Strengthening The Soul Of Your Leadership With Ruth Haley Barton

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

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 discuss what it looks like to “prepare” for Advent, particularly with regard to the “rough edges” that need to be smoothed to make way for the coming of Jesus and Ruth concludes with a poem called “The Waters of Insurrection.”   Mentioned in this episode: Invitation to Silence and Solitude by Ruth Haley Barton God Speaks Through Wombs by Drew Jackson   This podcast season is designed to be a companion to this year’s updated Advent Reflections, “Come, Lord Jesus, Come: Walking Through the Advent Season Together, Year C.”  The Advent Bundle includes both the softcover and digital edition of the Advent Reflections and a set of 5 corresponding Advent Liturgi

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 wondered what it looked like to “lift your soul to God” in the midst of so many difficult realities, how we bring our anger and despair to God, and Ruth’s practice of watching for the light each day. Ruth concluded with the poem “For the Darkness of Waiting” by Janet Morely.    Mentioned in this episode: Invitation to Silence and Solitude by Ruth Haley Barton Bread of Tomorrow: Prayers for the Church Year by Janet Morely This podcast season is designed to be a companion to this year’s updated Advent Reflections, “Come, Lord Jesus, Come: Walking Through the Advent Season Together, Year C.”  The Advent Bundle includes both the softcover and digital edit

Season 14 of the podcast invites leaders to walk through Advent by engaging with the lectionary Scripture readings for the New Year of the church calendar and listening for what God might want to say to us through them. In each episode, Ruth will sit down with members of the Transforming Center staff to read and reflect on the themes of Cycle C of the Revised Common Lectionary for Advent. This podcast season is designed to be a companion to this year’s updated Advent Reflections, “Come, Lord Jesus, Come: Walking Through the Advent Season Together, Year C.”  The Advent Bundle includes both the softcover and digital edition of the Advent Reflections and a set of 5 corresponding Advent Liturgies to print out and pray as a family or with others. It is available now in our online store.   Patrons at all levels received a bonus conversation this month between the creator of the Advent Liturgies, Charity McClure, and podcast producer, Colleen Powell where they discussed their experience using these liturgies with

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 podcast@transformingcenter.org   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-ye

On this last episode of season 13, listen as Ruth and Adele discuss God’s invitation to the most excellent way: love. Using 1 Corinthians 13 as a guide, they examine the counterfeits of love as well as love’s litmus tests.  We close with an opportunity to reflect on all the invitations covered in this season and ponder which one God might be nudging you to explore more deeply.   Mentioned in this episode:  Invitations From God by Adele Calhoun     Support the podcast by joining our revamped patron program over on Patreon. 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: Yesterday Today Forever: 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

In this week’s conversation, Ruth and Adele explore the invitation to remember. They discuss how we remember, the forces that shape our narratives around our memories, God’s invitation to allow our memories to uncover truths about the present day, and the discipline of remembering God’s goodness and faithfulness. God’s invitation to remember, both the good and the bad, can be a catalyst for healing in our lives.       Mentioned in this episode:  Invitations From God by Adele Calhoun The Healing Presence by Leanne Payne   Support the podcast by joining our revamped patron program over on Patreon. 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.     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transform

In this episode, Ruth and Adele use the Lord’s Prayer to examine God’s invitation to prayer. They share what God is currently calling each of them to as it pertains to prayer. How does the “Our” in the opening line “Our Father” call us to “a seismic shift in orientation” and what does it mean to bring God’s kingdom to earth inside of us as we pray? Adele closes with practical ways to incorporate prayer into the margins of your life.     Mentioned in this episode:  Invitations From God by Adele Calhoun Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder  Engaging a transforming conversation around policing in America (Beyond Words Blog post)   Support the podcast by joining our revamped patron program over on Patreon. 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: Grace and Peace: Music in Sol

This week Ruth and Adele discuss God’s invitation to wait. They process the difference between good waiting and bad waiting and ask what waiting exposes in us? The two also examine when waiting is avoidance, particularly as it pertains to justice and how to discern when to wait and when to act. Finally, they also look at what invitations to wait God might have for the church as we come out of the pandemic.      Mentioned in this episode:  Invitations From God by Adele Calhoun   Support the podcast by joining our revamped patron program over on Patreon. 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: Springs of Living Water: Music in Solitude CD (Available soon in our online store)    The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform c

The invitation to forgive is one of our most weighty invitations, as Ruth and Adele will explore. In this conversation, they will put some definitions around forgiveness, reconciliation, and how our narratives and facts are involved when it comes to the process of forgiveness. They share wisdom for when forgiveness is needed but not offered and close with tangible support for pastors to enter into their own process of forgiveness as they untangle the many wounds they may have received in this difficult season.      Mentioned in this episode:  Invitations From God by Adele Calhoun The Soul of Shame by Curt Thompson    Support the podcast by joining our revamped patron program over on Patreon. 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: Grace And Peace: Music in Solitude CD

The invitation in this episode may be our most challenging yet: God’s invitation to admit I might be wrong. Why is it so hard to admit that we may be wrong and how does shame keep us from this invitation? Ruth and Adele discuss the invitation to teachability, confession, discerning when to allow space to be wrong and when to speak up for what is right, and more.     Mentioned in this episode:  Invitations From God by Adele Calhoun   Support the podcast by joining our revamped patron program over on Patreon. 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.   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 quart