Welcome to our newsletter. Thank you for being part of our learning community. As a team of lifelong learners we frequently share resources with each other. This newsletter is a space for us to share some of what we are learning, thinking about, and being encouraged by with you. If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it and keep the learning going. If you've received this from a friend you can subscribe here and get it direct to your inbox.

Hi y'all!

An ongoing theme we are exploring on the podcast throughout the year is practices that help us grow our emotional maturity. To start the year, Jim and Trisha discussed disrupting our autopilots and then rhythms of well-being in a great conversation with April Fiet.

More recently we've jumped into a new series, Practices for Courage. We began the series discussing the courage required to say yes and no with Nathan Herrington. Our next episode in the series on courage was a vulnerable conversation with author David Zailer about the courage required to face trauma and pain.

Our next episode in the series will be coming out next week so be on the look out for that!

Thanks for reading and engaging. I hope you enjoy the resources and reflections below!

– Tim McGee

The Impact of Differing Conversational Styles on Communication

Shared by Aundrea Baker​

Over the past several years, I have grown in my understanding of and fascination with language, especially since discovering the influence language can have on our mental models and on personal as well as group narratives. The following Hidden Brain podcast features an insightful conversation between podcast founder and host, Shankar Vedanta and Georgetown University professor of linguistics, Deborah Tannen. I was drawn to the podcast by its title: Mind Reading 2.0: Why Conversations Go Wrong. I was not disappointed with the vast amount of wisdom Tannen shares about differing conversational styles, how they are developed, and how they can interfere with communication.

> https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/why-conversations-go-wrong/​

A Reflection on Forgiveness

Shared by Ryan Donovan​

It seems clear to me that Jesus valued forgiveness. The verse “forgive 70 times 7” is often used as a biblical example. Since forgiveness happens within a relationship, I wonder what I would learn if I changed the relational direction of this verse to “be forgiven 70 times 7”?

What would I need to do to be forgiven? What would I be asking for forgiveness for? Who would I be asking it from? How well do I apologize? What comes up in me when I have to ask for forgiveness or apologize? Do I feel like I am giving something up if I apologize? What exactly am I giving up?

I can only imagine that when Jesus speaks about forgiveness it is implicit that we both need to forgive and be forgiven with each other. What happens when we are in the perceived “one down position” needing to ask for and receive forgiveness?

Living on Mission

Shared by Mac McCarthy​

What does it look like to practice the way of Jesus together in community? And how do we faithfully join God's work in the world -- a world that is rapidly changing and increasingly divided? These kinds of questions prompted us to start a brand new podcast called Praxis.

Praxis, a podcast created and produced by Crosspoint Community Church (https://www.crosspointwi.com), is devoted to exploring how to practically embody the way of Jesus by living on mission and joining God's work in the world. While each episode speaks to our community, it's recorded with a broader audience in mind.

In our first podcast series we talk about our values as a church community. If you are acquainted with The Leader's Journey, you know we are big on living into our values. Living into our values starts with being able to name our values. As Brene Brown says, "We can’t live into values that we can’t name, and living into values requires moving from lofty aspirations to specific observable behaviors." ​
​​
> You can check out the Praxis Podcast and Blog here​
​

Why I coach (and get coaching)

Shared by Trisha Taylor​

A couple of years ago, my own coach wondered what my life would be like if I stopped trying to fix everyone and save everyone and just "open the snacks." (There's a story there that I'll save for later.) Her gentle challenge was transformative. On the other side of my well-meaning grandiosity, I could breathe.

This poem describes so well what I think coaching can be......a clearing where you can pull away from the constant noise of demands and expectations and instead listen to the wisest voices in your own life....and then and only then know what and how to give to the world. I hope you'll soak in these nourishing words and wonder what clearing might emerge for you in your life's dense forest.

Clearing by Martha Postlethwaite

Do not try to save
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
In the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself
to this world
so worthy of rescue.