Mindful Leader

Episode 17: The Mindful Evangelist with Dr. Tom Barlow, Iliff School of Theology

Our guest is the Reverend Doctor Tom Barlow, Mountain Sky Conference of the United Methodist Church Elder and an Assistant Professor of Methodist Studies at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, CO.  Our subject is Evangelism!  
Tom's LinkedIn page is HERE.  Tom has served in the local church as well as at the University.  
We talk some about Thomas ("Tom") G. Bandy, and two of his books are Worship Ways and See, Know, and Serve.  An EXCELLENT Ministry Matters article by Bandy is HERE.  
Registration for Mountain Sky Conference Churches on MissionInsite (discussed during the podcast) is HERE (about 2/3 of the way down the page).  For non Mountain Sky Churches, I suggest a conservation with someone at your Conference office (if United Methodist) about revitalization and Mission Insite.    
If this discussion with Tom speaks to you, please forward it to someone else and let them know about it!  Normal podcast release schedule is 1st, 3rd and 5th Mondays of the Month.  
My email is dennis at (@) mantuan dot (.) org (written like that to confound the bots that steal email addresses).  
 

Episode 16: Context Matters with Mark Calhoun, Wyoming DS

Our guest today is Mark Calhoun, District Superintendent for Wyoming and our topic is context: how important understanding the contextual lay of the landscape is to effective ministry.  
I have a world of respect for Mark Calhoun.  Mark is extremely thoughtful and always engages his brain before he speaks.  He epitomizes mindfulness in a leader.
An unedited Adobe file of the transcript is HERE.  Note:  Unedited.  
Part of Mark's drive towards context emerged from his time at St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City.  The focus there was on understanding the demographics and the community makeup of the local church.  Who is there?  What does it look like?  
Mark served in Wichita, Kansas before coming home to the Mountain Sky Conference.  He was four years in Polson, Montana and eight in Lander, Wyoming before taking the Superintendency in Wyoming in 2020.  He has been a gifted connectional leader in those three plus years.  Gifted.  
Mark mentions he is a Type 2 on the Enneagram, and that is a helper and defined better HERE. If context is important to Mark, and it is, being in relationship is also of importance to him.  He works hard at being relational.  Easy to state as a goal, much more challenging to live out.  
I confess:  my heart was strangely warmed when Mark talked about how he felt sitting with people in moments of joy and pain.  It is frankly a blessing that we as pastors are called to sit with people in the extremes of life:  joy, pain, anxiety.  Part of the call.   
This podcast was produced on December 12 & 13, for release on December 18, 2023.  Please share if it speaks to you.  
My next two guests will be the Reverend Doctor Tom Barlow of Iliff School of Theology and Reverend France Davis, Pastor Emeritus of Calvary Baptist in Salt Lake City.  Those podcasts will be released on January 1st and 15th respectively.  Tom Bandy (with Dr. Barlow) and Black History (with Pastor Davis) will be our starting points for discussion.  I will muse a little on things connectional on January 29th.  If you have a potential guest for me, send me a note.  I would love to hear from you in general.  
My email is dennis at (@) mantuan dot (.) org (and written that way to confound harvesting bots.). 
 

Episode 15: Dreaming and Visioning with Annie Arnoldy

This podcast was released on December 4, 2023.
A transcript using Office 365 is HERE.  I have not edited it very much.  A piece of software has transcribed it.  Obvious glitches.  Feedback most welcome.  
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Our guest today is Annie Arnoldy, Superintendent for Vitality and Connectional Ministry at the Mountain Sky Conference of the United Methodist Church.  
I have known Annie since her student days at Colorado State University when we collaborated a little on Youth Ministry.  In addition to her studies at CSU, Annie holds a Master in Divinity from the Iliff School of Theology and a Masters Certificate in Organizational Leadership from Denver University.  Annie is a Mountain Sky Conference Elder and she entered ministry from Hope UMC in Greenwood Village, CO.  
Her local church experience includes Grand Junction First UMC and Highlands Ranch Saint Andrews UMC.  
I consider this part 2 of what I expect to be a continuing conversation on the direction of the Mountain Sky Conference in the area of Leadership Development.  This conversation focuses on dreaming and visioning.  Our first episode where we talked is HERE.  
Annie mentioned "Kotter, Inc" --- that is John Kotter.  His website is HERE.  An excellent book by Kotter is Leading Change and you might see a little bit about it HERE.  
The bible verse (Luke 6: 37-38) Annie uses is HERE.  
My planned release schedule for all Podcasts is 1st, 3rd, and 5th (four times a year) Mondays.  
Please share this with others if you find material here of possible interest, i.e., text, social media, email a link.  
You can send notes to me at dennis at mantuan dot org (at is @ and dot is . and written that way to confound bots.)

