for the love of leadership Thu, 21 May 2026 03:05:14 -0400 https://fortheloveofleadership.buzzsprout.com en © 2026 for the love of leadership yes eeeee0a2-d515-575a-86f1-3c6aae1f30b6 Cathedral episodic false For The Love Of Leadership is a podcast for anyone who has ever felt unsure, weary, or hesitant about the word leadership.

In a time when leadership is often misunderstood, or even distrusted, we believe it’s worth reclaiming. Every thriving movement, healthy family, and enduring mission exists because someone chose to lead with courage, humility, and conviction.

At Cathedral, we exist for worship, discipleship, and mission. Leadership isn’t separate from those values it’s the strength that carries them. Without leaders who love like Jesus, serve with faithfulness, and take responsibility for what God has entrusted to them, the Church cannot endure, reach, or grow.

This 20–30 minute podcast is an invitation to fall back in love with leadership not as a platform or position, but as a calling. Through honest conversations, biblical wisdom, and practical encouragement, For The Love Of Leadership exists to form leaders who are rooted, resilient, and ready to serve.

Whether you’re leading in the church, the workplace, your home, or your own spiritual life this podcast is for you.

]]> Buzzsprout (https://www.buzzsprout.com) Cathedral https://storage.buzzsprout.com/pdiqqaurqactoarg8lz3p85w691u?.jpg for the love of leadership 5. the jethro principal 5. the jethro principal Leadership doesn’t carry everything, but leadership does make sure everything gets carried.

In this episode of *For the Love of Leadership*, we unpack a prophetic word our church received: *“We do not yet have enough campuses to contain all that God is doing through Cathedral.”* If God is going to expand us, how do we prepare as leaders without burning out ourselves and the people we lead?

We go to Exodus 18 and the story of Moses and Jethro. Moses is drowning in responsibility, trying to personally handle every problem among God’s people. Jethro steps in and says, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people… will only wear yourselves out.” It’s not just the leader who suffers when leadership is overwhelmed. The people suffer too.

From there, we talk about:

- Why margin in your life is not laziness, but often a sign of healthy leadership  
- The difference between being responsible *for* everything and personally *doing* everything  
- The trap of finding your identity in what you do, which makes certain things hard to hand off  
- How “hoarding responsibility” hinders the fruitfulness God is trying to bring  
- Why more campuses, more services, and more impact require more leaders, not more heroic effort  

We also get practical about delegation and development:

- Delegate *outcomes*, not just tasks: give people a hill to take, not just a checklist to complete  
- How task-based delegation unintentionally teaches people to stay dependent on you  
- Moving from “Can you do this one thing?” to “Can you own this area?”  
- Stopping the habit of being the “answer person” and learning to ask, “What do you think?”  
- Helping people see God in their problems, instead of simply solving problems for them  

Along the way we use a few everyday images:  
- A Formula One car that’s incredibly fast on a track but almost useless on normal roads, because it has no suspension  
- Crumple zones in cars and failure points in bridges, and why leaders need those built into their teams and structures  

This episode is especially for you if:

  • You feel guilty when you’re not busy  
  • You’re juggling marriage, family, work, and ministry and feel like you should “just push a little harder”  
  • You know you should delegate more, but you either don’t trust others to do it “right” or secretly enjoy being the one who does it  


Our hope is that this conversation helps you shift from doing all the ministry yourself to developing people who can carry it with you. Because everything God wants to do in and through the church is already in the church. Our job as leaders is to mine the gold, empower the gifts, and make sure everything gets carried.

]]> Leadership doesn’t carry everything, but leadership does make sure everything gets carried.

In this episode of *For the Love of Leadership*, we unpack a prophetic word our church received: *“We do not yet have enough campuses to contain all that God is doing through Cathedral.”* If God is going to expand us, how do we prepare as leaders without burning out ourselves and the people we lead?

We go to Exodus 18 and the story of Moses and Jethro. Moses is drowning in responsibility, trying to personally handle every problem among God’s people. Jethro steps in and says, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people… will only wear yourselves out.” It’s not just the leader who suffers when leadership is overwhelmed. The people suffer too.

