We cannot ignore the current state of our politics and the toll it has taken on the American public. As we approach another election season we wanted to provide you with encouragement and guidance on how we connect our spirituality and our politics. Guest Michael Wear joins Ruth to discuss why he believes the state of our politics is indicative to the state of our souls. Ruth and Michael also discuss how important it is to bring our own formation to our politics,  how politics can be an essential form in which to love our neighbors and why we need to avoid the false bifurcation of our spiritual lives and our political lives.   Michael Wear is founder, president, and CEO of the Center for Christianity and Public Life, a nonpartisan, nonprofit institution based in the nation's capital with the mission to contend for the credibility of Christian resources in public life, for the public good. He has served as a trusted resource and advisor for a range of civic leaders on matters of faith and public life for the last fifteen years, including as a White House and presidential campaign staffer. Wear previously led Public Square Strategies, a consulting firm he founded that helps religious organizations, political organizations, businesses and others effectively navigate the rapidly changing American religious and political landscape. He is the author of "The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life," which argues that the kind of people we are has much to do with the kind of politics and public life we will have.  Mentioned in this episode: The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life by Michael Wear Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House by Michael Wear The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard The Case for Self Forgetfulness by Tim Keller Unoffendable by Brant Hansen Invitation to a Journey by Robert Mulholland Life Together by Dedrich Bonehoffer Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist No Matter What from Music in Solitude   Support the podcast! This season patrons will receive special bonus episodes with each guest, guiding listeners on how to pray into these different topics. Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self! Learn more and apply HERE.   *this post contains affiliate links

Lent is upon us again. In this special bonus episode, Ruth shares her remarks from our recent live, virtual event designed to help us prepare for Lent. Lent is for everyone, but it has a special application for spiritual leaders, providing a needed opportunity to “fashion our own wilderness” (Henri Nouwen) and return to God with all our hearts. On this Ash Wednesday, we invite you to take some time to prepare your heart and mind to enter the Lenten season.   Our next podcast season begins next week. Psychiatrist, speaker, and author Dr. Curt Thompson joins us all season to discuss suffering and how it is the place where durable and true hope is formed. We will be working through the ideas in his new book, The Deepest Place: Suffering and the Formation of Hope.   Mentioned in the Episode: The Deepest Place: Suffering and the Formation of Hope  by Curt Thompson Lent A Season of Returning by Ruth Haley Barton We are now accepting applications for Transforming Community 20! Use the code Podcast20 to receive $50 off your application fee. Learn more and apply HERE.   This season will not follow the lectionary readings as closely as past seasons. Scripture for Lent 2024 can be found HERE. A digital version of our reflections for Lent resource, Lent A Season of Returning is available for purchase in our bookstore.   Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist O Sacred Head, Now Wounded from Lent Music in Solitude   Support the podcast! This season patrons will receive weekly bonus episodes entitled “The Work,” where Curt and Ruth will discuss and provide practical and applicable practices that open us up to God’s presence in our suffering so that durable hope can be formed. Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self! We are now accepting applications for Transforming Community 20! Use the code Podcast20 to receive $50 off your application fee. Learn more and apply HERE.

This is a replay of an episode we released only to patrons of The Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast. While we take a small hiatus from normal programming to attend to the work of The Transforming Center as well as a special Digital Film Capture project we invite you to revisit some of our previous seasons.    Please visit our website to learn more about the work of The Transforming Center and our Digital Capture project!   For our patrons during the Lent season we recorded a special conversation with Sandra Van Opstal. Sandra sat down with Ruth and Tina to discuss why lent is so significant to someone who was formed in a Latina Roman Catholic tradition, how the Transforming Center helped make the bridge to a reforma-costal BIPOC pastoral space as well as why diverse spiritual practices lead us to solidarity and mutuality.  This conversation was insightful and important for us all as we seek to be leaders doing God's important justice work. Sandra Maria Van Opstal is a second-generation Latina and the executive director of Chasing Justice. She is an author, pastor, and activist reimagining the intersection of faith and justice. Her work centers on chasing justice under the mentorship of the global church, for the mobilizing of the next generation of leaders. Sandra has given leadership in global movements such as Lausanne, The Justice Conference, and Urbana Missions Conference. She has also had a strong domestic presence as an executive pastor at Grace and Peace Church and as an activist on the west-side of Chicago. Sandra serves as a board member for CCDA. She holds a Masters of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is currently pursuing doctoral work in urban leadership and transformation. She is a contributor to the New York Times Bestselling book A Rhythm of Prayer and she's also the author of The Next Worship. If you’d like to hear more content like this, become a patron! Patrons receive an overflow of bonus content from the episodes, including exclusive conversations between Ruth and guests, clips that we couldn’t fit into the final cuts, and more! Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!   The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

