Most workplaces are an emotional desert. We are taught to check our feelings at the door, put our heads down, and focus solely on the bottom line. But what if bringing your whole heart to work is actually the secret to unprecedented team loyalty, engagement, and success?

In this episode of The Wholehearted Way, we sit down with Matt Armbruster, a corporate leader who decided to test a radical theory. After experiencing profound personal connection and emotional renewal at a retreat, Matt bravely brought those same principles of vulnerability and deep listening into his secular, high-pressure corporate environment.

The results speak for themselves. While his industry faced massive resignation spikes and turnover during the COVID pandemic, Matt’s team experienced zero turnover. Leadership took notice, ultimately creating an entirely new role for him centered around employee engagement.

If you are a leader, manager, or anyone tired of the dry, dusty corporate grind, this conversation will give you the courage and the tools to bring real humanity back to your workplace.

In this episode, we cover:

• The Corporate Desert: Why the "leave your emotions at home" mentality is actively harming your team's culture and your bottom line.
• The Power of Being Heard: How Matt implemented authentic, active listening in a secular business setting, and the dramatic shift it caused.
• The 3-Point Response Framework: A simple, actionable method to honor your employees when they share something difficult.
• Connection Groups at Work: How to successfully pilot small peer-support groups in the workplace without crossing professional boundaries.
• The Fear of Emotion: How to overcome the apprehension of "opening Pandora's box" when engaging with your team's real feelings.

Resources & Links:

• Learn more about our mission and listen to more episodes: https://wholeheartedwaypodcast.com
• Discover more about the retreats and programs mentioned in this episode at Wellspring Group.

Subscribe & Review: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to The Wholehearted Way on your favorite podcast platform and leave us a review! Your support helps us bring more of these vital conversations to leaders everywhere.

"I hate it here."

It's a phrase clinical psychologist Dan Sartor heard from his own kids for years -- and it cut deep every time. Until he realized they weren't rejecting his home. They were expressing something they couldn't fix on their own: a longing for peace, connection, and presence that our hurried lives keep pushing to the margins.

Most of us know that feeling. We scroll past it, stay busy through it, or dream of relocating, hoping a change of scenery will resolve something that's actually happening inside us. But what if the answer isn't escaping? What if it's slowing down enough to let ourselves -- and the people around us -- be truly known?

In this episode of The Wholehearted Way, Nathan King and Mandi Wellington sit down with Dr. Dan Sartor, a clinical psychologist with over 30 years of experience in what he calls "soul care." Together, they explore why we struggle to connect at the level we were made for -- and what it looks like to start.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Soul Care vs. Surface Fixes: Why addressing anxiety, conflict, or addiction at the behavioral level often misses the deeper issue -- and what changes when we go to the level of the soul.
• Why We Can't Connect: How relational deficits from childhood, cultural pace, and technology create a "perfect storm" of soul atrophy -- even among people surrounded by others.
• The Therapy Paradox: Dan's striking observation that people opened up honestly in his counseling office but showed up in "Sunday best" at church -- and what that reveals about the communities we're building.
• "I Hate It Here": A father's journey from taking his kids' words personally to hearing the longing underneath -- and why God responds to our lament the same way.
• The Montana Metaphor: Why our desire to escape to somewhere slower and simpler points to a deeper hunger for the kingdom of God, which Dallas Willard said moves at about three miles per hour.
• God's Plan A: Why deep, vulnerable community isn't a nice-to-have for the church -- it's the very mechanism God designed for healing and transformation.
• The Dark Night of the Soul: How Jesus on the cross -- feeling forsaken by God himself -- gives us permission to bring our rawest, most honest selves into relationship with him and each other.

Whether you feel stuck in surface-level friendships, exhausted by performing your faith, or quietly wondering why "the formula" isn't working, this conversation offers a different way forward -- one that starts with being honest about where you actually are.

About Dan Sartor

Dr. Dan Sartor is a licensed clinical psychologist and professional counselor with over 30 years of experience. He serves as the director of outpatient counseling and spiritual retreats at the Wing Center in Flowery Branch, Georgia. In addition to his clinical work, Dan coaches nonprofit and ministry leaders, walking alongside them as they lead, serve, and sustain their impact. He has been married for 35 years and has four adult children and a granddaughter.

Resources Mentioned:

• New Book: Becoming Wholehearted by Larry Bolden and Anisa Sumlar (becomingwholehearted.org)
• Wellspring Group: wellspringgroup.org
• Listen to more: wholeheartedwaypodcast.com

"I do what I don't want to do."

It’s the ancient struggle Paul described in Romans 7, and it’s a reality many of us face every day. We rationally believe in God’s love and want to be present for our families, yet in moments of pressure, we react out of fear, control, or exhaustion—effectively sabotaging the very things we long for most.

In this episode of The Wholehearted Way, host Nathan King sits down with Wellspring Group founder Larry Bolden and Creative Director Anisa Sumlar to celebrate the launch of their new book, Becoming Wholehearted. Together, they pull back the curtain on the "internal disconnect" that keeps us stuck in cycles of self-sabotage.

In this conversation, we explore:

• False Visceral Beliefs: Why our "gut-level" beliefs (often formed in childhood) frequently override our intellectual or biblical truths.
• The Four Levels of the Heart: Moving beyond just "thinking" and "choosing" to engage the deeper realms of "feeling" and "desiring".
• The "Cats in the Cradle" Trap: Larry shares a poignant reflection on how even "good, Godly men" can unintentionally repeat the cycles of distance they once vowed to break.
• The Theology of Socks: Anisa tells a surprising story about a department store and a sock survey that revealed her own self-protective strategies against wanting beauty.
• From Black & White to Color: Moving from "knowing about" God to an experiential, "full-color" relationship with Him.

Whether you feel "burned out" on religious performance or simply wonder why you can't seem to follow through on your best intentions, this episode offers a signpost toward a life of greater integration and "ever becoming".

Resources Mentioned:

• The New Book: Becoming Wholehearted by Larry Bolden and Anisa Sumlar.
• Deepen the Journey: Download the free study guide and find more resources at becomingwholehearted.org.
• Listen to more: wholeheartedwaypodcast.com