The Emotionally Healthy Leader Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Rethinking What It Means to Be a Pastor or Leader in 2024 Jun 25, 2024

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✅ How Healthy is Your Leadership? Take this short and free quiz to find out. // https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadership-assessment/ ---------------------- Churches have all kinds of expectations of pastors and church leaders. There is a certain pressure that you must be able to cast vision, teach and preach, lead and inspire staff and volunteers, build teams, and keep ministry momentum in all areas.
The problem? Everything on this list is EXTERNAL. Very few churches and pastors see their INTERNAL life with God as part of their job description.

For this reason, we must become increasingly serious about leading from a deep inner life with God (not just gifting and skill).
On today's podcast, I will share some of what I've been sharing with many pastors. How we should design every part of our lives (rest, work, prayer, and relationships) around the love of God.

Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/

Emotionally Healthy Parenting, Pt. 2: Four Ways to Make a Lasting Impact Jun 11, 2024

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🎯 SKILLS FOR FAMILIES: Learn a powerful 5-part conversation tool and teach your family.
https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/community

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It's time we dispel a myth...there are NO perfect parents.
Geri and I have been parenting for 39 years, and we are still learning as we go. Every age and stage of life presents opportunities and challenges. The key is to continue in the direction of good parenting, even if you make mistakes along the way.
Today, Geri joins me for part two of a podcast where we explore one of the most challenging leadership tasks on earth – emotionally healthy parenting.
Together, we cover 4 critical parenting issues:

Why YOU are your child's biggest problem (and what to do about that)
How to create a SAFE environment in your home
Why CONNECTION is more important than rules
The importance of knowing your POWER with your children

Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/

Emotionally Healthy Parenting, Pt. 1: A Radical Approach to a Difficult Task May 27, 2024

Show notes

🎯 SKILLS FOR FAMILIES: Learn a powerful 5-part conversation tool and teach your family.
https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/community

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Today, we're tackling a relatively untouched topic on the podcast.
Parenting.
Why parenting on a leadership podcast? Among your many roles as a leader, one of the most important (and difficult) relationships is parents and children. The truth is – whether biological, adopted, or spiritual children, we all are called to raise up the next generation.
The reality is – without deep inner work and awareness, parents always repeat exactly as they were parented. You will parent the same way unless you intentionally change your family pattern.
You've heard the Proverb, "Train up a child in the way they should go." (Proverbs 22:6) Emotionally healthy parenting says, "Train up a parent in the way he or she should go."
Today is part one of a two-part series on the longest-lasting relationships you will lead in your entire life. This is for parents with kids of all ages - infant, adolescent, teenager, and adult.

Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/

7 Qualities of an Emotionally Healthy Church Board May 14, 2024

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🎯 FREE TEAM TRAINING: Grow a healthy team culture with our team transformation videos
https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/team
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One of the most difficult and nuanced callings is serving as a board member of a church or ministry. This role is both legal and spiritual, affecting the entire church culture. Very few are trained to do it well.
Sadly, often it is only after a crisis or scandal that people realize the "Board" was not really functioning, trained, or doing what they were entrusted to do.
But the truth is – that healthy, thriving, flourishing churches have healthy, thriving, flourishing boards.
In today's podcast episode, I outline the 7 must-have qualities for building an emotionally healthy board. When your board gets these 7 things right, everyone in your church wins for the long haul.

Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/

How (and How Not) to Choose Your Next 3 and 12 Disciples Apr 30, 2024

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📺 FREE WEBINAR: Develop High-Impact Leaders in Your Church
Get a roadmap to disciple the next generation of leaders. Register for the next webinar:
https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/highimpact/
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Pastors and leaders want to make an exponential impact for Jesus.
We often spend our energy on what will affect the most amount of people. So we prepare cutting-edge weekend services, craft sermons for large groups, publish social posts that we hope will have a viral reach, all while squeezing in time for people when we can.
But when we look at the life of Jesus, we see that he focused his time on a few. In fact, he turned the world upside-down by concentrating his ministry on 12 men!
In today's podcast, I answer common questions like "How do I choose just 3 or 12 disciples?", "Who should I be looking for? (and, who should I avoid?), and "What do I actually do with them?"
This is not easy and fast work, but when we get this right, the church will be transformed.

Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/

5 Relationships Every Leader Needs to Flourish Apr 16, 2024

Show notes

✅ How Healthy is Your Leadership? Take this short and free quiz to find out. // https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadership-assessment/
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The quality of the people who surround you will determine the success of your leadership. Because there is undeniable loneliness in leadership, it is ever more important that we evaluate our relationships on a regular basis.
Sadly, far too many pastors and leaders choose to go it alone, or surround themselves with foolish counsel (in the form of wrong relationships)
That's why in today's podcast, I explore the five types of relationships you need in your life in order to flourish as a leader or pastor.
Honestly, I wish I had this list 30 years ago. It would have saved me from confusion, foolish decision-making, and unnecessary isolation!

Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/

The Loneliness of Leadership Apr 02, 2024

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✅ FREE EMOTIONAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT: In 15 Minutes, Discover How Emotionally Mature You Are https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/mature
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In this episode, we explore a topic that's as old as leadership itself: the loneliness that often accompanies the role of leadership.
From the slowness of change to the weight of difficult decisions, from the sting of criticism to the ache of betrayal, leadership can often feel like a solitary journey. But we can take heart because all throughout the Scriptures leaders have grappled with this very same loneliness. And yet, loneliness can become destructive when it turns into isolation. In today's episode, I share 4 critical steps that leaders must take to navigate loneliness while remaining healthy and whole.

Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/

Staying Steadfast Through the Fires of Leadership Mar 19, 2024

Show notes

📣 FREE E-BOOK: 8 Practices of Emotionally Healthy Preaching & Teaching 🌟
Learn the essential practices to deliver sermons with depth and power.
https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/preaching

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Leadership is acrucible through which God is changing YOU into a new kind of person. Throughout your leadership journey you will be taken through a series of fires or tests from God that exists to purify you from the inside out.
In today's podcast, I share about the many tests you WILL encounter if you haven't already. If you are not prepared for these tests, you will stumble and drown in discouragement. If you are prepared for these tests, you will be transformed into the image of Christ.

Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/

The Secret Ingredient that Unlocks a Radical Church Community Mar 05, 2024

Show notes

A course won't change your church.
Neither will a book, a podcast, or a sermon series.
So the question is, how do people truly change?
This is a question every pastor and leader needs to answer. Over the years of my pastoral ministry, and even today, one thing I've noticed is how often we UNDERESTIMATE the personal time, presence, and intentionality it takes to disciple people into transformation in Jesus.
True change is slow because it is relational. Change does not happen on an assembly line.
Over the past several weeks on the podcast, I've shared with you the importance of reclaiming a spacious life - one that is not rushed, crammed, or overscheduled. Many leaders are coming to understand this as it relates to their PERSONAL life and walk with God.
But today I want to share with you about creating spaciousness for OTHERS. I believe it's the secret ingredient our churches need to experience deep communal fruitfulness.

Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/

Tune In and Let Go: Lessons from the Prayer Life of Jesus Feb 20, 2024

Show notes

As leaders, we know that PRAYER is the heartbeat of life in Christ. But often, our vision of prayer can become lop-sided, leading to a heavy weight on our shoulders.
For my first 17 years as a Christian, I had a one-dimensional view of prayer. I thought prayer was a tool I was supposed to use to make God's kingdom come. So I would devote 6-8 hours a week in prayer meetings, interceding for revival and believing that unless I prayed, God wouldn't come. I thought that was what Jesus called us to.
But over time I learned to see something different in the prayer life of Jesus. The gospel of Luke highlights a way of being with God that is less about striving and more about attunement. It is true that prayer DOES require perseverance and devotion, but for reasons different than we think.
In today's podcast we explore the prayer life of Jesus and what that means for us today.

Learn more about the 2026 FALL SEMESTER School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/leadershipschool/

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