This is a replay of an episode we released only to patrons of The Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast. While we take a small hiatus from normal programming to attend to the work of The Transforming Center as well as a special Digital Film Capture project we invite you to revisit some of our previous seasons.    Please visit our website to learn more about the work of The Transforming Center and our Digital Capture project! Over on patreon we close out every podcast season with a special Ask Ruth episode, where Ruth answers patron’s questions about the season. This episode includes Ruth and Transforming Center staff member Tina answering questions about our most recent season, A Just Lent: Learning to Love What God Loves. These questions were thoughtful and challenging and we hope they serve to round out our most recent season.   If you’d like to hear more content like this, become a patron! Patrons receive an overflow of bonus content from the episodes, including exclusive conversations between Ruth and guests, clips that we couldn’t fit into the final cuts, and more! Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!   The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

This is a replay of a previous episode of The Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast. While we take a small hiatus from normal programming to attend to the work of The Transforming Center as well as a special Digital Film Capture project we invite you to revisit some of our previous seasons. Please enjoy this episode from Season 17: Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest: From Sabbath to Sabbatical and Back Again.   Please visit our website to learn more about the work of The Transforming Center and our Digital Capture project! We’re here this week to talk about the elephant in the sabbath room… technology. Ruth and guest, Tiffany Shlain, talk all about how our technology impacts our ability to truly rest, why a “tech Shabbat” has been a lifeline for Tiffany, and the nitty gritty details of how Tiffany goes completely screen-free (and we mean completely) for 24 hours each week. We also hear from one of the founders of our sponsor, Good Kind, Chris Pappalardo, about the Sabbath Boxes they created to help people really unplug on the sabbath.   Tiffany Shlain is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, filmmaker, and public speaker. Her work explores the relationship between humanity and technology; the future of work, digital wellbeing and happiness; gender and women's rights; and neuroscience and creativity. ​Honored by Newsweek as one of the "Women Shaping the 21st Century," Tiffany is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, founder of the Webby Awards, and author of the national bestselling book 24/6: Giving up Screens One Day a Week to Get More Time, Creativity, and Connection.   Chris Pappalardo is editor at The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. He is the author and co-founder of GoodKind, an organization that cultivates practices that draw people to God and to one another. He is married to Jenn and is the proud dad of Lottie, who wants to save the planet, and Teddy, who wants you to read him another book.   Mentioned in this episode:  24/6: Giving up Screens One Day a Week to Get More Time, Creativity, and Connection by Tiffany Shlain GoodKind Sabbath Boxes   .   Purchase Ruth’s new book! Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest is available wherever you buy books (Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org).   You can also order the Sabbath Journal.  This season of our podcast is sponsored by GoodKind. GoodKind is all about helping people cultivate the GoodKind of habits and holiday practices that allow them to engage with God and one another throughout the year. They have a great tool for Advent, a Sabbath Box to help you practice unplugging, and more. To learn more about them and the products they make, you can find them at goodkind.shop    Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Reflection from Transforming Center Resource Music in Solitude   Support the podcast! This season, patrons will receive an overflow of bonus content from the episodes, including exclusive conversations between Ruth and guests, clips that we couldn’t fit into the final cuts, and more! Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!   The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

This is a replay of a previous episode of The Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast. While we take a small hiatus from normal programming to attend to the work of The Transforming Center as well as a special Digital Film Capture project we invite you to revisit some of our previous seasons. Please enjoy this episode from Season 16: Transforming Leadership: Managing Anxiety Within our Communities.   Please visit our website to learn more about the work of The Transforming Center and our Digital Capture project! Sometimes our greatest anxieties can surround areas of stuckness, places where we know what we are doing isn’t working, but we can’t seem to find our way out. This week, Ruth and Steve will discuss second order change and how we can recognize and dissolve our stuck patterns. How does paying attention to process over content help us with this? And how can changing our own behaviors actually change the behaviors of others? Find out all this and more in this episode.   Helpful to this episode: Everything Isn’t Terrible by Dr. Kathleen Smith   Steve Cuss Resources: Steve’s website Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss   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 Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist   Support the podcast! This season, patrons will receive exclusive bonus content that includes conversations with Ruth and Steve that delve into episode topics a little deeper. This week we will offer a conversation about universal sources of anxiety. Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

