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A lively dialogue with Ruth Haley Barton about forging and maintaining a life-giving connection with God in the midst of leading. Learn more at www.transformingcenter.org.
Episodes
Tuesday Jan 10, 2023
Tuesday Jan 10, 2023
Happy New Year! We are ringing in the new year by talking about sabbatical! Friend of the Transforming Center Rick McCall is back with us, and he and Ruth are sharing their experiences with sabbaticals, what ways Ruth sees it as an extension of sabbath, and why it’s so important for the church to build in sabbatical plans in pastors’ job descriptions.
If you are a pastor or a church congregant, we think this topic of sabbatical is so important to the health and survival of churches and their leaders and the new year is a great time to start thinking about what that might look like in your organization.
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
Led By the Spirit 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!
Tuesday Nov 22, 2022
Tuesday Nov 22, 2022
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
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Christmas Eve and Christmastide
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!
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
We’re wrapping up our sabbath season with a solo episode. Ruth is on the mic to help us discern the something we can do to start our sabbath journey. What are your invitations and resistances? What are the obstacles you face as you attempt to “return to rest?” At the end of the episode producer Colleen and the two share what their souls each want to say to God at the end of this podcast season.
In January we’ll continue the conversation with a short season focused on sabbatical. We have more incredible guests and practical help for you in planning and executing a sabbatical.
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 pre-order the Sabbath Journal, which will be available sometime in January 2023.
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
Yesterday Today Forever 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!
Tuesday Nov 01, 2022
Tuesday Nov 01, 2022
As we’ve camped out around this idea of a “sabbath community” the last few weeks, we’ve explored the possibility and very real struggles of what that kind of commitment to sabbath looks like for pastors. This week we’re speaking with a pastor whose community is living out that practice in a variety of ways. In Ruth’s conversation with pastor Rich Villodas, he speaks about the power of a community oriented around sabbath and the ideas his church members are exploring as they try to make rest available to all, and not just the privileged few.
Rich Villodas is the Brooklyn-born lead pastor of New Life Fellowship, a large, multiracial church in Elmhurst, Queens, whose congregants represent more than seventy-five countries. He is also a key speaker for Emotionally Healthy Discipleship—a movement that has touched hundreds of thousands of people. His award-winning book, The Deeply Formed Life, was released in September 2020; followed by his second book, Good and Beautiful and Kind, in July 2022. He and his wife, Rosie, have two beautiful children and reside in NYC.
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 pre-order the Sabbath Journal, which will be available sometime in January 2023.
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
Led By the Spirit 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!
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
Today’s conversation is an honest and vulnerable one about the challenges of leading communities in the ways of the sabbath. Ruth sits down with Christine Lee who leads a busy church in New York City. Christine shares her own journey of practicing sabbath herself and the struggles she sees to “lead a sabbath community.” She also speaks tenderly about the fear that is stirred when she considers letting things lie dormant in service to making space for her congregation to experience the sabbath.
Christine Lee is the Priest-in-Charge of St. Peter's Chelsea, an Episcopal Church in New York City. She is married to Jimmy, her husband of 19 years, and they became pandemic dog parents to their rescue puppy, Baxter. She served as Vicar of All Angels' Church before coming to St. Peter's in October 2019 with a team as part of a church revitalization effort in the Diocese of New York.
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 pre-order the Sabbath Journal, which will be available sometime in January 2023.
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
Dusk 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!
Tuesday Oct 18, 2022
Tuesday Oct 18, 2022
Over the next few episodes we are turning our attention from a leader’s personal sabbath practice towards how they can form and shape their communities around sabbath. We’ll be talking to a number of pastors and leaders about their efforts and challenges in leading others in the practice.
Today Ruth sits down with Jeanne and Jarrett Stevens. As co-pastors of a busy church in Chicago, the Stevens have been saved by rhythms of work and rest. Ruth talks with Jeanne and Jarrett about their own practices of sabbath, the ways they’ve tried to incorporate these rhythms in their church, and the challenges and opportunities presented in this as we emerge from COVID. They also pose the question, what would it look like as a leader to leave a legacy of sabbath keeping in their community?
Jarrett & Jeanne Stevens founded and have served as co-lead pastors of Soul City Church in Chicago, IL for the past 11 years. They have both authored several books. Jarrett wrote “The Deity Formerly Known as God,” “Four Small Words”, and his latest release, “Praying Through.” Jeanne has authored many devotionals, “Everyday Brave,” “Grit & Grace,” and “You are Enough.” She is a contributing author to “Twelve Women of the Bible” and “Real Women, Real Faith.” She has a new book released in May of 2022 called “What's Here Now?” They are both passionate about helping people wake up to the transforming love of Jesus and experience soul-level change in every area of their lives.
