Be a Thermostat
Not a thermometer
Magrey deVega doesn’t flinch when the conversation turns toward uncertainty. In the Season 2 opener of In the Sandbox, he offers a vision of leadership that isn’t centered on charisma or control—but on presence. Not the kind of presence that tries to fix everything, but the kind that knows how to sit with pain, listen to tension, and find beauty even when everything feels broken. It’s the kind of leadership that can preach to four different congregations in one building without losing its soul. And that’s no metaphor. That’s Magrey’s actual life.
What stood out wasn’t just the framework of adaptive vs. technical leadership (though that’s important), but the way Magrey keeps bringing everything back to spiritual practice—not as ritual, but as resistance. His pre-sermon prayers have shifted over the years. He no longer prays for people to be moved. He prays to be present. It’s not about performance. It’s about showing up with honesty, even when that means embracing silence. Even when it means acknowledging that beauty—true, aching beauty—can be an act of defiance in a world trying to keep us numb.
There’s a moment in the episode where Magrey recounts the story of Quartet for the End of Time—music composed in a Nazi prison camp. He doesn’t use it to make a dramatic point. He uses it to remind us that worship doesn’t always look like victory. Sometimes it looks like a trembling offering in the middle of chaos. And maybe, just maybe, that kind of offering is the most faithful thing we can give. Leadership, in this light, is less about knowing the answers and more about holding the questions with courage.
Listening to Magrey talk about grief, silence, and Bruce Springsteen (yes, all in the same conversation), you begin to realize that faithfulness isn’t about speed or certainty. It’s about staying in the sandbox when everything in you wants to run. It’s about sitting still long enough to notice beauty, even if it breaks your heart. And it’s about choosing hope—not as a feeling, but as a practice. Check out our “In the Sandbox” Season 2 opener here!