This is a replay of a previous episode of The Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast. While we take a small hiatus from normal programming to attend to the work of The Transforming Center as well as a special Digital Film Capture project we invite you to revisit some of our previous seasons. Please enjoy this episode from Season 10: Invitation to a Journey   Please visit our website to learn more about the work of The Transforming Center and our Digital Capture project! We begin this episode by redeeming the word “disciplines" by offering up the word “practices” and looking at disciplines through the lens of desire and about opening ourselves up to God, reminding us that we are not in charge of our spiritual journey. Ruth Haley Barton and Steve Weins discuss four practices: prayer, spiritual readings, lectio divina, and liturgy. They sound familiar, but be prepared for some refreshing ideas on how to use them to open yourself up to God. SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES You can also access podcast on Google Play or Stitcher. Listen to other episodes from Season 10 | Access past podcast seasons Mentioned in this podcast: Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation, M. Robert Mulholland Become a patron: Join a growing movement of transforming leaders. We’ve received fantastic feedback about the podcast, and we would like to create even more episodes. We need you! Become a patron this summer! Music Credit: I am New by Joel Hanson. Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist

This is a replay of a previous episode of The Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast. While we take a small hiatus from normal programming to attend to the work of The Transforming Center as well as a special Digital Film Capture project we invite you to revisit some of our previous seasons. Please enjoy this episode from Season 6: Invitation to Retreat.   Please visit our website to learn more about the work of The Transforming Center and our Digital Capture project! Human beings are made with rhythms and for rhythms. A beautiful conversation ensues about the beauty of rhythms, and how to find and recognize rhythms. In the Christian tradition tears are always a gift. Ruth provides a great encouragement to let the tears come. We end this episode with Ruth sharing a personal story of how the rhythm of retreat opened up space for God to speak to her. Go deeper with this content and purchase Ruth's newest book, Invitation to Retreat: The Gift and Necessity of Time Away with God. Mentioned in this podcast: Invitation to Retreat, Ruth Haley Barton Transforming Community Exploring Further: Music in Solitude Ruth Haley Barton Steve Wiens Become a patron:  Join a growing movement of transforming leaders. We have gotten fantastic feedback about the podcast, and we would like to create even more content. We need you! Become a patron and receive exclusive bonuses and our gratitude.  Music Credit: The intro and outro by Aaron Niequist.

Hello! We’re popping in the podcast feed with a little “State of the Podcast” announcement (don’t worry! It’s not ending!). Ruth gives a peak behind the curtain as to what is happening over at the Transforming Center this year and shares about our Alumni Retreat in July. Then, we’ll hear from some Transforming Community alumni about their experiences applying for and participating in a Transforming Community. It’s not too late to sign up for TC19, which starts in June!   As an added bonus we’re offering to waive the application fee for podcast listeners who apply to Transforming Community 19. Simply go to the application page for TC19 and use the code TC15CVL45 at checkout!   Alumni! Come join us on retreat! We’re having a special Sabbath retreat exclusively for alumni on July 9-11, 2023. Sign up today!   Interested in learning more about the Digital Capture Project and how to support this work? Check out what we’re doing!   Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Support the podcast! Patrons receive exclusive bonus content and other perks! Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!   The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

We find ourselves again beginning a new Christian year with Advent. This year the lectionary finds us in Cycle A. In this episode Ruth helps us prepare for advent with an invitation to use this season as actual space to practice sabbath keeping. She shares some of the greater themes we find in Advent and helps connect them to what we’ve explored in our understanding of the sabbath. Finally, she closes with some reflections on a poem by David Adam.    Our hope is that this episode helps prepare your heart for Advent. While we will not be releasing weekly episodes during Advent this year, we invite you to return to season 8 of the podcast Advent and Christmas Reflections (Cycle A) which walks through the Cycle A scriptures. Additionally, we will be providing weekly guidance, which will include spiritual practices, to our patrons. Sign up at the $10 level to ensure you receive every weekly offering. Cycle A Scripture: Week 1 Isaiah 2:1-5     Psalm 122    Romans 13:11-14    Matthew 24:36-44   Week 2 Isaiah 11:1-10     Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19    Romans 15:4-13    Matthew 3:1-12   Week 3 Isaiah 35:1-10     Psalm 146:5-10 or Luke 1:46b-55    James 5:7-10    Matthew 11:2-11   Week 4 Isaiah 7:10-16    Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19    Romans 1:1-7    Matthew 1:18-25   Christmas Eve and Christmastide Isaiah 9:2-7    Psalm 96    Titus 2:11-14    Luke 2:1-14, (15-20)   Also mentioned in the episode Eternal Seasons: A Liturgical Journey with Henri J.M. Nouwen ed by Michael Ford Tides and Seasons: Modern Prayers in the Celtic Tradition by David Adam   Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist O Come O Come Emmanuel from Transforming Center Resource Advent Music in Solitude   Support the podcast! This season, patrons will receive an overflow of bonus content from the episodes, including exclusive conversations between Ruth and guests, clips that we couldn’t fit into the final cuts, and more! Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

