Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

Product Information

After a great deal of prayer, reflection, and counsel, I have decided that I will no longer accept speaking engagements, whether in person or via Zoom, for interviews, workshops, or classes (aside from a very few, pre-existing commitments). Scazzero and others who believe and follow the words of psychology over the words of the Bible do not realize that their very actions are a confession that they do not believe that the Bible has perfect words to assist believers for the same individual, couple, and family problems of living as psychotherapy treats. However, the difference is that the Bible is the true source while psychotherapy and its underlying theories are faulted, fleshly notions and imaginations, of fallen fellow human beings. In Scazzero’s confusion of terms, one must examine one’s present behavior by looking for signs of it in parents, grandparents and other ancestors. His idea is that in finding the negative influences, we might discover what we might have been without such influences and what we might become by discovering them. In other words, if we exhibit lots of anger, we might find a parent or ancestor who was angry to help explain why we are angry and suppose that our “true self” was not an angry person and with that knowledge, reduce the amount of anger we are expressing. The idea is that the expression of anger must not truly be me, but a “false self” acting as me. But what many leaders fail to appreciate is that we are all anchored in our past. In other words, none of us are "blank slates". We each bring the blessings and curses of our families of origin (Exodus 20:5) into our relationships, churches, organizations, and businesses.

After 10 years, a number of events converged to prepare us for a conversion of leadership/personal integrity. Until this point, we often divided leadership into sacred/secular categories. Everything- our prayer, work, relationships, and rest is holy! It was to be our way (Rule) of Life. This led to a major focus on a holistic intentionality in our spiritual formation in our leadership and eventually throughout our church. In over four decades of leadership, I've come to the conclusion that one of the biggest gaps in our leadership training comes down to one essential skill... Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:13-14.)

About newcovenantunderstanding

Pete hosts the top ranked, Emotionally Healthy Leader Podcast and is the author of a number of bestselling books, including The Emotionally Healthy Leader, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, and Emotionally Healthy Discipleship. Pete and his wife Geri also developed The Emotionally Healthy Discipleship Course (Part 1 and 2), a ground-breaking Course being used by over 1400 churches in North America along with many others around the world. His books and materials have been translated in over 25 different languages.

A number of general observations may be drawn by way of conclusion. First, the book is preoccupied with man. It does not present to us the great Sovereign God of the Universe who holds our lives in his hands and who purposes good for us in every detail. The focus is largely upon being self-fulfilled, happy, “whole” and true to ourselves. By focusing on self and our past, the process of “maturity” for the Christian becomes largely one of self-effort. Little place is given to the Holy Spirit and the sovereign working of God in our lives. In 1981, David assisted with a church plant near OSU’s campus called Christ’s Church. He was in pastoral ministry there for ten years, seven of those years being the preaching pastor. Scazzero says that his way to Emotionally Healthy Spirituality is a painful process, which requires much hard work: While Scazzero does use one valid Bible passage in building his doctrine of suffering, as usual he quotes favorably and gives more space to “John of the Cross,” which precedes the James verse. Who is John of the Cross? Britannica describes him as “one of the greatest Christian mystics” and “a patron saint of mystics and contemplatives” (bold added). [3] The book is probably best considered in terms of the concepts of diagnosis and cure. In diagnosis we are given a wealth of stories and biographical material to consider. Scazzero shares story after story of woe – church splits, marital strife, bitter pastors, etc…. So what was the problem? Why all this failure? Interestingly, Scazzero lays the blame squarely at the feet of a church culture of “emotional repression” (55). He says,

Please double check your order, are you sure you want to place it? You cannot cancel or change it once you submit the order.

But, Mike Perschon, an Edmonton associate pastor of a Mennonite church, describes in a magazine “Youth Worker” his contemplative experience: “I built myself a room – a tiny sanctuary in a basement closet filled with books on spiritual disciplines, contemplative prayer and Christian mysticism. In that space, I lit candles, burned incense, hung rosaries and listened to tapes of Benedictine monks. I meditated for hours on word, images, and sounds. I reached the point of being able to achieve alpha brain patterns.” Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (Col 2:8.) [2]

After leaving IVCF, he studied at Princeton Theological Seminary for one year, followed by two years at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary from which he graduated with a Masters of Divinity (M.Div). He later received his Doctor of Ministry in Marriage and Family from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Eastern University).If we are to expect maturity in our Christian lives, it is only going to come through looking outward to the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must therefore be positioning our lives such that we are constantly hearing God’s Word and living it out with a dependence upon the power of Holy Spirit. Perhaps this seems simplistic and un-profound, but it is what God has ordained. Who are we to suggest anything else? Six months before graduation, Pete married Geri who was also an Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship staff member. They then moved as newlyweds to Costa Rica for one year to learn Spanish before returning to New York City. The following year, they moved to Queens where Pete served as an assistant pastor in a 300-person, Spanish church and taught in a Spanish-language Bible Institute in the Bronx.