Strengthening The Soul Of Your Leadership With Ruth Haley Barton

This week, Ruth and Steve are talking about differentiation. What is differentiation and how does it differ from individualism? Steve shares his framework of the Four Spaces and explains how paying attention to these spaces can help us differentiate and understand what is happening in a group. As we wrapped up, Steve shared a few practices that can help us with differentiation.   Mentioned in this episode: CODA (Apple +)   Steve Cuss Resources: Steve’s website Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss Calm, Aware, Present Journal kickstarter campaign   General Resources for Systems Theory: Season 9 Episode 6 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Season 9 Episode 7 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Family Systems and Congregational Life: A Map for Ministry by R. Robert Creech Lombard Mennonite Peace Center Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue by Edwin H. Friedman Extraordinary Relationships: A new Way of Thinking about Hum

Ruth and guest Steve Cuss continue to explore Systems Theory. This week they look at leadership, anxiety, and the false self. What are some examples of false selves and false beliefs and how do they relate to anxiety? What is the calm presence? Ruth and Steve’s conversation covers all this and more, including an invitation to participate in the practice of the Welcoming Prayer. Steve Cuss Resources: Steve’s website Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss Calm, Aware, Present Journal kickstarter campaign   General Resources for Systems Theory: Season 9 Episode 6 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Season 9 Episode 7 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Family Systems and Congregational Life: A Map for Ministry by R. Robert Creech Lombard Mennonite Peace Center Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue by Edwin H. Friedman Extraordinary Relationships: A new Way of Thinking about Human Interactions by Roberta M Gilbert Musi

This week, Ruth and Steve delve into the topic of family of origin and its impact on leadership. Why do we need to do the messy work of untangling our childhood issues? How do we carry childhood wounds into our leadership? How can genograms help us do this work? Ruth and Steve share their thoughts on these questions and more in today’s episode.   This week’s practice invites you to sit with the following questions: What’s a family trait that was an asset to you? What is a family trait that was a liability?  We encourage you to explore genograms, as well. Check out Steve's genogram key and questions to use with the key.   Steve Cuss Resources: Steve’s website Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss Calm, Aware, Present Journal kickstarter campaign   General Resources for Systems Theory: Season 9 Episode 6 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Season 9 Episode 7 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Family Systems and Congregational Life: A Map for Minis

Welcome to Season 16, Transforming Leadership: Managing Anxiety Within Our Communities. This season we will be exploring Systems Theory, also called Family Systems Theory. Many of us have seen the troubling Barna research about the extreme levels of burnout pastors are experiencing right now. As we look at Systems theory, we will be examining how it relates to and can transform our lives in leadership.    In today’s episode Ruth welcomes our season-long guest, Steve Cuss, a pastor and author of Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs. Steve and Ruth dive into the deep end of Systems Theory as they discuss the most powerful leadership tool: diagnosing and diffusing anxiety. What is chronic anxiety? How does anxiety spread throughout a group? How can leaders attend to their own anxiety in healthy ways? Ruth and Steve answer all this and more in this week’s conversation.   Steve Cuss Resources: Steve’s website Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss Calm, Aware, Present Journal kickstar

Welcome to Season 16, Transforming Leadership: Managing Anxiety Within Our Communities. This season we will be exploring Systems Theory, also called Family Systems Theory. Many of us have seen the troubling Barna research about the extreme levels of burnout pastors are experiencing right now. As we look at Systems theory, we will be examining how it relates to and can transform our lives in leadership. Ruth welcomes guest Steve Cuss, pastor and author of Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs, to help us unpack Systems Theory.   In today’s episode Ruth is flying solo to give us an introduction to Systems Theory. She lays the groundwork for the season by detailing Bowen’s 8 concepts, while also giving us a general idea of Systems Theory and how it relates to anxiety and leadership. We think this introductory episode is just what we need to help us dive into the deep end with Ruth and Steve. Resources used in today’s episode:  Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss Generation to G

