The Discerning Leader Podcast

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott " Living lovingly, freely and with trust is always the best posture. " - Steve Macchia   How do we combat the urge to assert our giftedness, competency and wisdom? This episode of The Discerning Leader podcast explores some of the pitfalls of needing to be needed and wanting to be wanted. Learning to live and lead from a place of trusting that God loves us, f...

Co-hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott " We can embrace our propensity toward worry, anxiety and fear and find our restoration in the peaceful presence of Christ. " - Steve Macchia   God is a God of peace and rest. And yet, we spend many of life's moments fearful, anxious, worried, and longing for peace. This episode of The Discerning Leader podcast invites you to consider how the messengers of fe...

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia & Matt Scott " To avoid truth is to embrace a false reality, which can lead us into the downward spiral of deception. " - Steve Macchia     Many of us have a hard time accepting Jesus' claim 'The truth will set you free.' We feel that if people knew the deepest and most broken parts of us, we would be abandoned, discarded, rejected or exploited. This episode of The Discerni...

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia & Matt Scott " Deep trust in God leads us out of an angry disposition into a Christ-centered redemption. " - Steve Macchia   How do we engage the emotion of anger and its accompanying behaviors? Rather than suppress, avoid or dismiss our anger, this podcast conversation invites you to be curious about its root and source. As we approach our anger with empathy and compassion...

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia & Matt Scott " The one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair. " - Steve Macchia   How easy it is to become self-absorbed, self-focused, self-promoting, self-centered and self-gratifying. Too often, we get fixated on ourselves and totally miss others. And although we are made for community and designed to be in r...

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia & Matt Scott " One thing that's pretty consistently true about every rude person is that they must set the agenda and be in control. " - Steve Macchia   Rudeness is expressed through our efforts to manipulate, monitor, and manage people and circumstances surrounding us. It flows from our compulsions to set the agenda and maintain control. Is it maddening? Yes, indeed. And i...

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia & Matt Scott " We're called to abandon our self-centered ways of living and invite God's Spirit to replace them with generous humility. " - Steve Macchia   Looking at St. Benedict's 'Ladder of Humility', Steve Macchia and Matt Scott discuss ways that we can love one another without pride. Additionally, this episode explores how abandonment, contentment, and integration lead...

Co-hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott " Our independence and self-focus are destroying community and instead are building fences that keep us apart. " - Steve Macchia   Competition exists in our churches and ministries because it exists in each of us. We've been taught in our culture to take care of, promote, watch out for and provide for the 'almighty' self. So, how do we combat the temptation t...

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott "Envy is accompanied by her friend jealousy, and when combined, they make for ugly companionship in the soul." - Steve Macchia   In an age where we scroll through feeds of life's curated moments, we're all susceptible to envy and jealousy. We fear that we're missing out, that we're not reaching our fullest potential, that God might be withholding good things...

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott " What would it look like for patience to reside within us and be embodied in us as we go through everyday life? "-Matt Scott Leaders face endless circumstances and situations that test their patience. Challenging personalities, team conflict, economic downturns and relational dynamics are but a few realities that solicit impatience. This episode of The Disce...

Co-hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott " We must be honest and embrace our brokenness on the way to wholeness. " — Steve Macchia   By embracing and befriending our own brokenness, we can find true wholeness in God's strength. Season 34 takes a chapter-by-chapter look at Stephen Macchia's Broken and Whole: A Leader's Path to Spiritual Transformation . In episode 01, Steve Macchia and Matt Scott off...

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott " Once we begin to notice God, we can't help but give thanks to God for his good gifts. Gratitude begins to bubble up within. " —Steve Macchia   This final episode of the year invites you to close out 2024 with a Year-End Examen. Practiced daily, the Examen is an ancient, spiritual practice that can help us see God's hand at work in our whole experience. In t...

" I'm so grateful for how He redeems. Sometimes we have to wait a long, long time for His redemptive work to come to reality. But it's worth the wait. " —Steve Macchia   In the final episode of Season 33, Steve Macchia and Matt Scott discuss the names of Jesus and the comfort we find in knowing that God became flesh and lived among us. This conversation  looks at the fulfillment of prophetic promi...

