Every new year marks an ending and a new beginning. In fact, embracing endings in order to receive new beginnings is one of the fundamental tasks of the spiritual life–and this is especially true for Christian leaders. Join Pete Scazzero and Rich Villodas in this month’s EH Leader Podcast as they look deeper into this central leadership theme. Click the video below to watch or the link to listen to the audio file. LISTEN HERE
This year’s Emotionally Healthy Leadership Conference will be different this May for a number of reasons. First, I’ve been intensely writing my new learnings since 2007 in a new book called The Emotionally Healthy Leader that will be released in early 2015. I have narrowed it down to four critical areas that must be established (i.e. our inner life) if we are going to lead our churches well (i.e. our outer life). These reflections, tested over the past seven years, will inform our conference. The outline is as follows: Your Inner LifeChapter 2 Face Your ShadowChapter 3 Lead out of Your Marriage or SinglenessChapter 4 Slow Down for Loving UnionChapter 5 Practice Sabbath DelightYour Outer LifeChapter 5 Planning and Decision MakingChapter 6 Culture and Team BuildingChapter 7 Community and Dual RelationshipsChapter 8. Endings and New Beginnings (A Case Study of Succession) Secondly, God has led Geri and I into other new content around leading out of your marriage. Read more.
The center of Christianity is endings and new beginnings, death and resurrection, leaving and launching into new unknowns. I have written and preached it. Now I am living it in a new way. Tonight is the Celebration of our 26 years at New Life Fellowship Church. This Sunday I preach my final message as Senior Pastor on “Lessons Learned in 26 Years at NLF.” I then officially transition to a new role within New Life under the new leadership (i.e. Rich Villodas and the Elder Board) on October 6th. I am continually asked by leaders around the country: “Really, Pete, how are you?” My answer: “I am thrilled and excited beyond words. I could never have imagined such a gift. Yes. I have some normal apprehensions, but this has been one of the highlights of my life. I would recommend it to every senior pastor!” This is the culmination of a 4½ year succession process.. Read more.
The center of Christianity is endings and new beginnings, death and resurrection, leaving and launching into new unknowns. Last Sunday, at our NLF Annual Vision meeting, I took 30 minutes to update our church on my process of transition at New Life Fellowship as I move from being the Senior Pastor (after 26 years) into a new role as a Teaching Pastor and Pastor-at-Large. It has been an awesome experience. I hope this video encourages you to be responsive to God’s invitation, at different seasons of your own life, and to let go as He leads — for the sake of His glory, other people’s development, and yourself.
We join the families of those twenty children as we watch their funerals – two yesterday and, probably, more today. Jeremiah wrote a book called Lamentations in the midst of his unspeakable horror. David wrote two-thirds of the Psalms out of his pain. Consider the words of Gerald Sittser. May they serve you as they have served me. In A Grace Disguised, after the horrific loss of his daughter, wife, and mother in a car accident, he wrote: “Catastrophic loss by definition precludes recovery. It will transform us or destroy us, but it will never leave us the same. There is no going back to the past…It is not therefore true that we become less through loss – unless we allow the loss to make us less, grinding our soul down until there is nothing left…Loss can also make us more. I did not get over the loss of my loved ones; rather, I. Read more.
At our Annual Vision Meeting on June 3rd, 2012, I announced my transition and a very exciting new beginning for New Life Fellowship Church. It was a key moment in a four and a half year process that will culminate in September of 2013. The process and day reflected many of the riches of emotional healthy spirituality applied to a local church. It was a beautiful meeting that left many of us in awe! The video includes my commentary on the letter I released to the congregation. Pastor Pete reads his Letter to New Life New Beginnings A Letter from Pastor Pete June 3, 2012 This year is a special one for New Life Fellowship Church. In September we will celebrate and reflect on twenty-‐five years of bearing fruit for Christ in New York City. In addition, we are entering a new beginning that will deepen and expand our life together. Prophetic New Life. Read more.