We couldn’t leave you hanging in the darkness of Good Friday, so to wrap up season 15 of the podcast we are concluding with a conversation about Easter and the Resurrection. Ruth and Steve discuss the story of Mary and the empty tomb and what it reveals about the new order Jesus wants to bring. They marvel at the ways that Jesus cares for each of the disciples exactly as they need it most. Ruth encourages us to ask, what do we need from Jesus at this point? Are we willing to ask for it, or can we recognize the ways that Jesus is already meeting us in these needs? Join us for this discussion that invites us into the Easter season.   Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus from Lent Music In Solitude   Mentioned in the episode: Bread of Tomorrow: Prayers for the Church Year by Janet Morely   Support the podcast! Patrons at the $10 level will receive a digital download of Ruth Haley Barton’s Lent: A Season of Returning. It includes Cycle C scriptures and space to journal your own t

Ruth and Steve guide us into Holy Week with the reminder of the importance of keeping vigil and a discussion on the temptation to fall asleep. In what ways do we turn our gaze away from that which is difficult to see? What does it mean to keep vigil with Jesus and how is it an expression of our intimacy with Him? This conversation will prepare us for Holy Week and the work of walking with Jesus until the end.   It’s not too late to join us for a VIRTUAL Stations of the Cross service on Friday, April 15 at 12 pm CST. Details and sign up here.   Lectionary Readings for Holy Week   Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist   Mentioned in the episode: The Book of Common Prayer Support the podcast! Patrons at the $10 level will receive a digital download of Ruth Haley Barton’s Lent: A Season of Returning. It includes Cycle C scriptures and space to journal your own thoughts and prayers. This season, $10 patrons will also receive guided spiritual practices, like the Lectio Divina and Examen, that correspond w

We have arrived at Palm Sunday and this week Ruth and Steve discuss the disorienting swing the people create between hailing Jesus as King and calling for his crucifixion in a matter of days. It brought us to wonder, in what ways do we create our own agendas to put on Jesus, and how do we fall into the temptation to make Jesus the King we want him to be rather than allow ourselves to be challenged by the King he actually is? As we move into Holy Week, this conversation will challenge us to consider the ways we make Jesus into our own image and provide practices to combat that tendency.   Lectionary Readings for the sixth Sunday of Lent, Cycle C: Liturgy of the Palms: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29  •  Luke 19:28-40 Liturgy of the Passion: Isaiah 50:4-9a  •  Psalm 31:9-16  •  Philippians 2:5-11  • Luke 22:14-23:56 or Luke 23:1-49   Join us for a VIRTUAL Stations of the Cross service on Friday, April 15 at 12 pm CST. Details and sign up here.   Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus from

We seem to be turning a corner during this week of Lent! Ruth and Steve discuss the lectionary readings for the fifth Sunday of Lent and the call to prepare ourselves for whatever new things God desires to do in us. This requires us to resist the temptation to cling to the past. In this conversation Ruth and Steve also ask us to consider how to discern when it’s time to put things behind us, how we perceive the new thing God is doing and lean into it, and what it means to move into divine forgetfulness when the situation calls for it.   Lectionary Readings for the fifth Sunday of Lent, Cycle C: Isaiah 43:16-21  • Psalm 126  •  Philippians 3:4b-14  • John 12:1-8   Join us for a VIRTUAL Stations of the Cross service on Friday, April 15 at 12pm CST. Details and sign up here.   Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Returning from Lent Music In Solitude   Mentioned in the episode: “Help Me to Believe in Beginnings” from Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle by Ted Loder Support the podcast! Patrons

This week’s temptation may bring us to the hardest, deepest places of Lent. We are talking about the temptation to be silent about our sin and the power of the practice of confession. Why are leaders especially tempted to hide our wrongdoings, and how can we use confession carefully, lovingly and honestly in our lives? Ruth and Steve use the story of the prodigal son and Psalm 32 to have an honest conversation about the importance and challenge of confession.   Lectionary Readings for the fourth Sunday of Lent, Cycle C: Joshua 5:9-12  •  Psalm 32  • 2 Corinthians 5:16-21  •  Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32   Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Prayer for Healing from Lent Music In Solitude   Mentioned in the episode: The Prayer Tree by Michael Leunig Support the podcast! Patrons at the $10 level will receive a digital download of Ruth Haley Barton’s Lent: A Season of Returning. It includes Cycle C scriptures and space to journal your own thoughts and prayers. This season, $10 patrons will also rec

