Broken and Whole: A Leader’s Path to Spiritual Transformation

Title: Broken and Whole: A Leader’s Path to Spiritual Transformation

Author: Stephen A. Macchia

Copyright Date: 2016

The hook was set early when Steve Macchia, founder and president of Leadership Transformations, penned these words: I’m convinced that the true pursuit of greatness as a leader begins and continues in the gentle humility that accompanies our sincere confession of brokenness and the accompanying need for God to heal, redeem and strengthen us from the inside out.

Written with humility and transparency, and out of a deep reservoir of experience, Macchia calls us as Kingdom leaders to come to terms with our brokenness, knowing that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Book Description:

In his nearly four decades of pastoral, parachurch and nonprofit ministry leadership Steve Macchia has come to understand his own brokenness. He writes:

“I’ve experienced great success and a few embarrassing failures. . . . In essence, as much as I like to view myself as a good or even a very good leader, I’m more truthfully a blessed and broken leader, one who is daily in need of being . . . redeemed by the Spirit of God who resides in me.”

In these pages Steve offers the gifts of love found in 1 Corinthians 13 as the antidote to our brokenness. He writes with personal transparency from his own experience. Each chapter concludes with a powerful spiritual assessment tool to use in reflecting on our own leadership strengths and weaknesses. 

By embracing and befriending our own brokenness we can find true wholeness in God’s strength. In these pages you will discover a new way to live in freedom and joy.

Book Quotes:

The most dynamic spiritual leaders know they are both saint and sinner. Or, as Martin Luther noted long ago, “Simul iustus et peccator”—at the same time righteous and sinner. These leaders live with a burning desire to be honest about themselves—acknowledging their strengths as well as their struggles and mishaps. They live and lead from the depth of their soul, which is the essence of their existence. And, as a result, they become more attuned to an experiential knowledge of the truth about God and others within their reach. LOCATION: 85

Leaders who embrace their brokenness and submit it authentically into the hands of God are the ones who marvel at God’s redemptive work and serve others with renewed passion. Their spiritual eyesight is likened to Saint Augustine, who once said, “In my deepest wound I saw your glory, and it dazzled me.” They are an inspiration to all. LOCATION: 94

I’m dearly loved by my heavenly Father and I’m deeply sinful—how can the two go together? LOCATION: 109

In essence, as much as I like to view myself as a good or even a very good leader, I’m more truthfully a blessed and broken leader, one who is daily in need of being restored and renewed, refreshed and redeemed by the Spirit of God who resides in me. LOCATION: 113

So I ask you: What’s your choice as a leader today? Will you confess your own belovedness and blessedness as well as your brokenness? LOCATION: 131

I’m convinced that the true pursuit of greatness as a leader begins and continues in the gentle humility that accompanies our sincere confession of brokenness and the accompanying need for God to heal, redeem and strengthen us from the inside out. LOCATION: 155

There are endless options for how leaders are tested in their patience. Consider how your relationships, responsibilities, temperament and circumstances within or outside of your control affect your personal patience quotient. LOCATION: 278

An unkind response can come from all sorts of places in our hearts and is often connected to a wound that’s yet to be healed. LOCATION: 310

More times than we care to admit, a fear of hurting someone’s feelings keeps us from truth telling and trust building in many leadership and relational contexts. We have come to believe, for whatever reason, that “it’s not nice” to confront or discipline another. LOCATION: 313

Constantly monitoring social media caused a subtle corrosion of a deeply spiritual self-awareness and replaced it with a growing fear of not measuring up. LOCATION: 383

Ceasing the activities that foster an envying heart and mind is a necessary prerequisite to recalibration of the soul. LOCATION: 412

Envy and coveting enfold us when we spend our time looking over our shoulders at another’s relationships, experiences or possessions. When our eyes are looking at someone else’s life, they are certainly not looking in the right direction—whether upward to God, inward toward self-knowledge or outward toward service of others. LOCATION: 442

One such source of envy is insecurity, which is based in fear. An insecure leader is fearful of not measuring up to what’s expected or implied by others, or fed and grown from within. Out of such insecurity comes a propensity to envy those who seem like they are much better off, in stature as a leader, in status among your peers, or in situations where numbers, programs and success seem to be the fruitful result of effectiveness. The insecure person often does not feel very good about what’s happening in or around them, whether the assessment of reality is true or false. LOCATION: 448

But when leaders are put under pressure or confronted by overwhelming odds, it’s amazing how both pride and pride’s tight-fisted cousin greed can rear their ugly heads. LOCATION: 691

Pride comes in all different shapes, sizes and forms and emerges out of a heart that’s subtly or overtly lured toward pride and his difficult-to-handle cousin greed. When pride seeps into the pores of a leader’s heart, it’s nearly impossible to expunge without the grace and mercy of God. Tight-fisted greed wants more and more for self and isn’t easily satisfied. The grip of pride and greed runs a leader ragged and tends to ripple outward to all who follow that person. LOCATION: 730

No matter how you slice it, we all suffer from this common ill: selfishness. It’s in the fiber of our fallen being. And our soul is desperate for it to be redeemed and restored. LOCATION: 1091

Community is messy. It’s exhausting, confusing at times and hard to maintain. It’s even more challenging to restore. But we are not made to live alone. Instead, we are made for community; I’m sure that’s why Paul kept stressing its importance. LOCATION: 1131

As much as the truth may hurt, it’s always best to unearth, represent, own and speak the truth in love. The truth will always set you free, whether it’s the truth of the gospel message itself or the truth about a situation, decision, organization, person—or about yourself as a leader. Lies and exaggerations are never good alternatives. LOCATION: 1433

Reconciliation is the best one-word definition for all of ministry leadership. I repeat this over and over again with the young leaders I mentor. The term reconciliation sums up the message of the gospel, the mission of the church, and the ministry of leaders and teams. It’s a key expression to understand for all believers who are serious about fulfilling God’s abundant will for our lives. To be reconciled means that no matter what we have said or done, no matter the geography we have traversed to date, we are given a second chance. And it’s offered to us because we are loved by and invited to know and serve the God of second chances. Reconciliation is an excellent summation of grace, mercy and forgiveness. It’s a defining word for how we are to live as kingdom builders in our own generation—always. LOCATION: 1487

Rueben Job, one of the most highly esteemed and trusted spiritual mentors of our generation (a recently deceased Methodist bishop, author and compiler of several guides to prayer and other spiritual formation resources), just months before his death, offered a simple quote that has become cemented in my soul. On the verge of death’s door, confined to hospice care, living with a small percentage of his heart functioning, not knowing if he would awake each new morning after a night of sleep, he shared six simple words that have subsequently altered my spiritual life: “All of life is about trust.” LOCATION: 1811

Unless the rhythms and relationships that define our life are considered and reconsidered, we may never understand the importance of reordering our loves. Without some kind of regular activities that ooze accountability and honest reflection, we may live a full and active life, but it may in fact become quite boring and unfulfilling over time. The beauty of Sabbath rest is that it brings us back to the reality that only God is God; we are not God, and we desperately need God. LOCATION: 2384

Note: should you wish to find any quote in its original context, the Kindle “location” is provided after each entry.