From there, we talk about:

- Why margin in your life is not laziness, but often a sign of healthy leadership  
- The difference between being responsible *for* everything and personally *doing* everything  
- The trap of finding your identity in what you do, which makes certain things hard to hand off  
- How “hoarding responsibility” hinders the fruitfulness God is trying to bring  
- Why more campuses, more services, and more impact require more leaders, not more heroic effort  

We also get practical about delegation and development:

- Delegate *outcomes*, not just tasks: give people a hill to take, not just a checklist to complete  
- How task-based delegation unintentionally teaches people to stay dependent on you  
- Moving from “Can you do this one thing?” to “Can you own this area?”  
- Stopping the habit of being the “answer person” and learning to ask, “What do you think?”  
- Helping people see God in their problems, instead of simply solving problems for them  

Along the way we use a few everyday images:  
- A Formula One car that’s incredibly fast on a track but almost useless on normal roads, because it has no suspension  
- Crumple zones in cars and failure points in bridges, and why leaders need those built into their teams and structures  

This episode is especially for you if:

  • You feel guilty when you’re not busy  
  • You’re juggling marriage, family, work, and ministry and feel like you should “just push a little harder”  
  • You know you should delegate more, but you either don’t trust others to do it “right” or secretly enjoy being the one who does it  


Our hope is that this conversation helps you shift from doing all the ministry yourself to developing people who can carry it with you. Because everything God wants to do in and through the church is already in the church. Our job as leaders is to mine the gold, empower the gifts, and make sure everything gets carried.

]]> Cathedral Buzzsprout-19206315 Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 -0700 1295 1 5 full false 4. triangles 4. triangles In this episode of For the Love of Leadership, the team continues their journey through Edwin Friedman’s influential book *A Failure of Nerve*, unpacking one of its most important ideas: emotional triangles.

Most leaders focus on strategy, systems, and structures—but Friedman argues that the real battleground of leadership is presence. The team explores what it means to be a “non-anxious presence” and how a leader’s internal stability can matter more than their best plans when it comes to navigating change, resistance, and what Friedman calls “sabotage.”

From there, the conversation turns to triangles—the idea that there is almost never such a thing as a simple two-person relationship. There is always a third factor at play: a past experience, a family pattern, an unspoken offense, a side conversation, or another person entirely. Using real-world examples from work, marriage, parenting, and ministry, they show how understanding triangles can:

- Reveal the hidden dynamics beneath recurring conflicts  
- Keep leaders from absorbing everyone else’s stress and anxiety  
- Help people take responsibility for their own relationships  
- Move conversations from merely fixing behavior to addressing root causes  

You’ll hear practical guidance on how to recognize when you’re in a triangle, refuse the pull toward mere peacekeeping, and stay present without over-functioning or rescuing. The team also shares some of their own practices for regaining peace—like intentional rhythms with family, prayer, and solitude—so that those they lead don’t become responsible for their emotional stability.

Along the way, they connect these leadership insights to Scripture and spiritual formation: how identity is shaped in community, why God’s questions in the Garden matter for our conflicts today, and how the kingdom of God offers us a new “family” with new values.

If you’re a leader in any capacity—at church, at work, or at home—this episode will give you language, tools, and a fresh framework for navigating relational complexity without burning out, shutting down, or trying to control everyone around you.

]]> In this episode of For the Love of Leadership, the team continues their journey through Edwin Friedman’s influential book *A Failure of Nerve*, unpacking one of its most important ideas: emotional triangles.

Most leaders focus on strategy, systems, and structures—but Friedman argues that the real battleground of leadership is presence. The team explores what it means to be a “non-anxious presence” and how a leader’s internal stability can matter more than their best plans when it comes to navigating change, resistance, and what Friedman calls “sabotage.”

From there, the conversation turns to triangles—the idea that there is almost never such a thing as a simple two-person relationship. There is always a third factor at play: a past experience, a family pattern, an unspoken offense, a side conversation, or another person entirely. Using real-world examples from work, marriage, parenting, and ministry, they show how understanding triangles can:

- Reveal the hidden dynamics beneath recurring conflicts  
- Keep leaders from absorbing everyone else’s stress and anxiety  
- Help people take responsibility for their own relationships  
- Move conversations from merely fixing behavior to addressing root causes  

You’ll hear practical guidance on how to recognize when you’re in a triangle, refuse the pull toward mere peacekeeping, and stay present without over-functioning or rescuing. The team also shares some of their own practices for regaining peace—like intentional rhythms with family, prayer, and solitude—so that those they lead don’t become responsible for their emotional stability.

