't to do more, but to slow down?

In this episode, Pete Scazzero calls us to break free from the cycle of overload and distraction by embracing a countercultural rhythm of life rooted in Jesus. Drawing from personal experience and church history, Pete shows how slowing down is not self-care—it's spiritual resistance. It's leadership. It's mission.

This is the first episode in a new series on the 8 Marks of an Emotionally Healthy Culture, beginning with the most foundational mark: Slowing down to be with God before doing for Him.

If you're longing for a church culture marked by peace instead of anxiety, depth instead of shallowness, and prayerful leadership instead of constant reaction—this episode is for you.