Discerning Leadership

Where Spiritual Discernment Meets Church Leadership and Financial Clarity.

Discerning Leadership

Where Spiritual Discernment Meets Church Leadership and Financial Clarity

Welcome to Discerning Leadership Insights, a resource from the Church Training Center where we gather wisdom at the intersection of Spirit-led discernment, practical leadership, and faithful financial stewardship.

Here, church leaders find clarity, courage, and community as we explore real stories, reflective questions, and grounded practices that help transform leadership from decision-making into discernment.

Each reflection is an invitation—to pause, to listen, and to rediscover leadership as a spiritual journey of alignment, trust, and faithful response.

Deeper: The Descent That Finds Us

We’re often urged to “go deeper,” as though depth were a destination we could reach by effort. But the spiritual life teaches another truth: there is no going. There is only surrender. In the dark, breathless places where control slips away, we share in the descent of Christ Himself—and discover the quiet Presence that holds us when all else falls silent.

Read More »

Navigating Heaven; Following Spirit Beyond the Illusion of Direction

There are seasons when the horizon stretches wide before us—full of shimmer, full of promise—yet the closer we move toward it, the more it dissolves. What we think is direction becomes reflection, and what we call certainty fades into light on water. In that quiet unmooring, the Spirit invites us not to navigate the horizon, but to surrender to the One who moves beyond our perception.

Read More »
A dolphin ascends through deep blue ocean light, surrounded by swirling bubbles and soft rays, symbolizing freedom, discernment, and the movement of faith into the mystery of Spirit.

When Faith Outgrows Form; The Ocean Beyond Our Island

I’m losing my religion in finding something new,because I need something different, and different looks like You.”— Lauren Daigle, Losing My Religion A song found me this week. It’s played in the background before, but this time the words came alive—echoing the quiet conversation I’ve been having with God about what it means to let

Read More »

Crossing the Threshold: What Fear Tries to keep Us From Becoming

“Fear is the great illusionist. It looks larger than it is. It whispers lies about your worth, your strength, and your future. Fear is only an obstacle until you walk toward it—then it becomes the path.”

Those words, shared by my friend Tony Merola, stirred something deep in me.
In leadership and in life, fear often shows up right where vision is being born. It dresses up as logic, whispers as prudence, and tells us to turn back just when the Spirit is calling us forward.

But what if fear is not the barrier, but the threshold?
What if it’s the signpost that you’re standing on holy ground—invited to step where your eyes cannot yet see, trusting that the Spirit meets you there?

Read More »
Distractions

Discerning the Spirit in an Age of Outrage

In an age when every headline demands our outrage, discernment invites us to pause.
To breathe.
To ask not, “What should I say?” but “Is this mine to carry?”
The Spirit still speaks—not through the noise, but through the whisper that rises when we choose presence over reaction.

This is the discipline of our time: to be formed not by the feed, but by the Spirit.

Read More »