Episodes
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How do prayer and leadership relate to each other? Looking at the lives of some leaders, it seems like prayer is incidental to leadership at best. For others, it’s a personal priority that doesn’t seem to impact leadership in any obvious way. For still others, prayer is like an on-ramp, preparatory for the work of leadership but largely left behind when the leading begins.
What does Christian leadership that is deeply rooted in a life of communion with God look like? I’ll be talking about this today with Peter Greer, one of the authors of Lead With Prayer.
Peter Greer, is the president and CEO of HOPE International, a global Christ-centered economic development organization serving throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Under Peter’s leadership, HOPE has expanded from working in two to over twenty countries and served over 2.5 million families. Prior to joining HOPE, Peter worked in Cambodia, Zimbabwe, and Rwanda. He has co-authored 15 books, including Mission Drift, Rooting for Rivals, The Gift of Disillusionment, and The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good.
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Connect with Alan on LinkedIn or learn more about Unhurried Living programs on their website. Learn more about Unhurried Leaders membership.
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I love watching travel and cooking shows, so if there’s a show that combines the two, I’m hooked. If you are familiar with the names Phil Rosenthal, Guy Fieri and Andrew Zimmern, then you know what I’m talking about.
Traveling, eating tasty food, and meeting intriguing people is a combination my heart longs for. I’ve often mentioned to Alan that if I were to have an alternate universe job, I would be the host of Somebody Feed Phil (I guess Phil would have to find his own new job).
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Follow Gem on Instagram and grab a copy of her new book Hold That Thought. You can also join her in the Replenish Community.
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Missing episodes?
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In An Unhurried Leader, I shared that I’ve often been tempted to prove something about myself through the work I do. I behave as though my value is uncertain and needs to be earned or achieved. It isn’t and it doesn’t. To use a theological category, my worth is more a matter of grace rather than a matter of works.
That sort of insecurity has been a major driver of hurry in my life. I wonder if you identify.
Connect with Alan on LinkedIn or learn more about Unhurried Living programs on their website. Learn more about Unhurried Leaders membership.
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Unhurried Living is now in its ninth year of serving Christian leaders around the world. We’ve come to some small inflection points in the past, but we are in the midst of another, important time in our ministry. We are adding to our team!
Today I am introducing you to Jodie Niznik and Matt Fogle. They are two stellar leaders who are going to link arms with Alan and me as we continue the work of training leaders to rest deeper, live fuller and lead better. I can’t wait for you to meet them.
Jodie Niznik is a seminary-trained and ordained lover of God’s Word and people. She served in pastoral ministry at a large church for over twelve years, including as Women’s Pastor, Adult Ministries Pastor and Executive Pastor. She now helps people create space for God through her Scripture meditation podcast, So Much More, and Real People, Real Faith Bible studies.
Matt Fogle is a trained Spiritual Director who also has two Master’s degrees in Organizational Leadership and in Spiritual Formation. He grew up in rural Illinois where mentors helped Matt to see that God is calling everyone to an abundant and adventurous life in Christ. For over ten years Matt has been a pastor in TX, IL and AZ, as well as a speaker and retreat facilitator in CA & CO. He has worked with multiple non-profits in the areas of leadership development and spiritual formation.
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Follow Gem on Instagram and grab a copy of her new book Hold That Thought. You can also join her in the Replenish Community.
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The cross is the heart of Scripture.
Everything about the gospel message leads to the cross, and proceeds from the cross. In fact, within the narrative of Scripture, the crucifixion of Jesus is literally the crux of the story―the axis upon which the biblical story turns. But it would be a mistake to think we could sum up the significance of the crucifixion in a tidy sentence or two.
That kind of thinking only insulates us from the magnificence of what God has done. In our ongoing quest to make meaning of the cross, we need to recognize that this conversation will never conclude―that there is always something more to be said.