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott " A glimpse of light shines in the darkness, a future reality for us to hang our hats on. And it's called hope. " —Steve Macchia With all the joyous anticipation of the Advent season, we're still faced with the reality of surrounding darkness and despair. This episode of The Discerning Leader podcast features a conversation that offers practical and intention...

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott " We want his healing, his strength, his comfort, his mercy. We want the gifts that only he can provide for us as we find ourselves hurting and sometimes, hopeless. " —Steve Macchia   Healing for others. Healing from sickness. Healing in our communities. We long to see the healing power of God in our lives and in the lives of those whom we love. What does it...

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia & Matt Scott " Everybody has a bucket of tears right next to them, and we need to acknowledge for each of us, there's heartache, pain, suffering, and sorrow. And those don't come to an end just because it's Christmas. " —Steve Macchia   Season 33 begins with an invitation to notice this Advent season what often goes unattended: our heartache and hunger. Are you facing overw...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Rich Villodas " The greatest gift we offer the world around us is our ongoing transformation in Jesus Christ. " - Rich Villodas   In this special edition episode of The Discerning Leader podcast, Steve Macchia sits down with author, speaker, and pastor Rich Villodas. Their conversation explores how to order our lives around a particular pace, grow a capacity for interio...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: A.J. Swoboda " The invitation to sabbath offends just about everything we value as Americans. " - AJ Swoboda   In this special edition episode of The Discerning Leader podcast, Steve Macchia has a conversation with AJ Swoboda, writer, professor and pastor. AJ shares about the subversive power of sabbath, how we can care for creation, and the formative power of our daily...

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott, Guest: Suz Skinner " A good gardener listens and watches and wants to work with what God is already doing " - Suz Skinner Suz Skinner is a member of the Emmaus Faculty, Abide Faculty, and a Spiritual Formation Associate for Leadership Transformations Inc. and the Pierce Fellowship at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Suz joins Steve and Matt to talk about...

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott, Guest: Fyfe Blair " Understanding the pruning that is happening with Christ. Yes, it's hard, but there's deep soul care work here going on. It's about your fruitfulness " - Fyfe Blair   Fyfe Blair is a faculty member of LTI's Selah Certificate Program in Spiritual Direction (Europe cohort). Fyfe is also the Project Lead for "The Caim " - a large garden in th...

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott " Are you creating space in your life to be alone, to be quiet, to be reflective, to be relational, to put technology away, to hang out with those you love and to be loved? " - Steve Macchia   The Bible is full of agrarian imagery. The words of Genesis, the prophet Isaiah, Apostle Paul, and Jesus himself all talked about gardens, plants, trees, seeds and soil...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott " When was the last time you've been awed by God? " - Steve Macchia How can slowing down help us embrace the mysterious work of God? In this episode, Steve and Matt tackle this question as they invite you to  " slow down and be more curious."    Our technological, information-rich age can make us resistant to wonder. What do we gain from surrendering control...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott " A humble person is a content person. " - Steve Macchia   How does our hustling lead to entitlement? In this episode, Steve and Matt tackle this question as they invite you to  " slow down and be more content."    When we are hustling, this leads to entitlement. Entitlement fuels our discontent. Looking at the encouragement from the apostle Paul found in Phi...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott " What are we gripping in our hands that may simply be worth a penny in comparison to the abundant life God offers us. " - Steve Macchia     How do we release the things that make for false self identity ? In this episode, Steve and Matt tackle this question as they invite you to " slow down and be more detached."    Henri Nouwen talked about the false self g...

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Matt Scott " Not setting realistic expectations of what we can accomplish within a day creates unnecessary hurry and angst inside each of us. " - Matt Scott How does our inability to slow down rob us of attentive presence? In this episode, Steve and Matt tackle this question as they invite you to "slow down and be more attentive."  Too many relationships and roles can m...