We can't wait for you to hear this encouraging conversation between Ruth and Glenn Packiam, a pastor and author of The Resilient Pastor: Leading Your Church in a Rapidly Changing World. Glenn and Ruth shared their thoughts on why it's so hard for pastors to prioritize their life with God, performing our spirituality vs. cultivating a spiritual life, challenges facing pastors and the church, and what we’re learning about pastors' spirituality. We hope this conversation encourages you today.  Check out The Resilient Pastor and Glenn's podcast, "The Resilient Pastor Podcast."   You can preorder Ruth's next book, Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest: From Sabbath to Sabbatical and Back Again! Want to be a part of the book launch? Learn more.   Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Innocence from Music in Solitude   Support the podcast!  Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

Over on Patreon, we concluded season 16 with our fifth installment of our Ask Ruth series. This episode included questions specific to this past season on Transforming Leadership: Managing Anxiety Within Our Communities with Steve Cuss. Patrons submitted questions that arose from their listening of the podcast, and Ruth provided her trademark thoughtfulness, wit and wisdom in answering them. Today, we wanted to share an excerpt from this episode with all of our podcast listeners. The Ask Ruth series is available to patrons at both the $5 and $10 monthly levels. Patrons at the $10/month level also receive regular Beyond the Episode content when the podcast is in season. These episodes include conversations that go further or deeper than what was on the main feed episode or guided spiritual practices. We'd love for you to join us over on Patreon! You can sign up to become a patron and support our podcast ministry over on our Patreon page.

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. Practicing Lent for spiritual leaders with books Ruth recommends for Lent 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 journal your own thoughts and prayers. This season $10 patrons will also receive guided spiritual practices like Lectio Divinas and Examens that correspond with each week’s episode. Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!

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 spiritual transformation? We are still accepting applications for Transforming Community 18. 

BONUS: Ask Ruth #3 Excerpt   In this bonus episode, we want to share another excerpt from our most recent Ask Ruth episode.  Every month we release bonus content to our patrons through Patreon. In our Ask Ruth series, patrons get the opportunity to submit questions for Ruth to answer. Ask Ruth #3 covered questions specific to season 13 of The Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast | Invitations from God. In this excerpt, you can hear Ruth share what she thinks are the most important invitations for pastors to respond to right now.   The Ask Ruth series is available to patrons at both the $5 and $10 levels. Patrons at the $10 monthly level also receive regular Beyond the Episode content when the podcast is in season. These episodes take the conversations from The Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast to deeper and more personal places.   We would love for you to join us over on Patreon! You can go to our Patreon page to sign up to become a patron and support our podcast ministry.

In this special bonus episode, we are sharing a conversation with Biz Gainey, a pastor and long-time Transforming Community alum, about his experience leading a Transforming Church. The Becoming a Transforming Church Retreat has equipped him and his team to foster a community that gathers around the presence of Christ for the purpose of spiritual transformation so that they can discern and do the will of God. Biz shares the practices and disciplines his church uses for spiritual formation and how they have served him and his congregation in the midst of challenges facing many churches today.   If you are interested in attending the upcoming Becoming a Transforming Church retreat on November 1-3 find out more here.   To sign up and receive special promotional pricing exclusive for podcast listeners email [email protected]   The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

For this special bonus episode, we wanted to give all of our listeners a peek into what is happening over on Patreon. This is a short sample of our bonus “Ask Ruth” series where patrons get the opportunity to ask Ruth questions and hear her responses in an exclusive to patrons episode. In this episode, hear Ruth speak to the issue many Christians are facing as they figure out how to return to a church that may have revealed itself to hold very different views on what it means to be a follower of Christ in regards to power, racial justice, etc. over the last year. As expected, Ruth’s response is full of wisdom, grace, and insight.   The Ask Ruth series is available to patrons at both the $5 and $10 levels. Patrons at the $10 a month level also receive regular Beyond the Episode content when the podcast is in season. These episodes come out after the main feed episode has been released and contain conversations that relate to the main episode but are more extensive or personal than what is covered in the main episode.   If you are interested in what we provide our patrons, head over to our Patreon page and become a patron today to support our podcast ministry.