In his book, The Wood Between the Worlds, Brian Zahnd reminds us that the meaning of the cross is multifaceted and touches every aspect of our lives. It is an invitation to encounter the cross of Christ anew.
Just as gazing through the eyepiece of a kaleidoscope reveals a new geometric image with every turn, Zahnd helps us see that there are infinite ways to behold the cross of Christ as the beautiful form that saves the world.
Brian Zahnd is the founder and lead pastor of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri. He is also a pastor-theologian who has authored eleven books, including Sinners In the Hands of a Loving God, When Everything’s on Fire, and The Wood Between the Worlds. Brian is enthusiastic about music, literature, mountains, and long-distance pilgrimages.
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Connect with Alan on LinkedIn or learn more about Unhurried Living programs on their website. Learn more about Unhurried Leaders membership.
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In the retelling of the Mary and Martha story, many inadvertently pit these sisters against each another. We are forced to make a choice: “I’m a Mary” or, more regularly I hear, “I’m a Martha.” As though these women were tropes or types on a personality test.
This is unfortunate, because then we are drawn to take sides and defend one or the other. Our own identity becomes wrapped up in one woman or another.
Before I unpack this further, I’ll give you the spoiler: This story isn’t about busy people and lazy people. We are ALL invited to follow the example of Mary and focus on the one thing of Jesus.
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Follow Gem on Instagram and grab a copy of her new book Hold That Thought. You can also join her in the Replenish Community.
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What do we mean when we talk about the importance of prayer? What is prayer? Is it mainly the words we say to God about our concerns, our needs, our hopes, our desires? What is the difference, if any, between saying prayers and being prayerful?
Today, I’m sharing a conversation with a wise Franciscan priest who has been practicing prayerfulness for over 50 years.
Albert Haase, OFM, is a preacher, teacher, and spiritual director. A former missionary to mainland China for over eleven years, he is the award-winning author of ten books on popular spirituality and the presenter on five bestselling DVDs. He holds a PhD in historical theology from Fordham University and an MDiv from Catholic Theological Union. He is currently serving as chaplain at Cedarbrake Retreat Center near Austin, Texas.
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Connect with Alan on LinkedIn or learn more about Unhurried Living programs on their website. Learn more about Unhurried Leaders membership.
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God's face is always shining toward us. Our God is not asleep, nor indifferent. But we don't always experience this nearness or the depth of how beloved we truly are--especially if we have experienced neglect, betrayal, or indifference in our formative human relationships.
In her book, The Emmanuel Promise, Summer Joy Gross acts as a nurturing guide, as she helps us make our way to the transformative dynamics of presence, attachment and God’s love. Together, we’ll discover the Security of a Life Held by God.
Summer Joy Gross (MDiv, Virginia Theological Seminary) is an Anglican priest, retreat leader, and spiritual director whose work is guided by the belief that our stories can be transformed by God's invitation to make his love our home base. She is associate faculty of spiritual formation and the art of spiritual direction at the Healing Care Ministries' spiritual direction school. She is the host of The Presence Podcast and lives in North Georgia with her husband and their three teenagers.
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Follow Gem on Instagram and grab a copy of her new book Hold That Thought. You can also join her in the Replenish Community.
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I’ve written and said plenty about the problem of hurry in our lives and in our world. There is a condition called hurry sickness, which is the feeling of always being rushed as though you were lagging behind in some race. This raises our stress levels. A sense that we don’t have enough time for everything we have to do is a sign of hurry sickness. We can end up feeling increasing frustration with anyone or anything that gets in the way of what you have to do. Multitasking is one of our strategies to somehow boost productivity, at least in the short-term. But the long-term costs can be pretty high for our present hurry.
In this episode and a couple of future ones this season, I’m going to talk about core drivers of hurry that I’ve been addressing in my own life since I wrote An Unhurried Life. Today, in the spirit of my new book A Non-Anxious Life, I’ll unpack how anxiety drives hurry in our lives.