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 pre-order the Sabbath Journal, which will be available sometime in January 2023.
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
Yesterday, Today, Forever 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!
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
In this episode we continue discussing how each season or stage of life presents its own challenges and opportunities with regard to sabbath keeping. Today we’re joined by two guests, Phaedra Blocker and Vicki Degner.
In the first half Phaedra and Ruth talk about sabbath keeping in seasons of singleness. Phaedra shares the ways in which the church can often fail to support single people in the practice, and what she does to make the day feel special and set apart. She also shares her own perspective on the notion that the sabbath is a privileged concept.
Then we hear from Vicki, who shares about her experience with sabbath during seasons of intense caregiving. Vicki has an adult son with special needs as well as two aging parents and she and Ruth discuss very practical ways in which they still strive to keep sabbath during this difficult season.
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.
Vicki Degner is trained and certified through Christos Center for Spiritual Formation as a spiritual director, and has been practicing for 18 years. She serves the Transforming Center as the Coordinator of Spiritual Direction Ministries and also on the TC board. She is married to Gerry, has two adult children, and two grandchildren that are the light of her life.
Purchase Ruth’s new book! Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest comes out on October 11, 2022. It is out now, wherever you buy books (Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org).
You can also pre-order the Sabbath Journal, which will be available sometime in January 2023.
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!
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
As we continue to discuss the idea of a sabbath practice and the very practical ways one can incorporate it into one’s life, we want to acknowledge that each season or stage of life presents its own challenges and opportunities with regard to sabbath keeping. In the next two episodes we’re going to speak with a variety of guests in different seasons of life about their own sabbath practices.
This week we’re joined by Kyle and Charity McClure, Ruth’s eldest daughter and son-in-law. Kyle and Charity are parents to three school-aged children and began carving out a sabbath practice when their kids were all very small. In this conversation they share how they reframed their posture towards the day in a season where life at home was anything but restful, how sabbath has shaped what they look for in a church and the ways in which it allows them to give their kids a different kind of presence on that day. Plus, they ask Ruth some tough questions about how she gave her own children the space to fall in love with sabbath on their own.
Purchase Ruth’s new book! Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest comes out on October 11, 2022. You can preorder now, wherever you buy books (Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org). If you buy it directly from our publisher, Intervarsity Press, you can get it before October 11th! If you pre-order the book be sure to sign up to attend our Release Day Virtual Celebration!
You can also pre-order the Sabbath Journal, which will be available sometime in January 2023.
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
Led by the Spirit 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! This week’s installment will be available to everyone, regardless of whether or not they are a patron.
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!
Tuesday Sep 27, 2022
Tuesday Sep 27, 2022
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
Win a GoodKind Sabbath Box! Share the show on social media or with a friend to be eligible! If you share on social media and tag us, you will be immediately entered to win. If you share via text or email, simply screenshot the conversation and email it to podcast@transformingcenter.org for an entry into the giveaway. You have from September 27- October 4 to submit your entry and be eligible. The winner will be notified via email on October 5, 2022.
Purchase Ruth’s new book! Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest comes out on October 11, 2022. You can preorder now, wherever you buy books (Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org). If you buy it directly from our publisher, Intervarsity Press, you can get it before October 11th! If you pre-order the book be sure to sign up to attend our Release Day Virtual Celebration!
You can also pre-order the Sabbath Journal, which will be available sometime in January 2023.
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!
Tuesday Sep 20, 2022
Tuesday Sep 20, 2022
Our guest this week is Rabbi Evan Moffic, a rabbi leading a congregation in the Chicago suburbs who also teaches and writes about the Jewishness of Jesus. He and Ruth discuss the importance of the sabbath and its roots in the Jewish faith, the communal aspect of the practice, and how the activities we engage in on the sabbath can shape our “sabbath character.”
(A note- the audio quality for this episode is not what we usually like to have, but we felt the content of the episode was more than worth it and too important to leave out.)
Rabbi Moffic is a Rabbi sharing Jewish wisdom, stories, and inspiration with people of all faiths. A graduate of Stanford University, Rabbi Moffic leads a congregation in the Chicago suburbs and teaches across the world.
Mentioned in this episode:
What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Jewishness of Jesus by Rabbi Evan Moffic
Win a copy of Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest! Leave a review of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Screenshot your review and email it to podcast@transformingcenter.org for an entry into the giveaway. You have from September 20-27 to submit your entry and be eligible. The winner will be notified via email on September 28, 2022. (Need help knowing how to leave a podcast review? This article will help!)
Purchase Ruth’s new book! Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest comes out on October 11, 2022. You can preorder now, wherever you buy books (Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org). If you buy it directly from our publisher, Intervarsity Press, you can get it before October 11th! If you pre-order the book be sure to sign up to attend our Release Day Virtual Celebration!
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
Dusk 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!