Along the way, they connect these leadership insights to Scripture and spiritual formation: how identity is shaped in community, why God’s questions in the Garden matter for our conflicts today, and how the kingdom of God offers us a new “family” with new values.

If you’re a leader in any capacity—at church, at work, or at home—this episode will give you language, tools, and a fresh framework for navigating relational complexity without burning out, shutting down, or trying to control everyone around you.

]]> Cathedral Buzzsprout-19160514 Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 -0700 1429 1 4 full false 3. prioritize responsibility over empathy 3. prioritize responsibility over empathy In this episode of the For the Love of Leadership podcast, Pastors Jake and James unpack a challenging idea from Edwin Friedman’s book A Failure of Nerve: truly healthy leadership prioritizes responsibility over empathy.

They explore how our culture has elevated empathy to a near-superpower and why, if we’re not careful, that can actually keep people stuck instead of helping them grow. Empathy—“feeling into” someone’s emotional state—can be a powerful starting point, but when it becomes the goal, leaders can lose themselves in other people’s emotions and abandon their actual responsibility to lead.

Key ideas in this episode:

  • Compassion vs. Empathy
    • Why compassion (“to suffer with”) is Christlike and essential, but modern empathy can slide into emotional fusion and anxiety-sharing
    • Why “no one ever changed just because they felt understood” and why understanding must lead to calling people forward
  • Painful vs. Harmful
    • How to distinguish between what is painful for people (change, correction, responsibility) and what is actually harmful
    • Why over-empathizing with people’s pain can unintentionally keep them immature and stall the growth of the whole team
  • Self-Differentiated Leadership
    • What it means to be a self-differentiated leader: staying connected to people without being controlled by their emotional state
    • Two sides of differentiation:
      • Self-regulation – managing your own internal anxiety and emotional reactivity
      • Self-definition – being clear on your calling, values, vision, and responsibilities as a leader
    • How this mirrors God’s own stability and consistency, and how Jesus modeled this in His ministry
  • Practical Tools and Examples
    • Real-world examples of responding to team members who feel overlooked, frustrated, or disappointed
    • Moving from “I’m sorry you feel that way” to “I hear your disappointment—let’s talk about how you can grow so you’re ready next time”
    • Simple practices: pausing, breathing, listening deeply, asking clarifying questions, and refusing to let others’ anxiety dictate your responses
  • The Team You’re On vs. the Team You Lead
    • Why “the team you’re on is more important than the team you lead”
    • How losing sight of this can turn leaders into “protectors” of their people from the organization instead of leaders of their people within the organization

Throughout the conversation, Jake and James connect these leadership concepts to discipleship, spiritual maturity, and the character of God. This episode will help you:

  • Care deeply without becoming codependent
  • Stay steady when others are anxious
  • Lead people toward maturity, not just momentary emotional relief
  • Reflect Jesus more clearly in how you handle tension, conflict, and change

If you’re a leader in any context—church, team, workplace, or family—this episode will challenge how you think about empathy, responsibility, and your role in the growth of the people you lead.

]]> In this episode of the For the Love of Leadership podcast, Pastors Jake and James unpack a challenging idea from Edwin Friedman’s book A Failure of Nerve: truly healthy leadership prioritizes responsibility over empathy.

They explore how our culture has elevated empathy to a near-superpower and why, if we’re not careful, that can actually keep people stuck instead of helping them grow. Empathy—“feeling into” someone’s emotional state—can be a powerful starting point, but when it becomes the goal, leaders can lose themselves in other people’s emotions and abandon their actual responsibility to lead.

