Quite a while back I was asked to work with multiple denominational groups in Germany on a church leadership initiative they wanted to put together. I told them I’d do it as long as Christoph would work with me. Christoph was a young emerging German leader. They...
When I was in Mexico recently, I attended the staff meeting at Comunidad Mosaico, a ministry that works toward transformation among the urban poor. They had a time of worship, and due to my poor Spanish skills, I understood very little that was going on. But I felt...
I virtually always find coaching to be meaningful work. But then there are the times when God’s presence is just glaring. I was coaching a leader who was unsure of his agenda for our coaching session. He had just come out of a season of change and transition and it...
My wife Janet does quite a bit of coach mentoring—that’s coaching coaches on their coaching. (How’s that for a mouthful?) The basic idea is that you coaches need a coach themselves—someone to help them continue to grow in their coaching skills. She just got a great...
A student taking a film class interviewed me on coaching for 45 minutes, then boiled it down to a 5-minute segment with some really great visual footage as well. In the segment, I introduce some basic concepts of coaching and thought you might be interested in seeing...
I have a dream where churches are serving the world around us… not with an eye toward ourselves, our own growth, our reputation, our benefit, but with an eye outward: disinterested service that expects nothing in return. I have a dream that the Body of Christ would...
When you’re coaching someone and they say, “That’s a good question,” how should you respond? The correct answer is silence. When someone says, “That’s a good question,” it means the Holy Spirit has connected with them and what you need to do is nothing. Be silent and...
Let’s say you’re coaching someone in the area of spiritual formation. So far he’s had no intentional connection times with God at all. When he visualizes setting aside time to be with God, he’s thinking two hours a day of reflection on scripture. Many times people try...
The 5 Rs I referenced in yesterday’s blog entry (relate, reflect, refocus, resource and review) can also apply to the coaching relationship in a more macro sense. You build more of the relationship on the front end, you reflect to determine goals for the coaching...