Episode 14: The Beardtastik Zach Bechtold -- Bozeman UMC

Welcome to Episode 14 of Mindful Leader!  This is our second visit with Bearded Theologian and Pastor at Bozeman (Montana) UMC-- Zach Bechtold!  The first conversation we had was July 23rd and can be found as a podcast HERE.
(Please share on social media or via email or text message the link if this podcast spoke to you!)
Zach is part of a wave of younger clergy leading a number of our pillar churches.  Zach's LinkedIn page is HERE.
Zach partners with Matt Skinner (of Castle Rock (CO) UMC ) on their joint blog and podcast -- The Bearded Theologians -- HERE.  
Zach and I start our conversation drawing from remarks Bishop Karen Oliveto of the Mountain Sky Conference of the United Methodist Church made during a clergy retreat in September.  Further, she, Matt and Zach also discussed it on a United Methodist "Podcastathon" in early October.  A link to that conversation is HERE.  
Finding joy in leadership has been an important personal core value and I wanted to expand on that discussion with Zach.  What we do as pastoral leaders is serious but we don't have to be so serious in our leadership.  
I mention a Roman Catholic Priest -- and I forgot his name during the discussion (whoops) -- and it was Father John Neuhaus.  His wiki bio is HERE.  The magazine he started was First Things -- HERE.  While Father Neuhaus was there, I read it regularly.  Now, not so much.  Traditional.  
We mention New York Times Opinion Writer -- David Brooks.  His wiki bio is HERE.  Brooks is regularly on Public Television on Friday night during the News Hour with Jonathon Capehart -- Excellent, I try and watch it weekly.  Resume and Eulogy virtues are quickly summarized HERE.  The Brooks Opinion piece is called "The Moral Bucket List" and it is HERE.  Note:  The NYT has a paywall and if it blocks you and you want to read the piece, send me a note and I can "gift" you a copy of the piece where he lays it out.  A transcript of a Ted Talk on this topic by Brooks is HERE.  
This podcast was released on November 20th, 2023!
Our next guest is Annie Arnoldy of the Mountain Sky Conference of the UMC Office:  Visioning and Dreaming!  It will be released on December 4th.  
The Kristi Kinnison podcast is the new gold standard for Mindful Leader.  By far in terms of downloads the best to date!  HERE.  
My normal release schedule is 1st and 3rd Mondays.  I will release "Special Podcasts" on 5th Mondays (usually four times a year). Look for Mindful Leader with the Logo from this Podcast on your Podcast App or follow on Podbean. 
Send comments to me at dennis at (@ symbol) mantuan dot (the .) org ... and typed that way to confound the bots!  

Episode 13: Kristi Kinnison - Why John Wesley Speaks in her Present

(The word “here” that is underlined is a link to something somewhere else on the web related in some way to our topic.)
Kristi Kinnison is the Executive Director of the Methodists Helping Methodists Foundation which supports churches in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana.  Her LinkedIn page is HERE.  
Our conversation today is less grounded in her vocation as a financial executive in the not for profit world, but rather her views on why she is a follower of John Wesley.  Wesley's theology is firmly grounded in the threefold fullness of Grace (Bishop Carder exposits a little here) and it captures Kristi's heart.  I think this is of value in helping others to be able to articulate their own reasons for being followers of John Wesley.  
We also mention (again if you have heard all of the Mindful Leader Podcasts, the late) David Foster Wallace and his superb talk -- "This is Water" (here, and note, DFW language can be a little coarse).  
My normal release schedule is 1st and 3rd Mondays.  I will release "Special Podcasts" on 5th Mondays (usually four times a year). Look for Mindful Leader with the Logo from this Podcast on your Podcast App or follow on Podbean.  
This episode was released on November 6, 2023.  
My next podcast will be November 20th with Zach Bechtold and he shares in the work of Bearded Theologians.  Their website is found HERE.  They have a podcast which is found on their homepage.  
My email is dennis at symbol (@) mantuan dot (.) org (written that way to confound the bots which would harvest it and spam me to death.  Send me a note if have a thought or three.    