This week Ruth and Steve address the temptation to invest in that which does not satisfy. So many of us leaders find ourselves turning towards escapist behaviors in our exhaustion and grief. How do we discern between what is distracting and what is satisfying? How can we abstain in order to give time to that which is most life-giving? How do we cultivate our freedom and choose our hearts' deepest desire through fasting? Ruth and Steve discuss all this and more in this episode.   Lectionary Readings for the third Sunday of Lent, Cycle C: Isaiah 55:1-9  •  Psalm 63:1-8  •  1 Corinthians 10:1-13  • Luke 13:1-9   Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus from Lent Music In Solitude   Mentioned in the episode: Show Me the Way by Henri Nouwen   Additional Resources: Fasting by Scot McKnight Fasting: Spiritual Freedom Beyond Our Appetites  by Lynne Baab Support the podcast! Patrons at the $10 level will receive a digital download of Ruth Haley Barton’s Lent: A Season o

What is it about leaders that we seem to struggle so much with the temptation to take matters into our own hands and “help” God out when we distrust His plans or when we are impatient with His timing? And what is our transformational moment when we realize we’ve been pushing our own agenda and trying to take back control? This week Ruth and Steve discuss this temptation to impose our own will onto God’s will and the opportunity Lent provides to practice letting go of our own plans and surrendering to God’s will deep within.    Lectionary readings for the second Sunday of Lent, Cycle C: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18  • Psalm 27  •  Philippians 3:17-4:1  •  Luke 13:31-35 or Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)   Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Prayer for Healing from Lent Music In Solitude   Mentioned in the episode: The Human Condition by Thomas Keating Iona Abbey Worship Book   Support the podcast! Patrons at the $10 level will receive a digital download of Ruth Haley Barton’s Lent: A Season of Returning

Join us for Season 15, Lent for Leaders: With God in the Wilderness.  Ruth Haley Barton and Steve Weins will journey through Lent with a spirit of self-examination and desire for intimacy with God. Each episode will highlight a particular temptation found in one of the passages from Cycle C of the Revised Common Lectionary for Lent that is relevant for leaders today and Ruth and Steve will provide practices to combat those temptations.   In week one, Ruth and Steve examine the temptation of Jesus in Luke 4. How do we see these temptations to be relevant, spectacular, and powerful show up in our own lives? How can the practice of hiddenness be the antidote to this? What does it look like to fashion our own wilderness? We’ll discuss all this and more in today’s episode.   Lectionary readings for the first Sunday of Lent, Cycle C: Deuteronomy 26:1-11  •  Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16  • Romans 10:8b-13  • Luke 4:1-13   Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Returning from Lent Music In Solitude   Mentioned

Our next podcast season begins next week! Season 15 will help us walk through Lent together. Steve Weins is back with Ruth and together the two will tackle this time that invites us to self-examination and intimacy with God. In this teaser episode, Ruth and Steve will share their hearts for this season of the podcast and their hope that these conversations will help you face your own temptations and provide practices that will create space to be strengthened in the wilderness with God.    Season 15 begins Wednesday, March 2. Episodes will drop each Wednesday, reading into the following Sunday of Lent.   Mentioned in this Episode Find all of our lent resources here. Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle by Ted Loder   Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus from Lent Music In Solitude Support the podcast! Patrons at the $10 level will receive a digital download of Ruth Haley Barton’s Lent: A Season of Returning. It includes Cycle C scriptures and space to journ

Please enjoy another bonus conversation about worship, this time with our friend and former Transforming Community worship leader, Rory Noland.  Rory has a new book out called Transforming Worship: Planning and Leading Sunday Services as if Spiritual Formation Mattered. He and Ruth sat down to discuss the book as well as their long history and the role spiritual formation has played in their friendship. Rory gives a master class on Transforming Worship and its importance in this conversation.   Further reading: From the Transforming Center Blog: Sweet Hours of Prayer: How Fixed-Hour Prayer Nourishes the Soul Part I and Part II   Check out Rory's book Transforming Worship: Planning and Leading Sunday Services as if Spiritual Formation Mattered.   Music Credit: The Lord is in Our Midst from The Lord is in our Midst Transforming Worship Vol. 1 New Every Morning from The Lord is in our Midst Transforming Worship Vol. 1

