The Leader’s Way

77: Being Grounded in the Love of God with Sean Rowe

In this lively conversation, Brandon, Misty, and Whitney talk with The Most Rev'd Sean Rowe, presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church. In this role, he serves as the church’s chief pastor and CEO. Known for his expertise in organizational learning and adaptive change, Rowe is committed to strengthening support for local ministry and mission. This episode offers a wide-ranging conversation, touching upon everything from the role of seminary in spiritual formation, to leadership in a church that is still becoming, to our willingness to engage with God’s imagination.
 
Hosts: Brandon Nappi, Whitney Kimball Coe, Misty Krasawski
Guest: Sean Rowe
 
Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast
berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast
You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders

76: Walking with Survivors of Gun Violence with Nelba Márquez-Greene

In this tender and powerful episode, Leader’s Way host Brandon Nappi interviews Nelba Márquez-Greene, a devoted advocate for survivors of gun violence and someone who has been named one of the “Ten Women Changing the World,” according to People Magazine’s October 2019 issue. A Community Scholar at the Yale School of Public Health, Nelba also hosts the “Shared Humanity” podcast and video series, which focuses on the humans behind the headlines of gun violence in a moment in history where all too often we focus on everything but our shared humanity. Márquez-Greene seeks ways to partner with community organizations, clergy, and those looking to strengthen their response to the trauma of gun violence and injustice in our communities.
Nelba would like to dedicate this episode to all clergy who have ever prayed for her and her family and all people who are in winter seasons of their souls.
Host: Brandon Nappi
Guest: Nelba Márquez-Greene
Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast
berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast
You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders

75: The Seminarian Takeover!

If you’re considering applying to Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, this episode is for you!
 
It’s the SEMINARIAN TAKEOVER episode of The Leader’s Way Podcast. Berkeley Divinity School at Yale students Whitney Kimball Coe ’26, Misty Krasawski ‘26, and Jae Kirkland Rice ’27, pull back the curtain on what it’s like to be at seminary and divinity school. 
 
Our seminarians tell stories about how they made the decision to apply to Yale Divinity School and the questions, longings, and experiences that led them here. In this episode, we learn that there is no single path that leads a person to seminary, but many. We hear about worship at Berkeley, favorite courses, the importance of staying “prayed up,” and the ways God surprises us throughout this journey.
 
Learn more at the Berkeley at Yale website: https://berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/

74: “Have You Met the Community?” with Claire Brown and Austin Sauerbrei

What does “community” actually mean? Is community something we achieve or is it something we practice? Claire Brown and Austin Sauerbrei are partners, parents, and community practitioners, living and working in small town rural America. Claire is the rector of a small Episcopal church and Austin is a community organizer with the 50+ year-old statewide nonprofit, SOCM. Their daily lives are a whirlwind of tending to relationships and building muscle for faithful community engagement in their small town. With humor, candor, and wisdom honed by years of deep listening, they offer insights about the tensions and opportunities that arise when we acknowledge how intertwined we are with one another.
This episode is worth watching on The Leader’s Way YouTube channel! In this interview, Austin and Claire model what it looks like to engage in thought-partnership and parenthood, passing their youngest child, Ardy, between them as they respond to host Whitney Kimball Coe’s questions about how we do the thing we call “community.”
Learn more about The Rev’d Claire Brown: https://www.revclairebrown.com/
Learn more about Austin Sauerbrei’s new graphic novel, Trouble! At Coal Creek: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2529-trouble-at-coal-creek

73: It's Okay to Have Jesus and a Therapist with Joseph Yoo

Joseph Yoo was baptized, raised, and ordained in the United Methodist Church, and is now an Episcopalian priest and the planter of Mosaic Episcopal Church located in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. Joseph is the author of When the Saints Go Flying In: Stories About Faith, Life, and Everything in Between and is known for his dynamic presence on Instagram and TikTok, where he reflects on everything from scripture to social justice to pro wrestling. In this conversation, Joseph and Brandon talk about the curious and winding paths we travel as we follow the spiritual calling of our lives, and the people who, through the unfolding of their lives, teach us about God.
Host: Brandon Nappi
Guest: Joseph Yoo
Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast
You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders

72: Rumi, Love, and Mysticism with Omid Safi

Omid Safi was raised in a Muslim family where mystical poetry, particularly “love” poetry, and spirituality, were the currency of daily life. Poetry still “perfumes” Omid's social interactions, intellectual pursuits, and his curiosity about the ways religion, love, and justice intersect. Safi is a professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University. He specializes in the study of Islamic mysticism and contemporary Islam and frequently writes on liberationist traditions of Dr. King, Malcolm X, and is committed to traditions that link together love and justice.  He has delivered the keynote for the annual Martin Luther King commemoration at the National Civil Rights Museum. In this episode of The Leader’s Way, host Brandon Nappi talks with Omid about his own spiritual path, the longings we each carry for community and belonging, and Omid’s forthcoming book on the famed mystic Rumi.
Host: Brandon Nappi
Guest: Omid Safi
Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast
berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast 
You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders
 

71: Why We Practice - reflection and meditation with Brandon Nappi

We practice meditation because the present moment is the only place where we can truly find ourselves, love others, and be loved by the divine. This is why we gather, why we sit, why we breathe together. We practice surrendering to what lies beyond our control and responding rather than reacting to life's challenges. We cultivate curiosity about what's arising within and around us, learning to do difficult things like changing and growing. Because we trust there's a limitless reservoir of strength, compassion, and resilience flowing through us at every moment. 
 
Host: Brandon Nappi 
 
Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast 
 
You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders 

70: On Revenge with James Kimmel

What do we do with our pain? It’s an important spiritual question, and one that Brandon Nappi explores with James Kimmel, Jr., JD, on this episode of Within, a contemplative segment of The Leader's Way Podcast, that explores the convergence of mental health, art, and spirituality through authentic conversations across traditions about personal and collective transformation. James Kimmel is a violence researcher, psychiatry professor, and author who explores the science of revenge, addiction, forgiveness, and violence. A breakthrough scholar, James first identified compulsive revenge-seeking as an addiction. He made the study of revenge and forgiveness his life's work after nearly committing a mass shooting as a teenager. 
 
Host: Brandon Nappi 
Guest: James Kimmel 
 
Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast 
 
You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders