Discerning God’s Invitations

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

J.R. Briggs (Season 36 Guest)
J.R. has written, co-written, and contributed to 15 books on a wide variety of topics and published over 50 published articles, both online and in print, with Christianity Today, Huffington Post, Preaching Today, American Bible Society, N.T. Wright Online, Missio Alliance, Boundless.org and Relevant Magazine, and several others. His most recent book, The Art of Asking Questions (InterVarsity Press, 2025) is his passion project, as he is driven to help leaders grow to become better question askers. He hosts the Resilient Leaders podcast, a weekly podcast equipping leaders in a wide variety of backgrounds to grow in their health and effectiveness.

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

Gary Thomas (Season 36 Guest)
Gary Thomas is a bestselling author and international speaker whose ministry brings people closer to Christ and closer to others. He unites the study of Scripture, church history, and the Christian classics to foster spiritual growth and deeper relationships within the Christian community. His unique message is designed to help you enjoy God with a new sense of freedom and delight, embrace the unique way that you interact with God, partner in the spiritual growth and character formation of your spouse and build a closer, grace-based family. His newest book, The Life You Were Reborn To Live, is available everywhere books are sold.

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

Dr. Alison Cook (Season 36 Guest)
Dr. Alison Cook is a therapist and host of the top-ranked The Best of You podcast. She is the author of the ECPA bestselling book The Best of You and coauthor of Boundaries for Your Soul. Widely recognized as an expert at the intersection of faith and psychology, Dr. Alison empowers individuals to heal from past wounds, develop a strong sense of self, forge healthy rela­tionships, and experience a loving God who is for them.

Steve Macchia (Podcast Host)
Founder and President of Leadership Transformations,
Steve Macchia is the author of The Discerning Life,  Becoming a Healthy Church, Broken and Whole, Crafting 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 Gaultiere (Season 36 Guest)
Bill is a psychologist (PhD; PSY12036 in CA) and ordained pastor, specializing in ministry to pastors. He and Kristi are the authors of Journey of the Soul, which was #1 on Amazon in Christian Counseling. He was personally mentored for many years by Dallas Willard and Ray Ortlund Sr. His earlier book Your Best Life in Jesus’ Easy Yoke tells the story of his spiritual renewal from anxious living and burnout and introduces the message and way of Soul Shepherding. Bill and Kristi’s newest book is Deeply Loved: Receiving and Reflecting God’s Great Empathy for You.

Kristi Gaultiere (Season 36 Guest)
Kristi is a psychotherapist (Psy.D.; LPC4 and MFT29887 in CA) and spiritual director for women in ministry and pastors’ wives. She co-leads Soul Shepherding with Bill. She was personally mentored by Jane Willard and Dr. Jan Stoop. As a pastor’s wife, mother, and ministry professional, Kristi offers empathy and wisdom from her experience personally and as a therapist who has spent many thousands of hours caring for people. Kristi enjoys speaking, training, teaching, consulting, counseling, and retreat leading with Bill. You can listen to Bill and Kristi’s weekly Soul Talks podcast or read their Soul Shepherding devotional emails.

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

Jeff Crosby (Season 36 Guest)
Jeff Crosby is the President of ECPA, the trade association of Christian publishing, and has worked in bookselling and publishing roles for more than four decades. His written work has been published in Publishers Weekly, Books & Culture, CRUX Journal, Conversations Journal, Living Lutheran, Marriage Partnership, CRA Today, and Urban Faith. His newest book, World of Wonders, is a heartfelt tribute to the power of books and reading’s ability to unfurl the glory of God, transform our lives, open windows to the world, inspire our imaginations, and help us be more faithful Christ followers. He resides in the Chicago area with his wife, Cindy Crosby.

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

Ashley Hales (Season 36 Guest)
Ashley Hales (PhD, University of Edinburgh) is editorial director, print for Christianity Today. She is the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs and A Spacious Life, and her work focuses on the surprising and renewing work of a Christian imagination. She is a Kirby Laing Centre Academic Fellow, an advisor to the Covenant College board of trustees, and a cofounder of The Willowbrae Institute.