Season 13 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast is just around the corner! Join us on June 23 as we kick off a new season with Ruth’s friend and fellow spiritual director Adele Calhoun. In this special teaser episode hear Ruth and Steve share what’s in store for season 13 and learn about our revamped patron program!   If you sign up to become a patron in the month of June you will receive a free ebook of Adele’s book Invitations From God, the subject of season 13 of the podcast, as a thank you for your support.  Patrons will now also receive regular bonus content as well as opportunities to hear Ruth answer their questions. Become a patron today and support our podcast ministry.   SUBSCRIBE ON APPLE PODCASTS You can also access the podcast on Stitcher and Spotify.   Music Credit: Anthem: Music in Solitude CD (Available soon in our online store)   The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

Ruth names it – this is the most convicting part of the book for any of us who are Christians – especially for Christian leaders. Steve and Ruth have different reasons it is difficult to acknowledge their religious false self. If anyone thought we were done with the attributes of the false self in the last episode be warned – Mulholland brings up the list again.  There is no doubt, our religious false is very dangerous and it is alive and well in all of us. Ruth ends with sharing Mulholland's penetrating questions that conclude chapter 3.  Support the podcast now and immediately receive our Lent bonus Podcast patrons at any level will receive our brand new revised digital download of Ruth Haley Barton's Lent: A Season of Returning. It includes all the scriptures and space to journal your own thoughts and prayers. Become a patron today and support our podcast ministry. SUBSCRIBE ON APPLE PODCASTS You can also access podcast on Stitcher. Listen to other episodes from Season 12 Access past podcast seasons Mentioned in this podcast: The Deeper Journey: The Spirituality of Discovering Your True Self, M. Robert Mulholland Jr. Lent: A Season of Returning, Ruth Haley Barton Become a patron: Join a growing movement of transforming leaders! Become a patron at any level during Lent and immediately receive our new digital edition of Lent: A Season of Returning when you become a patron at any level. Music Credit: Lent: Music in Solitude CD (Available soon in our online store) The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

Ruth is joined by Aaron Niequest long-time friend (alumn of TC9) who has also served as worship leader in some Transforming Community® communities. Ruth and Aaron have a rich discussion about practice based faith and worship. Since they both were raised in the Plymouth Brethren tradition, they share what they believe is the best contribution this heritage had on their spiritual formation. In discussing the role of belief in our spiritual transformation, they raise the question: Is what you believe making you a better person? SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES You can also access podcast on Google Play or Stitcher. Listen to other episodes from Season 9 Access past podcast seasons Mentioned in this podcast: The Eternal Current: How a Practice-Based Faith Can Save Us from Drowning, Aaron Niequist The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard Exploring Further: Transforming Community Ruth Haley Barton Become a patron: Join a growing movement of transforming leaders. We’ve received fantastic feedback about the podcast, and we would like to create even more episodes. We need you! Become a patron during Lent and receive our Lent: A Season of Returning! Music Credit: New Way to Live written by Joel Hanson. I am New written by Joel Hanson and Jason Gray.

Before we kick off a new season next Wednesday, Ruth Haley Barton sat down with Aaron Niequist and discussed a variety of topics from their shared background to their journey to a practiced-based faith. In a time where there is much to be discouraged about about in the Church, this conversation will give you hope.  Note: The idea Ruth attributes to Richard Rohr regarding “being on the inside of the outside”  is more accurately stated in his own words as “being on the outside of the inside" or “the edge of the inside.”   Mentioned in the Podcast: The Eternal Current: How a Practice-Based Faith Can Save Us from Drowning, Aaron Niequist Invitation to Retreat: The Gift and Necessity of Time Away with God, Ruth Haley Barton Everything Belongs, Richard Rohr Transforming Community  Music Credit: The intro and outro by Aaron Niequist.

Ruth Haley Barton and Steve Wiens begin the discussion of Lent by talking about the seasons of the church calendar. Each season has unique invitations and keep us connected with Jesus’ spiritual journey while he was on earth. Lent invites us into aspects of transformation that we might not choose on our own, or even know how to choose.  They also discuss some of the unique challenges for leaders during the season of Lent. Whether you have never participated in Lent or wish to re-engage Lent in a fresh way, you will learn something new in this bonus episode of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast. Mentioned in the podcast: Lent: A Season of Returning, Ruth Haley Barton Other resources for Lent: An Invitation to Walk with Christ: Stations of the Cross Prayer Guide, Ruth Haley Barton Transforming Center