Please enjoy this bonus episode, a conversation between Ruth Haley Barton and Aaron Niequist, recorded at the Becoming A Transforming Church retreat. Ruth and Aaron discuss Aaron's experience as both a participant and worship leader of Transforming Communities and the ways in which worship and fixed hour of prayer contributed to his journey in community.   If you feel drawn by God to get on a new kind of journey we hope you would consider Transforming Community 18. We are still accepting applications. TC18 begins February 20-22, 2022. Find more information about Transforming Community 18 HERE.   Music Credit:  May Your Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist

We have a special bonus episode for you today to mark Epiphany.   We dusted off our podcasting microphones to have a conversation about Epiphany. Epiphany celebrates the coming of the Magi to the manger to visit and worship the baby Jesus. In this discussion, Ruth and members of the Transforming Center staff discuss the mystery and meaning of Jesus choosing to come to earth in such an imperfect setting, what we took from the Magi’s story and the invitation to adventure and risk that God may be giving in the new year. Ruth closes with two poems that cap off these reflections and mark the end of the Christmas season.   Mentioned in this episode: Epiphany No. 16 by Kate Compston from Bread of Tomorrow: Prayers for the Church Year by Janet Morely The Work of Christmas from The Mood of Christmas and Other Celebrations by Howard Thurman Music credit: Joy to the World from Christmastide Music in Solitude A Light Unto My Path from Advent Music in Solitude Interested in going further with your own s

This season we invite you to walk through Advent by engaging with the lectionary Scripture readings and listening for what God might want to say through them. In each episode, Ruth and members of the Transforming Center staff will read and reflect on the themes of Cycle C of the Revised Common Lectionary for Advent together.   For this last episode of our Advent season, we wanted to give all our listeners an opportunity to engage with a lectionary reading through the practice of Lectio Divina. Ruth shares some thoughts on Christmas as the culmination of the Advent season and then guides listeners through a Lectio Divina reading of John 1:1-5, 14 with the help of other staff members. We invite you to listen to this in a quiet space where you can make yourself fully present to God and respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We are praying this is fruitful practice for you during this week leading up to Christmas.   Music credit: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus from Advent Music in Solitude Mary's Song

This season we invite you to walk through Advent by engaging with the lectionary Scripture readings and listening for what God might want to say through them. In each episode, Ruth and members of the Transforming Center staff will read and reflect on the themes of Cycle C of the Revised Common Lectionary for Advent together.   In this conversation, we discussed the prayers for and of indifference and how we are personally wrestling with them, particularly as we engage with the story of Mary and Elizabeth this week. Ruth uses another one of Drew Jackson’s poems to spark conversation about God’s practice of speaking through the disgraced and marginalized members of society.   Mentioned in this episode: God Speaks Through Wombs by Drew Jackson For more on discernment and the Prayer of Indifference see chapter 7 of Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton or Season 1 Episode 7 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast, The Art and Practice of Spiritual Discernment.   Music credit: Come Thou Lon

This season we invite you to walk through Advent by engaging with the lectionary Scripture readings and listening for what God might want to say through them. In each episode, Ruth and members of the Transforming Center staff will read and reflect on the themes of Cycle C of the Revised Common Lectionary for Advent together.   In this conversation, we discussed the invitation to repentance in this Advent season. Ruth reframes the idea of repentance as more than just confession and turning from sin but also a posture of openness towards the changing of one’s mind or ideas and the staff discusses what that stirred up in them and the hope they may or may not have in it.    Mentioned in this episode: Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle by Ted Loder  How I Changed my Mind About Women in Leadership edited by Alan Johnson   Music credit: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus from Advent Music in Solitude Journey from Advent Music in Solitude   This podcast season is designed to be a companion to this yea