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In this episode, I invite you to rediscover an ancient path of powerful preaching and teaching — one that’s been largely lost in the modern church.

We're not talking about TED-style talks, clever soundbites, or performance-driven content. We're talking about preaching birthed out of deep, slow formation in Jesus. The kind of teaching that carries weight because it has been lived.

This episode explores the story behind the phrase “monks in the pulpit” — how early church leaders, shaped by the deserts of Egypt and the rhythms of monastic life, became the world’s most transformative preachers. We’ll trace their journey, unpack 8 core practices of Emotionally Healthy Preaching, and reflect on what it means to teach from being, not just knowledge.

If you’re a pastor, teacher, or spiritual leader of any kind, I want to challenge you: the most urgent work you can do is not just preparing sermons — it’s preparing your soul.

Slow down. Be with God. Then preach.

In this episode of the Emotionally Healthy Leader Podcast, Pete Scazzero shares a powerful word every church leader needs to hear: Focus on the Few. In an age of growing platforms, endless tools, and ever-increasing pressure to cater to the crowds, Pete brings us back to the model of Jesus — who chose to give his best energy to the few.

Whether you're leading 25 or 2,500, the temptation is the same: spend your strength on the many and ignore the long-term fruit that only grows through deep discipleship of a few. Pete explores why real transformation requires more than programs and volunteers — it demands formation from the inside out.

This episode is part of a series on the 8 Marks of a Church Culture that Deeply Changes Lives. If you're longing to lead differently, with intention, depth, and courage — this conversation is for you.

So much of modern church culture encourages us to hide.

Hide our struggles. Hide our doubts. Hide the messy, complicated truth of being human.

But Jesus never invited us into a sanitized faith. He called us into something real.

In today’s episode, I explore the next mark of an Emotionally Healthy Culture: Creating a Church Where It’s Safe to Be Human.

We’ll unpack five countercultural practices that dismantle toxic judgment, challenge our compulsion to fix others, and build a community that mirrors the love of Jesus.

You’ll hear stories, examples, and frameworks that will help you…

• Build emotional safety into your leadership core.

• Develop a high level of differentiation as a spiritual leader.

• Create a church culture that invites people to come out of hiding and into the light.

This isn’t a side issue. It’s central to deep discipleship.

Let’s stop pretending—and start building churches where people experience the grace of God, not just hear about it.

Too often, we lead others while unaware of the emotional baggage we carry. In this episode, I share why genuine discipleship must go beneath the surface—into the depths of our emotional world and the generational patterns shaping us.

Using the haunting story of Nathan Price from The Poisonwood Bible, I reflect on my own early years of Christian leadership—driven, sincere, but stuck. Like many pastors, I loved Scripture and ministry, yet avoided the inner work required for lasting transformation.

In this second mark of an Emotionally Healthy Culture, I unpack how we follow Jesus into beneath-the-surface discipleship—marked by emotional honesty and breaking generational patterns that bind us.

You’ll hear:

• How unprocessed pain sabotages leadership

• Why your family of origin disciples you more than you think

• Practical questions to begin your own journey inward

This isn’t just another leadership podcast. It’s a call to reclaim the radical discipleship of Jesus—starting from within.

In today’s fast-paced world, Christian leaders are often caught on the “ministry hamster wheel”—spinning endlessly with meetings, sermons, crises, and expectations. But what if the most radical, missional act we could take isn't to do more, but to slow down?

In this episode, Pete Scazzero calls us to break free from the cycle of overload and distraction by embracing a countercultural rhythm of life rooted in Jesus. Drawing from personal experience and church history, Pete shows how slowing down is not self-care—it’s spiritual resistance. It’s leadership. It’s mission.

This is the first episode in a new series on the 8 Marks of an Emotionally Healthy Culture, beginning with the most foundational mark: Slowing down to be with God before doing for Him.

If you’re longing for a church culture marked by peace instead of anxiety, depth instead of shallowness, and prayerful leadership instead of constant reaction—this episode is for you.

What if your family of origin is still running your leadership — and you don’t even know it?

In Part 2 of this vital conversation, Pete Scazzero continues unpacking how the emotional and relational patterns we inherited growing up deeply shape how we lead today — often more than we realize. If you missed Part 1, go back and listen first.

In this episode, Pete explores:

• Why so many leaders struggle to build healthy, emotionally mature community

• How unspoken family scripts muddle our priorities and calendars

• A powerful diagnostic checklist to help you reflect on your leadership

You’ll discover why your ability to lead from your true self, set wise boundaries, and create healthy spiritual culture is often determined by the invisible hand of your upbringing — unless Jesus breaks in.

This episode is both a mirror and a map — calling us to deeper freedom and alignment with the new family of Jesus.

📍 Start your journey toward emotional and spiritual maturity today at emotionallyhealthy.org/course

If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in patterns you can’t explain or hitting a wall in your leadership that won’t budge—there’s a reason. In this episode of the Emotionally Healthy Leader Podcast, I explore one of the most overlooked but powerful forces shaping your life and leadership: your family of origin.

The truth is, we all carry a family story. And unless we allow Jesus to meet us there—deep in those places—our leadership, relationships, and even our ability to hear God will be compromised.

I’ll walk you through how your family of origin influences your emotional maturity, your capacity to lead from your true self, and your ability to discern God’s voice. I’ll also share stories from my own journey and those of other leaders to help you recognize where you might be stuck—and how to move forward.

This is part one of a two-part series you don’t want to miss. The work of transformation begins with you.

After 30 years of wrestling with the tension between vision and limitation, I’ve come to see that how we handle limits can make—or break—our leadership. In this episode, I explore the subtle but powerful difference between good and bad limits. Bad limits are driven by fear, faulty thinking, and self-protection. But good limits? They’re gifts from God—meant to ground us, guide us, and grow us.

You’ll hear how ignoring God’s limits nearly cost me everything: my marriage, my leadership, my soul. But when we stop trying to be God and instead embrace the limits He gives us, we begin to see Him in ways we never could have imagined.

I’ll share practical ways you can discern the difference and walk in the freedom of wise, Spirit-led boundaries. This episode is both personal and pastoral—meant to help you lead from a deeper place.

Listen now—and rediscover the God who meets you right in the middle of your limits.