Key ideas in this episode:

  • Compassion vs. Empathy
    • Why compassion (“to suffer with”) is Christlike and essential, but modern empathy can slide into emotional fusion and anxiety-sharing
    • Why “no one ever changed just because they felt understood” and why understanding must lead to calling people forward
  • Painful vs. Harmful
    • How to distinguish between what is painful for people (change, correction, responsibility) and what is actually harmful
    • Why over-empathizing with people’s pain can unintentionally keep them immature and stall the growth of the whole team
  • Self-Differentiated Leadership
    • What it means to be a self-differentiated leader: staying connected to people without being controlled by their emotional state
    • Two sides of differentiation:
      • Self-regulation – managing your own internal anxiety and emotional reactivity
      • Self-definition – being clear on your calling, values, vision, and responsibilities as a leader
    • How this mirrors God’s own stability and consistency, and how Jesus modeled this in His ministry
  • Practical Tools and Examples
    • Real-world examples of responding to team members who feel overlooked, frustrated, or disappointed
    • Moving from “I’m sorry you feel that way” to “I hear your disappointment—let’s talk about how you can grow so you’re ready next time”
    • Simple practices: pausing, breathing, listening deeply, asking clarifying questions, and refusing to let others’ anxiety dictate your responses
  • The Team You’re On vs. the Team You Lead
    • Why “the team you’re on is more important than the team you lead”
    • How losing sight of this can turn leaders into “protectors” of their people from the organization instead of leaders of their people within the organization

Throughout the conversation, Jake and James connect these leadership concepts to discipleship, spiritual maturity, and the character of God. This episode will help you:

  • Care deeply without becoming codependent
  • Stay steady when others are anxious
  • Lead people toward maturity, not just momentary emotional relief
  • Reflect Jesus more clearly in how you handle tension, conflict, and change

If you’re a leader in any context—church, team, workplace, or family—this episode will challenge how you think about empathy, responsibility, and your role in the growth of the people you lead.

]]> Cathedral Buzzsprout-18913720 Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0700 1713 1 3 full false 2. 5 signs your team is lead by anxiety 2. 5 signs your team is lead by anxiety In this episode, Pastors Jake and James explore what happens inside a team, ministry, or church when a leader begins to truly lead—take initiative, cast vision, and move people forward. Drawing from Edwin Friedman and grounded in Scripture, they unpack how anxiety, reactivity, and resistance often rise when change comes, and how a Christlike, self‑differentiated leader can respond.

You’ll hear how good leadership will always disturb the status quo, much like Jesus did (Luke 12:51; John 6:60–66), and why that disruption is often a necessary part of growth (James 1:2–4; Romans 5:3–5).

Through a biblical lens, they walk through four common symptoms in unhealthy systems:

  • Reactivity – when people respond from emotion instead of wisdom (Proverbs 14:29; Proverbs 29:11; Ephesians 4:26–27) and the joy and play God designed us for (Nehemiah 8:10; Psalm 16:11) begin to disappear.
  • Herding – when teams prioritize comfort and fitting in over obedience and mission (Galatians 1:10; Romans 12:2; Exodus 23:2), organizing around “what feels good” rather than “what is right” (Micah 6:8; Ephesians 4:14–15).
  • Blame Displacement – when the focus shifts to “them” instead of “me” (Genesis 3:11–13; Matthew 7:3–5; James 4:1–2), avoiding responsibility instead of allowing hardship to mature us (Hebrews 12:5–11; 1 Peter 4:12–13).
  • Quick-Fix Mentality – when leaders chase efficiency and instant relief instead of long obedience and real transformation (Jeremiah 6:14; 2 Timothy 4:3–4; Luke 9:23; Luke 14:27–33).

They also address:

  • The call to be a non-anxious, steady presence in the middle of pressure (Philippians 4:6–7; Colossians 3:15; Isaiah 26:3).
  • Why true change in a system or relationship often begins with one person deciding to show up differently (Romans 12:18; Matthew 5:9; Galatians 5:22–23).
  • How to name tension in the room the way God does (Genesis 3:9–11; John 4:16–18), reducing fear and building trust.
  • The power of questions, patience, and slowing down before responding (James 1:19–20; Proverbs 18:13; Proverbs 20:5).
  • Rewarding and celebrating healthy, faith-filled responses as part of discipleship (Hebrews 10:24–25; Romans 12:10–11).

This message invites every leader—whether in church, family, workplace, or small group—to examine their own patterns, refuse to be ruled by group anxiety, and follow Jesus’ example as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11–16) who leads people through discomfort into growth, maturity, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).

]]> In this episode, Pastors Jake and James explore what happens inside a team, ministry, or church when a leader begins to truly lead—take initiative, cast vision, and move people forward. Drawing from Edwin Friedman and grounded in Scripture, they unpack how anxiety, reactivity, and resistance often rise when change comes, and how a Christlike, self‑differentiated leader can respond.