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Connect with Alan on LinkedIn or learn more about Unhurried Living programs on their website. Learn more about Unhurried Leaders membership.
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For the last few years I have enjoyed meeting with women in coaching groups or soul care groups. It is such a beautiful and vulnerable way to share our lives. The women who attend are always leaning in toward God and desiring to connect at a deeper level with others.
A while back I decided I wanted to share with these women the scriptures that have helped form me. These verses helped me focus on the centrality of God’s love, Jesus and the process of being transformed. I’d like to share these passages with you today.
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Follow Gem on Instagram and grab a copy of her new book Hold That Thought. You can also join her in the Replenish Community.
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For too many, work feels tedious, painful, even meaningless. And we don’t seem to know what to do about it. There is a familiar crisis of meaning and of sustainability. You’ve probably heard the alarming statistics: how so many who lost work during the pandemic just aren’t interested in returning to their jobs.
We need to find a way out of disintegration so that we can discover how work can be an experience of loving God, serving our neighbors, and living out the good news of God’s kingdom in the world that surrounds us.
Today, I’ll talk with author Jeff Haanen about his book, Working from the Inside Out. In it, he talks about the integration of our life with God and our work with God.
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Connect with Alan on LinkedIn or learn more about Unhurried Living programs on their website. Learn more about Unhurried Leaders membership.
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As young children its easy to pick up beliefs and behaviors that seem to work for us, but as we move into adulthood, we find that is no longer the case. Today, I’m going to share with you a personal story of how one of my early unhelpful behaviors was transformed by God into something beautiful and useful for me today.
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Follow Gem on Instagram and grab a copy of her new book Hold That Thought. You can also join her in the Replenish Community.
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In the summer of 2023, I finally got the opportunity to make a retreat at a place I’ve been wanting to visit for years. I drove up to the New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, California for an eight-day silent retreat. I’ve done week-long retreats before on the East Coast, but never here in California.
I’ve been wanting to share the story of my experience of extended retreat here on the podcast. I’m glad to finally get that opportunity today.
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Connect with Alan on LinkedIn or learn more about Unhurried Living programs on their website. Learn more about Unhurried Leaders membership.
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One of my mentors often liked to ask a couple of simple questions when we were together: first, “What is the Christian life?” and second, “What is the church?” At first glance, those feel like beginner questions. Of course we know what a Christian is and what church is about.
But how many of our assumptions about our life in Christ together look more like being a twenty-first century North American more than an apprentice of Jesus in the here and now of our lives? To what degree are we letting the way of Jesus transform our expectations, our values and our pursuits into a very different way from the culture that surrounds us?
John Mark is a teacher and writer from Topanga Canyon in Southern California. For nearly two decades, he was the founding pastor at Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon where he spent many years working out discipleship to Jesus in the post-Christian West, organized their community around a simple idea: practicing the Way of Jesus together.
In 2021, after leading a five-year initiative around spiritual formation called “Practicing the Way,” John Mark stepped away from his pastoral role to create simple, beautiful formation resources for church communities around the world.
Today, John Mark is developing new practices, courses, and podcasts for Practicing the Way and serves as a teacher in residence at Vintage Church LA with his wife and their three kids.
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Connect with Alan on LinkedIn or learn more about Unhurried Living programs on their website. Learn more about Unhurried Leaders membership.
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Women have been important leaders throughout church history. There are multiple stories in the Old and New Testaments about the powerful and unique ways women lead. Think Deborah, Ruth, Esther, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, Phoebe, Priscilla and more. There are the desert mothers, and women such as Julian of Norwich, Clare of Assisi and Teresa of Avila, who have given us wisdom for the ages. Sometimes out in front, sometimes behind the scenes, but always, women have contributed to the spiritual and relational life of the church.
Today my guest is Kimberly Deckel and we are going to dive into the important role of women and how she comes alongside women in ministry to encourage and empower.
