As I look back on the 15 years since the Coaching 101 Handbook was first published, the main attribute I am struck by is its durability. The work Gary Reinecke and I did on the international qualitative research project to determine coaching competencies, micro-skills...
When I was a senior pastor, I used to do formal annual reviews with each member of my staff. I began by giving them an evaluation form that they were to fill out before our meeting. It covered these categories: List your areas of responsibility, along with a rating of...
I remember many years ago meeting a very sharp assistant pastor. He was young, but came into his role with a great deal of energy and potential. He was functioning well in his current role, so the senior pastor was pleased. However, the senior pastor made an important...
To grow toward true, holistic maturity in Christ, we need to take all areas of his commands to heart. For years and years in my walk of discipleship, I mostly ignored the area of social justice. It just didn’t fit my theological paradigm, and it didn’t register that I...
I began coaching a leader in a growing organization recently and he came to an important realization: what had been working for leadership development and discipleship in the past wasn’t working as well anymore. Some of the dynamics had changed since the organization...
Community is essential in helping us process our journey of discipleship. The Apostle Paul gives us some direction in how we are to function as Christian community for one another in this particularly rich passage: And let us consider how we may spur one another on...
Have you ever watched kids learning to garden? They plant something, then are so eager to have it grow that they keep digging it up to see if it’s growing. Sometimes we’re like that in our endeavors. If we’ve sown the seed and done what we needed to do, now it’s time...
Growth? Or Control? As a coach of missional leaders, one of the competencies I lean on all the time is what I call “organizational sustainability.” That’s the ability to help leaders develop and adapt sustainable systems as their missional ministry grows....
I’ve found when working on a new project with a group of people that it takes three cuts to get it right. The first time around, you need to have the expectation that it won’t work well. However, the experience of diving in and trying anyway will yield some insights...
