RENEWED:
A Journey Toward Resilient and Relational Leadership
Overview
Pastoral leadership is both sacred and demanding. Over time, the weight of others’ needs, expectations, and pain can leave leaders weary—or disconnected from their inner life.
Rooted in the conviction that healthy leaders build healthy communities, Renewed offers pastors space to slow down and engage a process of inner formation that strengthens resilience and relational capacity within a supportive community of fellow leaders.
This year-long, cohort-based formation journey is designed for pastors who serve amid competing expectations, relentless demands, and pressure to lead beyond the scope of their training. Many of the skills essential for healthy leadership and pastoral care—such as self-awareness, emotional maturity, and relational wisdom—receive little attention in traditional ministry preparation.
Renewed addresses this gap by integrating research-based insights, spiritual formation practices, and peer support. The program creates space for restoration, where connection replaces isolation, and participants are equipped to lead with humility, authenticity, and courage—for their own well-being and for the flourishing of the communities they serve.
Designed for senior and associate pastors, as well as others who shape congregational culture, Renewed nurtures the inner transformation that supports resilient and relational leadership.
Program Content
Over twelve months, Renewed guides pastors through a thoughtfully sequenced journey of personal and relational formation. Grounded in therapeutic insight, spiritual reflection, and peer connection, the curriculum attends to both the inner and outer challenges of leadership with depth and compassion.
Key areas of focus include:
- navigating complex and competing demands
- developing healthy, compassionate boundaries and adaptive coping strategies
- strengthening emotional and relational wisdom for connection, repair, and trust
- attending to grief and loss as part of the human and leadership journey
- understanding trauma, recognizing vicarious trauma, and practicing trauma-responsive leadership
- exploring and stewarding power with humility and accountability
Program Structure
Renewed is a year-long, cohort-based journey that combines group learning, relational depth, personal support, and practical resources.
Cohort experience
A small cohort of 10–12 pastors journeys together for the full year, creating a consistent, relationally grounded space marked by safety, trust, and mutual care.
Monthly group gatherings (online)
Participants meet once a month for a 90-minute live Zoom session. These gatherings include teaching, guided reflection, group discussion, and experiential practices designed to support both personal formation and leadership integration.
Two in-person retreats
The cohort gathers twice during the year for in-person retreats in Bend, Oregon—once in the fall and once in the spring. Retreats provide extended space for integration, embodied practices, relational deepening, and reflection in nature.
Facilitation
Each cohort is led by Molly LaCroix, LMFT, DMin (May 2026), and supported by a co-facilitator who is currently serving as a pastor. This shared leadership brings both psychological expertise and lived pastoral experience into the room, grounding the work in the real complexities of ministry and ensuring the program remains closely attuned to the day-to-day realities participants face.
Individual support
Each participant receives monthly 30-minute one-on-one sessions with the lead facilitator, offering personalized support for integrating the work into their inner life and leadership context.
Resources and readings
Participants receive monthly digital reflection guides with summaries, reflection questions, and practices to support between-session integration. One required text anchors the journey: Journey to Shalom: Finding Healing, Wholeness, and Freedom in Sacred Stories. Occasional additional readings may be offered as optional resources.