Kimberly Deckel is the Executive Pastor at Church of the Cross in Austin, TX. Before transitioning into full time ministry, Kimberly worked in the field of social work for over a decade serving as therapist, hospice social worker, and working in foster care and adoptions. She completed her MA in Missional Theology through the Missional Training Center and served as a priest and church planter in Phoenix, as well as the director of operations for Surge Network. Kimberly’s husband is Steve and her daughter is Keenan.
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Follow Gem on Instagram and grab a copy of her new book Hold That Thought. You can also join her in the Replenish Community.
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Having written a book about anxiety, I’ve seen a lot of promises about how to solve it. A life hack here. Six easy steps there. But my own experience with anxiety has been anything but easy. Today, I want to share some of the more unexpected pathways to peace I’ve discovered in my journey.
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Connect with Alan on LinkedIn or learn more about Unhurried Living programs on their website. Learn more about Unhurried Leaders membership.
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Hard. Crusty. Unyielding.
Rootless. Shallow. Burning out. Withering.
Thorny. Distracted. Choked. Pressed.
Good. Healthy. Vibrant. Thriving.
What is this list of (mostly disturbing) words I’ve just uttered? Especially when the title of this episode includes, “A Gracious Reflection.” Well, it’s a list that came to mind upon a recent encounter with the Parable of the Sower from Mark 4. I was struck by the inner dynamics described by Jesus. I’ve taken his four types of soil and created some reflection questions that you can use for a heart-check-in.
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Follow Gem on Instagram and grab a copy of her new book Hold That Thought. You can also join her in the Replenish Community.
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The greatest priority in the kingdom of God is simple and straightforward. Love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30).” That sentence will not surprise a single one of you listening.
But, in my own experience of the Christian life, it has often felt like we majored on loving God with our minds over loving God with our souls, or hearts, or physical strength. We’ve often valued the right ideas over the right sort of heart or fruitful practice. Today, we’ll talk about how we might experience a more creative way of living our lives in God.
Our guest today is Amy Pierson and we're chatting about her recent book Makers in a Thinkers’ World. She writes at the intersection of neuroscience, spiritual formation, creativity and lived experience. She speaks from a long journey with Jesus in these practices and disciplines.
AMY PIERSON is the founder of Burning Heart Workshops (a soul care ministry) and former executive director of the Spiritual Formation Alliance. A writer, speaker, artist, mom, and Gamma of two, Amy lives in the Denver area with her hilarious husband, Bill, and their ridiculous golden retriever.
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Connect with Alan on LinkedIn or learn more about Unhurried Living programs on their website. Learn more about Unhurried Leaders membership.
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In Anne Lamott's book, Traveling Mercies, she shares the story that led her to take the leap into her own faith journey. It was the story of Abraham and Isaac that caught her attention. The reality and authenticity of Abraham's belief and trust in God's provision compelled her. It led me to ponder and process that moment in Abraham's life. This is where we’re headed today on the Unhurried Living Podcast.
And these are some of the questions we will be addressing:
If we place ourselves in Abraham’s place, what level of trust might emerge from our own deep place? How far would I go in sacrificing that which I hold most dear?
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Follow Gem on Instagram and grab a copy of her new book Hold That Thought. You can also join her in the Replenish Community.
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Sometimes, anxiety rises in my thoughts, emotions, and body as an overwhelming wave. I’m tempted in moments like that to let myself be overcome, whether by allowing anxiety to immobilize me, to chase me away from what God has given me to do, or even to drive me to ways of working that seem to be only thinly aware that God is with me as I work.
I’ve been learning that over time that anxiety became embedded in my mind, my emotions, even my body. But I’ve also been learning that the peace of Christ can displace anxiety in me. I can learn to let the peace of Christ protect me from anxious worry in the midst of my many concerns. And I wanted to share with you what I’ve been learning, and more about what I wrote in A Non-Anxious Life.
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Connect with Alan on LinkedIn or learn more about Unhurried Living programs on their website. Learn more about Unhurried Leaders membership.
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