Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership with Ruth Haley Barton
Religion & Spirituality:Christianity
Inevitably, every sabbatical will meet a challenge, a place where the outside world creeps in and threatens to call you back to the work you’ve committed to set aside. When that happens, what is a leader to do? Ruth sits down with Dr. David C. Alves to discuss how to discern the necessary boundaries each individual must create for their own sabbatical, the resistance they may encounter and how congregations can help their pastors set and keep boundaries.
Then Ruth brings back former guest Rev. Dr. Phaedra D. Blocker to discuss their shared story of a time when they had to discern together whether or not to hold firm to the boundaries Ruth and the Transforming Center board set for Ruth’s sabbatical. This period of dormancy for Ruth and the organization coincided with the national tragedy of George Floyd’s murder and the question of if and how to respond publicly was difficult to discern.
Dr. David C Alves is a New Hampshire writer, and the author of both A Sabbatical Primer for Pastors: How to Initiate and Navigate a Spiritual Renewal Leave and A Sabbatical Primer for Churches: How to Love and Honor the Pastor God Has Given You. As well as three other books. David holds earned degrees from Asbury University and two schools of divinity. He is a past member of the Evangelical Press Association. A semi-retired pastor. And a recovering widower. He currently lives in Concord, NH. He enjoys family, friends, and an intimate relationship with, and love for, God and His creation.
Rev. Dr. Phaedra D. Blocker is a preacher, teacher, singer, spiritual director, and consultant. Founder and principal of Word & Wisdom, she is dedicated to empowering individuals and organizations to move toward wholeness and actualize their potential as agents of change and shalom in the world. She serves as Director of the Center for Community Care, Formation & Vitality at Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University and is Affiliate Professor in Leadership & Formation.
Purchase Ruth’s new book! Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest is out now, wherever you buy books (Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org).
You can also order the Sabbath Journal, meant to accompany you on your sabbath journey and give you space to share what your soul wants to say to God.
Music Credit:
Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist
Dusk from Transforming Center Resource Music in Solitude
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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!
Easter Monday | Transforming Post-Resurrection Encounters with Jesus (A Replay)
S22 Ep7: Walking With Jesus in His Suffering During Holy Week
S22 Ep 6: A Hope That Does Not Disappoint
S22 Ep 5: This is Hard! The Role of Endurance in Forming a Durable Hope
S22 Ep4 | Hope in the Midst of Collective Suffering
S22 Ep 3 | What Does God’s Glory Have to Do With Our Suffering?
S22 Ep 2 | Compassion and Curiosity: Attuning to Different Parts of our Suffering
S22 Ep 1 | What’s Suffering Got to Do With It (Our Transformation)?
BONUS: Preparing for Lent | Fashioning Your Own Desert
Visio Divina Guided Practice | Assumptions
Season 21: Honest Advent | Week 4: Where is God in the Unfolding?
Season 21: Honest Advent | Week 3: Where is God in My Humanity?
Season 21: Honest Advent | Week 2: Where is God in my Vulnerability?
Season 21: Honest Advent | Week 1: Where is God in My Uncertainty?
Season 21: Preparing for Advent: Honest Longings, Honest Questions
Season 20: Episode 7 | This is Fun, Y’all: The Joy and Hope of Transforming Worship
Season 20: Episode 6 | What about my puppets? Beyond Programming to Worship that Changes Us
Season 20: Episode 5 | Worship on Earth as it is In Heaven: The Transforming Power of Diversity
Season 20: Episode 4 | The Pain and the Promise of Communion
Season 20: Episode 3 | Re-thinking Sunday Mornings: Creating Space for God
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