Dennis Shaw offers a short reflection on a guiding principle and is the start of a series on more personal observations on church leadership.

The session is a reflective leadership discussion, centered on a core guiding principle: love your congregation where they are. The discussion challenges the notion of “fixing” a congregation, emphasizes the plurality of community, trust-building, and leadership as presence and listening rather than control.

Dennis can be reached at dennis at mantuan dot org (for the Apple users) or HERE for others. Smile.

Richard Rohr website is HERE and is excellent. There is a daily meditation available and the comments on this podcast were drawn from the meditation for August 25, 2025.

Dennis apologizes for having "been away" but he is back. The podcast is still a work in progress. Peace.

This is my take on a resolution we will be voting on at our Annual Conference.

I am not sure if it has an extended shelf life. I might bring it down after it serves its purpose.

This is simply an attempt to explain, in more time than I would have on Thursday, why I find a particular resolution problematic. The resolution is HERE.

In this episode of Mindful Leader, host Dennis Shaw explores the human tendency towards self-centeredness through the lens of David Foster Wallace's famous "This is Water" commencement speech.

Drawing on Wallace's metaphor of two fish unaware they're swimming in water, Dennis discusses our default human setting: seeing ourselves as the absolute center of the universe. The podcast challenges listeners to become aware of this innate perspective and intentionally choose to see beyond our own immediate experience.

Dennis weaves together insights from theologians like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Richard Rohr to illustrate how personal transformation requires "unlearning" our ego-driven perspectives. Mirroring Wallace, Dennis emphasizes that we have a daily choice: remain trapped in our self-centered default mode or actively cultivate empathy, connection, and a broader understanding of our interconnectedness. Using examples ranging from marathon training to global perspectives, Dennis argues that mindfulness is about recognizing we are active participants in life, not just passive recipients replying on our default, self-absorbed, hard-wired default settings.

The podcast concludes with a practical challenge: as you go about your daily routine, ask yourself what choices you're making in mundane moments. Are you challenging your default settings? Are you choosing to be "light" and "salt" in the world? The message is hopeful, suggesting that by becoming aware of our natural self-centeredness, we can choose to see the "vast ocean of possibilities" that exists beyond our immediate perception.

Dennis email is HERE.

"This is Water" -- 2005 Kenyon College Commencement Speech.