Bryce Hales (Season 36 Guest)
Bryce Hales (BTh, University of Glasgow) is the pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA) in San Luis Obispo, California. A cofounder of the Willowbrae Institute, he has been a pastor since 2006 and has served in college ministry and church planting in California, Utah, and Colorado. Bryce is completing his DMin at Covenant Theological Seminary, studying secularism and church leadership. He lives on the central coast of California with his wife, Ashley, and their four children.

Steve Macchia (Podcast Host)
Founder and President of Leadership Transformations
Steve is the author of The Discerning Life,  Becoming a Healthy Church, Broken and Whole, Crafting 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 Simmons (Season 36 Guest)
Since 2010, Bill has served as President and CEO of Hope Rises International, formerly American Leprosy Missions, which was founded in 1906. Bill’s book The Way of Interruption released in March of 2025.  Bill and his wife Cindi live in Greenville, SC. Bill graduated from the University of Tennessee with a BA in Political Science and is pursuing postgraduate studies in spiritual formation at Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary.  Bill has been featured in The New York Times, NonProfit PRO, Authority Magazine and the Leprosy Review.

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

Mimi Dixon (Season 36 Guest)
Miriam (Mimi) Dixon began her ministry in 1979 serving as an associate pastor at Northminster Presbyterian Church in Seattle, Washington. From April of 1985 to May of 2019 she served as senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Golden, Colorado. She earned both her MDiv and DMin degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary. Mimi is on the Renovaré Board of Directors and teaches for the Renovaré Institute. She is faculty for Next Frontiers, a ministry to pastors in transition, and actively promotes Christian Spiritual Formation, crediting Richard Foster and Dallas Willard for their influence in her life and ministry. Mimi has authored Worth Celebrating: a biography of Richard J Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, available through Barclay Press.  

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

Jimmy Mellado (Season 36 Guest)
Santiago “Jimmy” Mellado is President and CEO of Compassion International, a global church-
equipping and holistic child development ministry serving over 2.3 million children across 29
countries. Before joining Compassion in 2013, Jimmy served for 20 years as the president of the Willow
Creek Association, an organization dedicated to helping local churches thrive. During Jimms
tenure, membership in the WCA grew to 13,000-plus churches and their annual Global
Leadership Summit grew to span more than 100 countries, reaching an audience of over
170,000. Jimmy and his wife live in Colorado and have three married children and four grandchildren.

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

Nicholas Rowe (Season 36 Guest)
Nicholas Rowe (Ph.D. Boston College) is the Kenneth and Jean Hansen Associate Professor of Leadership at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He has over thirty years of senior leadership roles in higher education and nonprofit organizations and is a consultant in cross-cultural reconciliation and conflict resolution in the USA and South Africa. As a historian, Nicholas reflects on cultural identity formation in marginalized communities in the Atlantic World. He also provides spiritual direction for individuals and reconciling communities. He is co-author, along with his wife, Sheila Wise Rowe, of the book Healing Leadership Trauma. Nick enjoys shared fun with Sheila, walks along bodies of water, reading mysteries and following The Arsenal Football Club. He and Sheila live in Boston and have a daughter, son, daughter-in-law and grandchild.   

Sheila Rowe (Season 36 Guest)
Sheila Wise Rowe (Tufts University, Cambridge College M.Ed.) has offered counseling and spiritual direction to trauma survivors and emerging and established leaders in the United States and abroad for over thirty years. She ministered to unhoused and abused women and children in Johannesburg, South Africa, served as lay pastor and taught counseling and trauma-related courses, for a decade. Sheila is a speaker, trainer and writer for various publications and authored the award-winning book, Healing Racial Trauma and Young, Gifted, and Black. She and husband Nicholas Rowe are empty nesters, live in Boston, Massachusetts and co-authored Healing Leadership Trauma.