Special Episode: A Mindful Discussion on Gaza, Palestine and Israel

Explore with us a little of the history and context of Israel, Gaza and Hamas.  
My original plan was to use a Fifth Monday to have my friend John Plant interview me.  John has been a faithful listener to my early Podcast work.  The events of October 7th altered that plan. This episode "counts" as my October 30th planned release.  
John Plant is a retired US Army Colonel.  He is a graduate of the University of Toledo with a BA in Political Science and an MA in Public Administration.  Further, he has a PhD from the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.  He lives in North Carolina and is a devoted follower of Jesus Christ.  His LinkedIn account is HERE.  We talk weekly. 
Between the two of us, John and I have over 50 years of military service.  
Our conversation on Israel, Gaza and Hamas is primarily contextual.  It clearly assumes certain knowledge by the listener, i.e., the 1948 War of Independence.  But overall, our purpose is to attempt to distill what is some history, define some groups and elements, etc..  
Note:  all followers of Islam are not terrorists.  Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist organizations grounded in a Pan-Islamic world view.  
I could easily see us coming back to this topic again another day.  
If you wish to send me a note -- my email is dennis at mantuan dot org (to confuse the bots harvesting email addresses.)  
If you find the piece thoughtful, please share it with others.  
A Wall Street Journal article from Rabbi Meir Soloveichik is HERE.  Probably a paywall, sometimes they allow single usages but not consistently.  

Episode 12: Thomas Risager and a visit to the future

Our Podcast is with Danish UM Pastor, Thomas Risager.  
Thomas is the Pastor at Odense UMC in Denmark.  He also doubles as the District Superintendent for all UM Churches in Denmark.  
Thomas has a Doctor of Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary in 2012.  
Thomas is living what I suspect is similar to what we as North Americans might be living in 30 or 50 years time.  
Any thoughts -- dennis at mantuan dot org -- written that way to confound the bots out there.  

Episode 11: Ted Campbell on John Wesley as a Mindful Leader

This episode explores John Wesley and our perceptions of him.  Wesley was the founder of Methodism and we have a perception of him as a man of action.  Our guest, Ted Campbell, noted student of Wesley at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, offers a more nuanced view that speaks to us in our 21st Century busyness.  
The Methodist Review article mentioned in the Podcast is HERE.  (You will need to register to see article.  The site is free).
The Susan Cain book on Quiet and Introverts is HERE (and I used ubiquitous Amazon, you can always get somewhere else.)    
A quick summary of Dr. Campbell's credentials (from the Methodist Review article) are:  
"Ted A Campbell is the Albert C. Outler Professor of Wesley Studies at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. A United Methodist elder in the Texas Annual Conference, Campbell has authored many works in Methodist history and ecumenical studies. His book, Encoding Methodism: Telling and Retelling Narratives of Wesleyan Origins (2017), won the 2018 Saddlebag Award from the United Methodist Historical Society for the best new book in Methodist history. Also in  2018 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of the United Kingdom."
 
The Mo Rocca piece from CBS on meetings mentioned during the Podcast is HERE.  
If you are having any issues getting registered onto a Podcast App, send me a note -- dennis at mantuan dot org (typed that way to confound the bots). 
This Podcast was released on October 2, 2023.   
 

Episode 10: Ken Brown of Denver Trinity UMC

Our guest for this podcast is the Reverend Ken Brown who is currently at Denver Trinity United Methodist Church.  Our discussion centers on Diversity Equity and Inclusivity.  I expect to talk to Ken again on a future day again.  
Ken has been in Colorado for right at 20 years.  Before he was appointed to Trinity, he was at Broomfield (Colorado) United Methodist.  Ken's LinkedIn page is HERE.
During the discussion I mention two articles I had read on Ken during his time at Trinity.  Both are quite helpful to understanding Ken.  The two articles are are:
The Westword article --HERE.
The 5280 -- HERE.
My email is dennis at mantuan dot org (written that way to discourage the search bots) if you need any help getting this Podcast properly registered on your Podcast Application.  
This episode was recorded on September 7, 2023 and was published on September 18, 2023.  

Episode 9: A Mindful First Chat with Annie Arnoldy

Our guest today is Annie Arnoldy, Superintendent for Vitality and Connectional Ministry at the Mountain Sky Conference of the United Methodist Church.  
I have known Annie since her student days at Colorado State University when we collaborated a little on Youth Ministry.  In addition to her studies at CSU, Annie holds a Master in Divinity from the Iliff School of Theology and a Masters Certificate in Organizational Leadership from Denver University.  Annie is a Mountain Sky Conference Elder and she entered ministry from Hope UMC in Greenwood Village, CO.  
Her local church experience includes Grand Junction First UMC and Highlands Ranch Saint Andrews UMC.  
I consider this part 1 of what I expect to be a continuing conversation on the direction of the Mountain Sky Conference in the area of Leadership Development.  
If you are having trouble getting Mindful Leader into your podcast app, send me a note at dennis at mantuan dot org (spelled that way to confound the bots.)  
This podcast was released on September 4, 2023.  My next guest along with topic will be confirmed on September 5.  That podcast will be released on September 18, 2023.