(Yes -- I dropped this a day early!)

Join Dennis Shaw, host of Mindful Leader, as he engages in a compelling conversation with clergy leader Michael Smith of the Greater New Jersey Conference of the United Methodist Church.

They discuss a simple four-part framework for clearer leadership communication: purpose, audience, genre, and context. They use stories from preaching, teaching, and everyday life to show how a brief pause to name the why, who, how, and where can change how you lead.

The episode offers practical wisdom—write it on a post-it, reflect for 30 seconds, and let mindfulness shape how you prepare memos, meetings, sermons, or any message.

Share if this speaks to you!

Slow Work of Trust (Dennis new book) can be explored HERE.

Dennis email is HERE with his profile HERE. Michael brief profile is HERE.

Dennis Shaw returns to the Mindful Leader podcast to introduce a new season focused on church leadership for clergy and laity, the Slow Work of Trust (a new book, see below), and careful conversations about difficult topics like antisemitism and Christian nationalism.

Episodes will feature solo reflections, guest dialogues, and occasional classes (including a Bonhoeffer series), with new episodes planned for the first and third Mondays of each month.

Dennis new book is Slow Work of Trust -- self published through Amazon. You can find more about it HERE.

Dennis email is HERE.

Dennis Shaw offers a short reflection on a guiding principle and is the start of a series on more personal observations on church leadership.

The session is a reflective leadership discussion, centered on a core guiding principle: love your congregation where they are. The discussion challenges the notion of “fixing” a congregation, emphasizes the plurality of community, trust-building, and leadership as presence and listening rather than control.

Dennis can be reached at dennis at mantuan dot org (for the Apple users) or HERE for others. Smile.

Richard Rohr website is HERE and is excellent. There is a daily meditation available and the comments on this podcast were drawn from the meditation for August 25, 2025.

Dennis apologizes for having "been away" but he is back. The podcast is still a work in progress. Peace.