Chrissy Chang

Bill and Kristi Gaultiere | Summer 2025: Rewind, Episode 5

Host: Steve Macchia, Guests: Bill and Kristi Gaultiere 

This episode originally aired on November 10, 2022 as Episode 6 of Season 22 

Ohh, I need to do some more inner journey work. This is an invitation.” –Kristi Gaultiere 

Bill and Kristi Gaultiere join Steve for a rich conversation about spiritual practices, discernment and soul care. In their book Journey of the Soul, they reflect on more than 70,000 hours of therapy and spiritual direction with people. In this REWIND episode of The Discerning Leader podcast, Bill and Kristi share six stages of spiritual growth and different walls that we experience. These walls start as periods of disorientation but become transition times to a more Christ-centered way of being. Listen as they share personal stories and offer a map to help every person through their own journey of the soul. 

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Steve Macchia (Podcast Host)
Founder and President of Leadership Transformations
Steve is the author of The Discerning Life,  Becoming a Healthy ChurchBroken and WholeCrafting a Rule of Life and several other titles. Steve has over 40 years in ministry and two postgraduate degrees from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Bill and Kristi Gaultiere (Guest)
Bill and Kristi Gaultiere are Drs of Psychology and the Founders of Soul Shepherding, a ministry to help pastors, leaders, churches, and all those desiring to thrive with Jesus in emotional and relational health. They are authors of a number of soul care books and resources. They have been speaking and writing about following Jesus in life and ministry since 1987. Bill & Kristi are opposite in personality, with Bill as a Type A thinker and Kristi as a relational feeler. But together, their styles and stories blend to create their book, Journey of the Soul, which guides you out of the stuck places in your spiritual life and into the expansive areas of intimacy with God, emotional health, and loving relationships. 

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James Bryan Smith | Summer 2025: Rewind, Episode 4

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: James Bryan Smith 

This episode originally aired on November 3, 2022 as Episode 5 of Season 22 

Every need that my soul has, Jesus meets them – every single one of them.” – James Bryan Smith 

James Bryan Smith joins Steve for a conversation about how our view of God transforms our understanding and experience of spiritual disciplines. In this REWIND episode of The Discerning Leader podcast, James explores the harm of having a legalistic approach to spiritual practices and a toxic view of God. On the other hand, a right perspective of the spiritual disciplines offers us the gift of intimacy with God.  

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Steve Macchia (Podcast Host)
Founder and President of Leadership Transformations
Steve is the author of The Discerning Life,  Becoming a Healthy ChurchBroken and WholeCrafting a Rule of Life and several other titles. Steve has over 40 years in ministry and two postgraduate degrees from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

James Bryan Smith (Guest)
Jim is Associate Professor in the Religion and Humanities Department at Friends University, and has written A Spiritual Formation Workbook, and The Apprentice Series (The Good and Beautiful Life, The Good and Beautiful God,The Good and Beautiful Community). Jim and Meghan, his wife, live in Wichita, Kansas. 

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Nathan Foster | Summer 2025: Rewind, Episode 3

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Nathan Foster 

This episode originally aired on April 14, 2022 as Episode 3 of Season 18 

The Jesus way is clear: hang out with 12 nobodies and then give them the keys.” –Nathan Foster 

Nate Foster joins Steve Macchia for a conversation about our awareness of God and quiet reflection. In this REWIND episode, Nate invites us to consider how God often fills in the gaps after times of quiet discernment and prayer. Viewing spiritual practices as what we do in the ordinary parts of life, this conversation welcomes us to experience renewed joy in the wonderfully ordinary, and grace-filled moments of life.  

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Steve Macchia (Podcast Host)
Founder and President of Leadership Transformations
Steve is the author of The Discerning Life,  Becoming a Healthy ChurchBroken and WholeCrafting a Rule of Life and several other titles. Steve has over 40 years in ministry and two postgraduate degrees from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Nathan Foster (Guest)
Nathan Foster is an author and host of Life With God, a Renovaré Podcast. Formerly, he was an Associate Professor of social work and served as the Andrews Chair in Spiritual Formation at Spring Arbor University. He was also a licensed clinical social worker and certified addictions counselor. Nathan has published two books, including The Making of an Ordinary Saint: My Journey from Frustration to Joy with the Spiritual Disciplines

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Rowena Day | Summer 2025: Rewind, Episode 2

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Rowena Day 

This episode originally aired on April 13, 2023 as Episode 1 of Season 26.

There are so many ways that our attention is pulled, and we are divorced from our own bodies which make it really hard to notice God.” – Rowena Day 

In this REWIND episode of The Discerning Leader podcast, Rowena Day shares with Steve how she notices the presence of God through the mighty oceans and the minute details of everyday living. Encouraging us with the notion that only when our mind, heart, body and spirit are fully integrated can we be receptive to what God has for us in the present, Rowena offers practical insights to living an embodied and integrated spirituality. 

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Steve Macchia (Podcast Host)
Founder and President of Leadership Transformations
Steve is the author of The Discerning Life,  Becoming a Healthy ChurchBroken and WholeCrafting a Rule of Life and several other titles. Steve has over 40 years in ministry and two postgraduate degrees from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Rowena Day (Guest)
Rowena Day was born and raised in Canada and now lives in Washington D.C with her husband, Jon, and their 4 beautiful children. God has been forming and shaping her through the incredibly wild, delightful and challenging journey that is parenthood. An alumni of both Emmaus and Selah-Anglican, she is passionate about the arts, spiritual formation, soul care and its intersection with neurobiology. Rowena desires to live an embodied life grounded in the present moment, closely attuned to God within and around her. 

