The Discerning Leader podcast is for Christian leaders who are interested in discovering the joy of “practicing a preference for God” in all aspects of their personal lives and relationships, their leadership and service to others.

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The Discerning Leader Podcast

Spiritual Brokenness | Discerning God in our Brokenness Episode 03


Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Jeremy Stefano

“Jesus comes to tend to the broken. No need to feel disqualified or set aside by the Lord because of our brokenness. He longs to rescue us and bring us closer to his heart.” – Jeremy Stefano

Spiritual brokenness begins with acknowledging our basic human condition as ones who are dislocated from God. The pathway to wholeness is paying attention to the ways we have stiff armed God or sought to manipulate him in our own image. We seek to explain him our preferred way, or perform for him in hopes of blessings in return, or we have unrealistic expectations of God and get easily disappointed. Instead, our wholeness comes when we choose repentance, gratitude, a heart of worship, and a reawakened love for 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

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Steve Macchia

Steve Macchia (Podcast Host)
Founder and President of Leadership Transformations
Steve is the author of Becoming a Healthy Church, Becoming a Healthy Disciple, 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.

Susan Currie (Season Nine Guest)
Director of Selah & Minister of Spiritual Formation
Susan serves as the Director of Leadership Transformation Inc’s Selah Certificate Training Program in Spiritual Direction. Over the past 30 years, she has offered retreat leadership and formation ministry to various church and parachurch bodies. Susan also serves as Affiliated Clergy with All Saints’ Anglican Cathedral in Amesbury, MA.

Jeremy Stefano

Jeremy Stefano (Season Nine Guest)
Director of Emmaus & Minister of Spiritual Formation
Jeremy offers spiritual direction, leads retreats, teaches classes in spiritual formation and serves as the director of the Emmaus: Spiritual Leadership Community. The heartbeat of Jeremy’s calling is to encourage Christian leaders in the cultivation of their relationship with God. He has served churches as a local pastor, interim pastor and as a visiting Bible teacher in Southern Africa and North America. 

Genalin Niere-Metcalf (Season Nine Guest)
Selah-East Supervisor & Clinical Psychologist
Genalin has a deep love for the Church and has long served in many roles, which currently include: advisory council member with Grafted Life Ministries, psychologist at SamaraCare Counseling, and Supervisor for LTI’s Selah Certificate Training Program in Spiritual Direction.   She is married to Rodney, and they are proud parents of two children.

Kimberly Alexander (Season Nine Guest)
Selah-East Supervisor, Speech Language Pathologist, & Minister 
Kim has a passion for empowering women to live in the fullness of their relationship with Christ and leads the Women’s Ministry of The Park Church in Charlotte, NC. She is also a Supervisor for LTI’s Selah Certificate Training Program in Spiritual Direction. Kim shares life with her husband, Bishop Claude Alexander, Jr. and their two daughters Camryn and Carsyn. 

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Steve Macchia

Founder & President

The Rev. Dr. Stephen A. Macchia is founder and president of Leadership Transformations, Inc. (LTI), a ministry serving the spiritual formation, discernment, and renewal of leaders and learners since 2003. For more than 20 years he has been the Director of the Pierce Center for Disciple-Building at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Doctor of Ministry Program. From 1989-2003 he was the president of Vision New England, the largest regional church renewal association in the country. Earlier in his ministry life, Steve was a member of the pastoral staff of Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts for 11 years. He is the author or co-author of 17 books, including The Discerning Life (Zondervan Reflective), and Crafting a Rule of Life, Becoming A Healthy Church (LTI), and Broken and Whole (IVP).  He and his wife Ruth live in the Boston (MA) area and are the proud parents of two married children and grandparents to three adorable grandchildren. Steve’s personal website is www.SteveMacchia.com.

“My soul comes alive singing the great hymns of the church and enjoying the beauty of God’s creation. I’m in awe of God for fulfilling the dream for LTI that he birthed in my heart, for the team he has assembled, and the transformational impact experienced in the leaders and teams we serve.”

Detailed Biography
Articles by Stephen Macchia
Author Website
Schedule a one-on-one with Steve

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.“