Trusting that the Holy Spirit is at work in your own life can be challenging enough at times. But trusting that he’s at work in other people’s lives? Now that’s really difficult! But if you’re doing coaching, discipling or mentoring of any kind, it’s absolutely...
Plenty of ministry leaders would love a coaching relationship that helps them become more missional and grows them in their calling. But for many newer leaders, coaching can seem financially out of reach. As someone who has a heart for working with younger missional...
Note: part of a series started April 22nd. “What’s next?” It’s a simple question, but one that we need to be asking ourselves on a macro-scale at least once a year. What does God have for me next? How am I to invest my time, resources, and energy? I had two different...
When I was in the early stages of pondering the church plant I’m currently working in, my coach asked me a series of five questions that, over the course of months, helped me think through what my church plant should look like. Over the next five blog entries,...
When you’re discipling people who are in recovery, I’ve found that there comes a point when you have to shift gears. Once someone is well-established in recovery—not drinking or using but still wrestling with life issues—an important shift needs to happen in your...
For those who want to spark change toward missional incarnational ministry, discouragement is a constant battle. For change at this level to occur, we’re actually talking about DNA. That’s the toughest thing to change once it’s already taken root. Recognize that it’s...
Note: part of a series from From Followers to Leaders. See Feb 21 blog entry for backstory. Even after people have started out along the path and we’ve provided some on-the-job training, we’ll still need to provide continuing support. The challenges our...
In my blog entry of December 21st, I wrote about Rich Earl who had begun offering free coaching to the unemployed. I recently asked him how it was going—below are two stories from Rich that speak to the ways God has been at work in the lives of those he’s coaching:...
I have the following story from Rich Earl: In an effort to combine the power of coaching with a missional/incarnational approach to ministry, a fellow pastor and I have volunteered to provide free coaching services for a local non-profit group in our city. We are only...