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Trevor Hudson | Summer 2025: Rewind, Episode 1

Host: Steve Macchia,  Guest: Trevor Hudson 

This episode originally aired on October 6, 2022 as Episode 1 of Season 22.

I thought to myself, ‘God, did I really get all this wrong? I thought you were leading me in this direction.’” – Trevor Hudson

Trevor Hudson joins Steve Macchia to discuss what it means to discern the voice of God and follow Jesus in family and vocational life as well as times of discontent and suffering. Drawing from the wisdom of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Dallas Willard, Trevor offers insights and practical ways we can seek and find God in everyday living. This REWIND episode was originally aired in October of 2022 and remains one of the most downloaded episodes of The Discerning Leader podcast. 

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

Steve Macchia (Podcast Host)
Founder and President of Leadership Transformations
Steve is the author of The Discerning Life,  Becoming a Healthy ChurchBroken and WholeCrafting a Rule of Life and several other titles. Steve has over 40 years in ministry and two postgraduate degrees from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Trevor Hudson (Guest)
Trevor Hudson is an ordained minister in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. After spending forty years doing pastoral ministry in a local congregation, he now gives his time to lecturing, teaching, and writing in the areas of spiritual formation and spiritual direction. Throughout his life as a pastor and teacher, he has sought to prioritize the discipleship ministry of local congregations, build bridges across different “streams” within the Christian community, and relate spiritual formation to daily life within the context of our suffering world. His most recent book, Seeking God-Finding Another Kind of Life with St. Ignatius and Dallas Willard, is available now from NavPress. 

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Walking with the Saints | Life Together: Discerning God in Spiritual Community Episode 10

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott

It’s important to be surrounded by people who model what a Christ-like life looks like, invest in you regularly, offer spiritual friendship, ongoing guidance and encouragement. Steve Macchia 

The final episode of Season 35 explores what it looks like to walk with the saints. You’ll hear personal stories from Steve and Matt as they share some of the relationships that have helped them embody and emulate the things that make for community (presence, listening, hospitality, forbearance, humility, trust-building, repairing and restoring). Tune into this conversation as you consider who is helping to feed your soul and whose soul you’re companioning along the way.  

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

 

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Living a Shared Rule of Life | Life Together: Discerning God in Spiritual Community Episode 9

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott

Those who have an articulated communal rule of life stick together longer and more faithfully…and go deeper in their walk together with the Lord. Steve Macchia 

Healthy churches and healthy spiritual communities are comprised of those who learn, live and grow together in Christ. These communities offer a safe place to share hurts and heartaches, pray for and care for one another, grow together in grace, and offer forgiveness and selfless love to one another. Of course, this way of living doesn’t happen without great purpose and intention. Enjoy this podcast conversation centered around how to live out a share rule of life within a spiritual community.  

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

 

Living a Shared Rule of Life | Life Together: Discerning God in Spiritual Community Episode 9 Read More »

Can You Be Trusted With Power? | Life Together: Discerning God in Spiritual Community Episode 8

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott

Leadership is about whether or not the people are doing better because of your decisions. Steve Macchia 

We know all-too-well the destruction that comes when power, influence and authority are mishandled and misguided in selfish ambition. This conversation explores “power” and how we can healthily steward the influence and authority entrusted to us in a way that honors, empowers, and equips others to flourish.  

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

 

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Speaking and Hearing the Truth in Love | Life Together: Discerning God in Spiritual Community Episode 7

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott

If we could practice listening first before speaking, how different our words would be and how different our relationships would be. Steve Macchia 

Humbly receiving the preached Word of God is one means of speaking and hearing the Truth in love. But what does this look like within the context of our relationships? How do we humbly and gratefully accept reproach and admonition from others? This conversation offers wisdom and practical steps around what it looks like for us to both speak and hear the truth in love.

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

    

 

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The Ministry of Bearing | Life Together: Discerning God in Spiritual Community Episode 6

Co-Hosts: Steve Macchia and Matt Scott

That’s the hard reality…that I, too, irritate others. I need others to bear with me, also.” – Steve Macchia 

How do we lovingly bear with one another and suffer alongside others in spiritual community? This episode tackles some of the hard realities we all face when we stay in one place long enough. What does it look like to move beyond tolerating and enduring to loving and serving those we find irritating, challenging, and hard-to-love? How can we humbly walk alongside one another in an empathetic, compassionate and gracious manner? This conversation offers helpful tools and wisdom around what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “The Ministry of Bearing.”  

Join the conversation about spiritual discernment as a way of life at www.LeadershipTransformations.org and consider participation in our online and in-person program offerings. Additional LTI spiritual formation resources can be found at www.SpiritualFormationStore.com and www.ruleoflife.com and www.healthychurch.net.

 

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Can't find what you're looking for?

Mitzi Mak

Selah-West Faculty & Emmaus Faculty

Mitzi started her professional life as a high school social studies teacher. She and her husband Jerry then served cross-culturally for ten+ years, living abroad first in India and then Kurdistan, N. Iraq. In addition to being a Spiritual Director, she now serves as a Formation and Care pastor in her local church in Houston, TX. She has graduated from LTI’s Selah Spiritual Direction training as well as LTI’s Emmaus Formational Leadership Program.

Mitzi enjoys engaging conversation, reading fiction, doing jigsaw/crossword puzzles, ocean gazing and exploring the world with Jerry through food and travel.

God has two main callings in Mitzi’s life: to care for those who care for others and to be a guide in helping others have a healthy relationship with the Trinity – recognizing God’s loving presence and activity in their lives and how to faithfully respond.

Selah was a transformative experience for me – allowing the contemplative within to emerge and to beautifully co-exist with my extraverted personality.