Hi, my name is Pete Scazzaro, and I want to welcome you today to the emotionally healthy leader podcast.

Great to be with you.

And I want to talk to you today about a theme that I've been thinking about and pondering and studying for the last year and a half, over a year and a half now.

And actually, I've been studying the issue of discipleship here in the Gospel of Matthew

for well over 18 months, verse by verse, and looking at what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?

What does it mean to bring people into discipleship?

And so I'm actually calling this leading your people to follow actually calling this, leading your people to follow the crucified Jesus,

leading your people to follow the crucified Jesus.

I actually gave this message recently at our emotionally healthy leadership summit or

discipleship summit in New York City a couple weeks ago.

And I wanted to break it down and do it here as part of a podcast and a couple of

parts because it is, I believe, one of the core issues for us as leaders. Now, of course,

if we're going to lead others to follow the crucified Jesus, that means that we're following

the crucified Jesus. So this is coming out of my own journey and wrestling with scripture.

And actually, in our entire shift of our ministry has been to, into discipleship from leadership.

In other words, the key to the future is leaders, right? Leaders, we living, embracing,

being the very message we want to proclaim to the world because we can't

give what we don't possess. We can only give what we do possess. Who we are is more important

than what we do. It's always going to be the impact that it has on people. As people touch,

quote, the hem of our garment, the life that's in us or not in us is what's going to come

forth. But leadership, actually,

if anything, is a high-level intensive discipleship. And so our journey over these years has been

...