Pre-Order Pete Scazzero's forthcoming book, Emotionally Healthy Success, at www.emotionallyhealthy.org/success and get a free chapter.
This is Part 1, and we're starting where the book starts: the lies we call success.
For years I measured my ministry the way most of us do. Attendance. Budget. Baptisms. Conferences that promised the next strategy for growth. It worked, for a while. But underneath the numbers, I wasn't reflecting on Jesus. I wasn't in touch with my own shadow, my fears, my perfectionism, my anxiety. And the wreckage from that started piling up long before I was willing to see it.
In this episode, I walk through five of the most common false scorecards leaders use without knowing it: the size of our ministry, the extent of our influence, the praise we receive, the pace of our growth, and how we compare to everyone else in the room.
If you've ever felt like you should be further along, this one's for you. Listen in.
Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/
For most pastors and leaders Christmas activities dominate the month of December and then we only get a week's break before launching into a new year!
In January, pastors face the difficult task of vision-casting, goal-setting, and steering the direction of the church for the next 12 months.
Too often, our planning is driven by:
- Expectations from others (i.e. board, supervisors, people we serve)
- Internal pressure to be a great leader or to create momentum.
- The "shoulds" of everything that feels important. (i.e. "We should be doing more of this...")
But planning doesn't have to feel this way.
In today's episode, I want to show you a radical new approach to planning. I'll show you how I plan for the season ahead in a way that produces joy, not anxiety.
Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/
In part one of this podcast series, I shared the first 5 marks of a highly-differentiated leader.
On today's podcast, I continue by sharing 5 more attributes that deserve careful consideration.
Why? Because the cost of lowly-differentiated leadership is enormous:
- We diminish the long-term impact of our ministries.
- We allow the wrong people exercise power and leadership.
- We perpetuate immaturity.
- We grow resentful and live in dis-ease.
- We waste the time, energy, and money of God's people.
- We increase anxiety in everyone around us.
- We, and our community, become less playful (and more "intense/heavy.")
Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/
The apostle Paul seemed to believe so as well. He writes to his spiritual son Timothy that "whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task." (1 Tim. 3:1)
In today's episode, I share five marks of a highly-differentiated leader and how to start becoming one today. Truth be told - it's hard work. But MUCH harder should you avoid the work.
Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/
Every day, people all around us live in a chronic state of dread, anxious about what tomorrow will bring.
Nations and economies are crumbling. News media agitates our deepest fears. It often feels like the ground is shaking beneath our feet.
In a time like this, it is critical that we continue to LIVE and LEAD out of deep rest in Christ.
But how do we break free from the gravitational pull of bad news and despair?
I believe we must recalibrate a biblical vision of HOPE. (Hint: it's more than optimism)
Let's be clear – this doesn't happen easily. We must contend for God's vision of reality and vigilantly pursue deep rest in Christ.
In today's podcast episode, I share keys to cultivating hope and deep rest.
Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/
Hiring new staff (paid or volunteer) is one of the most difficult responsibilities of church leadership. The difference between the right hire and the wrong hire will have long-term consequences in your church.
Two weeks ago on the podcast, I brought the first part of "Emotionally Healthy Hiring (Paid or Volunteer)", in which we covered the first 7 principles that leaders must consider before making a hire.
Today, I bring the second part, offering the next 6 out of 13 principles for emotionally healthy hiring. (It's shocking to hear how often principle #11 is overlooked when hiring staff!)
Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/
Churches around the world are rebuilding in a post-pandemic world. Leaders are assembling new teams and desperately trying to fill vacant positions.
The temptation to cut corners in your hiring process (paid or volunteer) is ENORMOUS. When you feel the pressure to onboard a new worship leader or children's pastor in order to keep "the wheels on the bus", it's easy to make poor hiring decisions.
In today's podcast, I share 7 out of 13 principles that MUST be considered before your next hire. On the following podcast, I'll release part two of this series with the remaining principles.
Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/
Today, very few church leaders feel like they are winning.
We look at our churches compared to what they used to be or what we'd like them to be, and it's hard to feel like we're making a real difference.
So we're faced with a difficult temptation...
Do we use our best energy to chase the perception of momentum? Or do we pursue heaven's perspective and seek to live with integrity from the inside out?
In today's podcast, I want to encourage you as a pastor or church leader. Jesus is King and He is ruling over the whole world – including your church!
Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/
Great news! I'm officially back from my summer sabbatical and I'm excited to share with you insights from my time away.
In the 3rd - 5th centuries, early Christian men and women fled to the desert to escape the moral compromise in the church and the idols of the world. They did this, not out of self-righteousness, but in order to send a life raft to the church and be a gift to the world.
The truth is – we must find a new way to live as desert fathers and mothers if we are going to live with deep peace and a powerful witness.
In today's podcast, I share 8 ways you can create for yourself a desert from which you can better love God and love others.
Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/
One of the most destructive temptations leaders face is living and leading from the veneer of a "false self". In other words, we project an image of how we'd like to be perceived, rather than living from truth.
In today's podcast, I share a sermon from Colossians 3 that explores how we can overcome our false self and live out of our true self in Christ.
Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/
Many leaders today believe that if we're going to get things done and be successful, we must "take the bull by the horns". We are told that strength and power win in the economy of leadership.
So when Jesus boldly announces "Blessed are the Meek", it's no wonder that many of us shrug our shoulders and keep plowing ahead.
In today's podcast, I share a sermon that explores the depth underneath Jesus' words as he invited us into a life marked by meekness.
Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/
