112. The Beatitudes and Spiritual Leadership, with Mark Scandrette, author of The Ninefold Path of Jesus

Mark Scandrette is the author of The Ninefold Path Jesus: Hidden Wisdom of the Beatitudes.  In this episode, Mark does a fantastic job, not only unpacking what the Beatitudes are all about, but also showing us how living into the reality of the Beatitudes can help us be healthier and more lifegiving leaders.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Mark Scandrette is the executive director of ReImagine: A Center for Integral Christian Practice and the author of The Ninefold Path of Jesus: Hidden Wisdom of the Beatitudes.The Beatitudes suggest that the blessed life can come to the most unlikely people.The Beatitudes are not a new set of rules given to us by Jesus.In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tries to get us to rethink our assumptions about life.Mark Scandrette suggests the Beatitudes name some of our first instincts that take us away from God’s reality and presence and then invite us to reengage those realities on a deeper level.When we experience poverty, our first instinct is to grasp.  But the Beatitudes invite us to move from closed-handedness to open-handedness.In The Ninefold Path of Jesus, Mark Scandrette offers physical postures for us to take in order to better experience the reality of the Beatitudes with our bodies.Mark Scandrette thinks of the Beatitudes as the psychology of the Kingdom of God.Because of a tendency toward competition and comparison, leaders often have a hard time with the Beatitude that says, “Blessed are the meek.”Mark Scandrette describes the “Ninefold Path Leader Labs” that he leads and how they have helped leaders experience the reality of the Beatitudes.In the “Ninefold Path Leader Labs,” participants are asked, “Who do you tend to label, stereotype, or judge?”Participants are invited to pray for strangers with this prayer:  “Child of God, may you be well.”Mark Scandrette shares an incredible story of how the Beatitudes helped him defuse a situation in which a man brandished a gun at a convenience store.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Books mentioned:The Ninefold Path of Jesus, by Mark ScandretteThe Divine Conspiracy, by Dallas WillardWebsites:Markscandrette.comninefoldpath.orgReimagine.orgSend me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.