The Discerning Leader Podcast

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Sara Singleton " In my painful disappointments, I learned how to be content, and I learned of God's love and sufficiency ." – Sara Singleton Sara Singleton shares her story about the obvious and mysterious ways that she has been discerning the hand and heart of God for several decades. She begins with how she and her husband Jim met during college, and fell in love than...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Gordon MacDonald " Expect to reorganize your interior life every 7-10 years. " –Gordon MacDonald Gordon MacDonald's "View From Eighty" continues in this episode with the following issues and ideas: Live modestly, stay free of debt, be generous, develop a financial plan, and be wary of those who try to buy your favor; Expect to reorganize your interior life every 7-10 ye...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Gordon MacDonald " Your number one priority in the Lord's work is your family. " –Gordon MacDonald "The View from Eighty" is a synopsis of Gordon MacDonald's discernment today. What are the 15 things I've observed in myself and others, that make you either a success or failure in life and ministry, fulfilling all that God invites?  In this episode we cover the first 7 i...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: John Pearson " Once you taste spiritual discernment, you won't want to go back to the old way of decision-making. " –John Pearson John Pearson is a leadership and management consultant, who formerly served as CEO of the Willow Creek Association, Christian Camp and Conference Association, and Christian Leadership Alliance. His "Weekly Staff Meeting" email reviews at leas...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Nate Foster " The Jesus way is clear: hang out with 12 nobodies and then give them the keys. " –Nathan Foster Nate Foster is the son of Richard Foster, renowned spiritual formation leader and founder of Renovare, where Nate serves as director of Community Life. He shares how his awareness of God's engagement in his life grew from a lot of quiet reflection. It's here tha...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Eric Peterson " God is in everything, in all the details of life, and not just the pleasant ones."  –Eric Peterson Eric Peterson is the son of Eugene Peterson, author of The Message translation of the Bible, who found his way to faith and pastoral ministry with reluctance. As he reflects on his discerning life, he describes his journey as along a luminous trail, a metap...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott " Formation, discernment, and renewal are threads woven into everything we do at Leadership Transformations."  – Matt Scott Season 18 will focus on life stories shaped around spiritual discernment as a lifestyle, beginning with the Leadership Transformations story, nearly 19 years in the making. Spiritual formation, discernment, and renewal are embedded into...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott " We need a common language and experience for how best to live a discerning life individually and collectively. " –Steve Macchia   As we conclude season 17, we discuss The Appendices of The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything . Inspired by Rueben Job, Steve's kind, gracious, humble and loving mentor, this 40-day guide to spiritual disc...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott " My true home is in Christ's heart and Christ's home is my heart. That's radical!"  – Steve Macchia Today's episode focuses on chapter nine and the Epilogue of The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything .  In this conversation we discuss the radical nature of the discerning life, a lifestyle marked by a transformed heart. With God as the...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott " Asking 'Why?' is the hardest and most important question to consider in virtually every circumstance of life. " – Steve Macchia In chapter eight of The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything , today's episode covers the very intentional and deliberative process of spiritual discernment for groups and individuals. Here we build on the fou...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott " The discerning life requires a radical and renewed change of heart and mind. " – Steve Macchia Today we are diving into chapter seven of The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything . We unpack the importance of shifting from a self-directed to a Spirit-empowered life, and the radical choices that implies. A renewed mind is a changed mind,...

" All spiritual discernment happens within a story-laced context."  – Steve Macchia Chapter six of The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything , is the topic of today's conversation. Here we unpack the importance of understanding and appreciating the various contexts that have shaped our lives…as well as the lives of those we are called to love and serve in Jesus. The gift of em...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott " Practicing biblical hospitality is first and foremost toward the lost, the least, the lonely, and the left behind. " – Steve Macchia Chapter five of The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything , is the topic of today's conversation. In this conversation we explore the meaning of biblical hospitality, and how Jesus invites us to become rec...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott " The discerning life is relational and based primarily in a listening presence. " –Steve Macchia Chapter four of The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything, is the topic of today's conversation. A discerning life is best fulfilled in the presence of one another, as we offer grace upon grace to each of our relationships. It's important to...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott " Unless I learn how to live a contemplative life, I will continue to live a manipulative life."  – Steve Macchia Chapter three of The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything, is the topic of today's conversation. Here we unpack the importance of listening to God prayerfully, expectantly, and faithfully. We discover a life of obedient surre...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott " Pay attention to God who takes great delight in you, rejoices over you with a song, and has an extravagant affection for you. " –Steve Macchia The Scriptures are replete with examples of how God made himself known to his beloved children. Sometimes through a burning bush, or a dream, or an angel, or even a donkey. When he wants to make himself known he does...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott " Look what social media has done to our 'notice me' inclinations today and how that self-centeredness keeps us from preferring God instead. " – Steve Macchia Welcome to all who are joining us as members of the Reading Retreat for The Discerning Life .  (If you still want to join the online, author-guided, self-paced retreat, go to www.stevemacchia.com for al...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott " Discernment is a lifestyle of noticing God in everything, practicing a preference for God in all aspects of our life and service to others. " –Steve Macchia We are excited to launch the 17 th season of The Discerning Leader Podcast with a focus on Steve Macchia's newest book, The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything (Zondervan Reflecti...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guests: Dave Currie and Susan Currie " Epiphany was our main missions conference in the local church, when we invited the children to bring offerings to Jesus as we sought to share the light of Jesus to the far corners of the earth. " –Dave Currie Epiphany is both a day and a season in the church calendar. Occurring on January 6, it concludes the 12 days of Christmas and signi...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guests: Susan Currie, Rick Anderson, Jeremy Stefano, and Matt Scott " Four words have been my focus this past year: silence, slowing, simplicity, and Sabbath. " –Matt Scott   It's always good for the soul to look back and around us before looking ahead. Turning the page from one calendar year to the next gives us opportunity to do so prayerfully, reflectively, and gratefully....

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Anna Friedrich " I love Christmas because, with the resurrection in view, its obscure beginning and its incredible beauty strengthens my trust in God. " –Anna Friedrich Shifting from Advent into Christmas is seamless when considered in the light of the full Christian story. For four weeks our hearts have been inclined toward waiting, watching, and wondering once more. I...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Br. Curtis Almquist, SSJE " Learning the value of waiting has largely been removed from our vocabulary. Advent gives us the gift of waiting." –Curtis Almquist, SSJE Advent is a season of anticipation. A time of preparation for the Christian community. The promised Messiah is coming in Jesus and the Church remembers once more. With a penitential quality to the season, Ad...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Curtis Almquist, SSJE " Advent invites us to slow down and create space in order to receive Christ in the fullness of our being. " – Curtis Almquist, SSJE Discerning God during the season of Advent takes prayerful intentionality, especially with the onslaught of alluring messages from our over-commercialized world. It's the beginning of the church year, where we prepare...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Kyle Strobel " The Lord's Prayer is at the very heart of what prayer is supposed to be, as we pray with and in Jesus. " – Kyle Strobel Featuring Kyle Strobel's latest book, Where Prayer Becomes Real , today's episode is on the importance of honesty and sincerity in prayer. Kyle and his co-author John Coe write on prayer from a practical, theoretically rich approach, add...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Barbara Peacock " As Africans were being transported across the Middle Passage to America in slave ships, their formation was practiced while in chains. " – Barbara Peacock The author of Soul Care in African-American Practice inspires us on today's episode with words of wisdom and grace. And, even offers a song for our weary soul. With the backdrop of Africans in slave...