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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Christmas Eve | Discerning God in Advent and Christmastide Episode 03

Discerning God in Advent and Christmastide

Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: Anna Friedrich

I love Christmas because, with the resurrection in view, its obscure beginning and its incredible beauty strengthens my trust in God.” –Anna Friedrich

Shifting from Advent into Christmas is seamless when considered in the light of the full Christian story. For four weeks our hearts have been inclined toward waiting, watching, and wondering once more. In Christmas, our yearnings and longings are fulfilled in the joyful coming of the long-awaited Messiah Jesus. From the perspective of a wife, mom, artist, and poet, Anna Friedrich refreshes us with her musings about our stirred-up emotions, our anxious longings, and the joy of being welcomed again into the depth and beauty of the glorious Incarnation. 

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 ChurchBecoming a Healthy DiscipleBroken 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.

Brother Curtis Almquist (Season Sixteen, Episode 1&2 Guest)
Priest of Society of St. John the Evangelist
Br. Curtis Almquist is an Episcopal/Anglican priest of the Society of St. John the Evangelist for more than 35 years and lives at SSJE’s monastery in Cambridge, Mass. He works with leaders from a wide spectrum of professional disciplines, helping them listen and respond to God’s amazing gift of life.

Anna A. Friedrich (Season Sixteen, Episode 3 Guest)
Teacher, Poet, and Artist
Anna A. Friedrich is a teacher, poet, artist, and avid thrifter who lives in downtown Boston with her husband and two teenage sons. She grew up in southern Virginia, met her husband, Dave, while traveling abroad, and spent eight years serving at L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland and in the U.S.. The biggest surprises of her life so far have been 1) deciding to homeschool her children for nearly a decade, 2) finding out how much she loves to preach, 3) bonding with her family’s German Shepherd, Fiona.

Susan Currie (Season Sixteen Guest, Episodes 4&5 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. 

Rick Anderson (Season Sixteen, Episode 4 Guest)
Executive Vice President
Rick has a passion for spiritual formation, spiritual direction and leadership development. He has completed the Selah Certificate Program in Spiritual Direction, as well as New Way Ministries’ School of Spiritual Direction and the Advanced School, both taught by Dr. Larry Crabb. Prior to LTI, Rick served as the COO of the Christian Writers Guild and the Director of Finance & Operations at Trinity Law School. He currently serves as a board member for Peregrine Ministries and Beyond Survival.

Jeremy Stefano

Jeremy Stefano (Season Sixteen, Episode 4 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. 

Matt Scott (Season Sixteen, Episode 4 Guest)
Creative Director of Leadership Transformations & Minister of Spiritual Formation
With 15 years of local church experience, Matt has served various churches in the area of worship and arts, community life, shepherding, and pastoral ministry. A graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (MDiv) and the University of Mobile (Worship Leadership and Music Performance), Matt has a heart to shepherd people through songwriting, worship leadership, and pastoral care. He and his wife, Kristen, live in Bluffton, South Carolina with their two children, Emerson and Ashton.

Dave Currie (Season Sixteen , Episode 5 Guest)
Vice-President of Cohort-Based Education, Dean of the Doctor of Ministry Program, and Professor of Pastoral Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Dave serves on the faculty at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary as Vice-President of Cohort-Based Education, the Dean of the Doctor of Ministry Program, and as a Professor of Pastoral Theology. His wife is Susan, LTI’s Director of Selah. They are both ordained in the Anglican Church of North America and have three married adult children.

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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.