You’ll hear how good leadership will always disturb the status quo, much like Jesus did (Luke 12:51; John 6:60–66), and why that disruption is often a necessary part of growth (James 1:2–4; Romans 5:3–5).

Through a biblical lens, they walk through four common symptoms in unhealthy systems:

  • Reactivity – when people respond from emotion instead of wisdom (Proverbs 14:29; Proverbs 29:11; Ephesians 4:26–27) and the joy and play God designed us for (Nehemiah 8:10; Psalm 16:11) begin to disappear.
  • Herding – when teams prioritize comfort and fitting in over obedience and mission (Galatians 1:10; Romans 12:2; Exodus 23:2), organizing around “what feels good” rather than “what is right” (Micah 6:8; Ephesians 4:14–15).
  • Blame Displacement – when the focus shifts to “them” instead of “me” (Genesis 3:11–13; Matthew 7:3–5; James 4:1–2), avoiding responsibility instead of allowing hardship to mature us (Hebrews 12:5–11; 1 Peter 4:12–13).
  • Quick-Fix Mentality – when leaders chase efficiency and instant relief instead of long obedience and real transformation (Jeremiah 6:14; 2 Timothy 4:3–4; Luke 9:23; Luke 14:27–33).

They also address:

  • The call to be a non-anxious, steady presence in the middle of pressure (Philippians 4:6–7; Colossians 3:15; Isaiah 26:3).
  • Why true change in a system or relationship often begins with one person deciding to show up differently (Romans 12:18; Matthew 5:9; Galatians 5:22–23).
  • How to name tension in the room the way God does (Genesis 3:9–11; John 4:16–18), reducing fear and building trust.
  • The power of questions, patience, and slowing down before responding (James 1:19–20; Proverbs 18:13; Proverbs 20:5).
  • Rewarding and celebrating healthy, faith-filled responses as part of discipleship (Hebrews 10:24–25; Romans 12:10–11).

This message invites every leader—whether in church, family, workplace, or small group—to examine their own patterns, refuse to be ruled by group anxiety, and follow Jesus’ example as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11–16) who leads people through discomfort into growth, maturity, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).

]]> Cathedral Buzzsprout-18913707 Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:00:00 -0700 1816 1 2 full false 1. progress over peacekeeping 1. progress over peacekeeping This leadership exploration challenges us to examine a critical tension we all face: the choice between maintaining comfortable peace and pursuing necessary progress. Drawing wisdom from Moses' journey with the Israelites through the wilderness, we're reminded that true leadership requires us to take people where they wouldn't naturally go themselves. The concept of being a 'well-differentiated leader' invites us to stay connected to our teams while not being controlled by their emotional reactions to change. We learn that our frustrations aren't enemies but rather divine invitations to initiate transformation. The biblical principle of 'be angry and do not sin' reveals that properly stewarded anger can become holy passion for kingdom advancement. This message calls us to recognize that everything we desire in our leadership sits on the other side of courageous choices, and that unaddressed frustrations eventually morph into burnout or apathy. Most powerfully, we're challenged to understand that when we lead to the lowest common denominator of reaction, we ultimately lose our highest performers and compromise the excellence that reflects God's kingdom.

]]> This leadership exploration challenges us to examine a critical tension we all face: the choice between maintaining comfortable peace and pursuing necessary progress. Drawing wisdom from Moses' journey with the Israelites through the wilderness, we're reminded that true leadership requires us to take people where they wouldn't naturally go themselves. The concept of being a 'well-differentiated leader' invites us to stay connected to our teams while not being controlled by their emotional reactions to change. We learn that our frustrations aren't enemies but rather divine invitations to initiate transformation. The biblical principle of 'be angry and do not sin' reveals that properly stewarded anger can become holy passion for kingdom advancement. This message calls us to recognize that everything we desire in our leadership sits on the other side of courageous choices, and that unaddressed frustrations eventually morph into burnout or apathy. Most powerfully, we're challenged to understand that when we lead to the lowest common denominator of reaction, we ultimately lose our highest performers and compromise the excellence that reflects God's kingdom.

]]> Cathedral Buzzsprout-18863426 Tue, 17 Mar 2026 11:00:00 -0700 1980 1 1 full false