I finally read Pete Scazzero's Emotionally Healthy Spirituality this spring, and one line has stuck with me since: we use God to run from God. It's a good reminder that you can know your Bible, run a fruitful ministry, and still be avoiding every hard conversation underneath it all.
I read it around the same time our strategy team was in New York City for a week of learning visits. We spent time at New Life Fellowship in Queens, where Scazzero first began wrestling with these ideas, and it is now led by Rich Villodas. We also visited Hope Church, where the same framework shapes the whole staff and discipleship culture. I hesitate to call the leaders we visited "proteges" — "torchbearers” feels closer. They didn't light the flame, but they've made it their own.
Rich shared that it took him roughly a decade to find his own voice as a leader rather than standing in someone else's shadow. I appreciated that honesty — we assume good leaders arrive ready, and his story says otherwise. He also kept coming back to redwoods: they don't stand because any one tree is strong, but because their roots are tangled together underground, holding each other up unseen. That's basically Scazzero's whole point about emotional health, too.
What moved me most, honestly, wasn't the frameworks — it was watching leaders name their own unraveling without flinching. I won't retell those stories, but we all have them. When we come to terms with these ourselves and share with others, it can teach us more than any chapter can.
My biggest takeaways:
- We must actually pay attention to what's underneath the surface — the ninety percent of the iceberg nobody sees.
- It is fundamentally impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.
If you are a leader and/or disciple looking to go deeper in your walk with Jesus, this may be just the book for you.