Why I am an Evangelist for Coaching

Have you come to a point where you feel that you are stuck? Perhaps new ideas don’t come. Or you think your leadership has plateaued? You no longer seem to be making an impact. Let me share a story with you.

When Mark Tidsworth, Pinnacle’s team leader, approached me in 2008 about joining the team as a coach, I really did not know what he was talking about. He told me about his own coach training and coaching practice and assured me that I had been doing coaching for years, although I did not call it by that name. I agreed to come on board with the understanding that I would pursue formal training as a coach.

Fifteen years later, I have coached over 1000 hours with some 50 clients, held a coaching credential with the International Coaching Federation for ten years and am working to move to the next level, and have been able to be a co-creator of Summit Coach Training.

I think you can surmise from that experience that I believe in coaching. I have seen the difference it has made in many lives, but I have also come to understand the value of a coaching mindset in the coach’s personal development and approaches to leadership.

In 2008, I stepped away from a denominational judicatory role that I had enjoyed. When I started that job, my wife said that I was happier than I had been for years! The organization was healthy and financially stable, but I had come to the point that I had run out of ways to move the organization forward. I felt it was time to let it go.

Joel Barker, the author of Paradigms, observed: “You will make a perfectly rational mistake: You will assume that sooner or later the paradigm you are presently practicing (which has been mostly successful) will solve all the rest of your problems. It won’t.”

Looking back now, if I had embraced a coaching approach in my leadership role, I would have applied a new paradigm to that work and might have stayed around a bit longer.

For one thing, I often came away from conversations with pastors who were struggling with their lives and leadership and felt that I was not offering what they needed. If I had taken a coach approach, I would have realized that they were more capable and resourceful than I gave them credit for. I would have asked better questions and been a more intentional partner in their lives and ministries.

I would also have adopted a different approach to working with churches. I grew up in a paradigm that the denomination was supposed to have answers for the churches (although they may have been answers to questions that the churches weren’t asking). If you had a problem, I had a program. As a result of my work as a coach and training in a more collaborative approach to consulting, I have come to see that the Spirit of God can work with the People of God when the right questions are asked.

A new paradigm—a coaching paradigm—changed the way I looked at both leadership and consulting.

Where are you right now in your ministry? Perhaps you are in a situation where a new paradigm—a coaching paradigm—could enrich your life, your ministry, and your church leadership. You might even extend your ministry with a coaching paradigm. This is a challenging time for church leaders that requires not only skills and personal strength, but new ways to seeing. Coach training can provide that for a leader.

Why I am an evangelist for coaching? Because I have seen and experienced its impact. Want to learn more? Let’s talk.

Articles this week are published in honor of International Coaching Week.

Comments

Check these out

Confessions of a Recovering Southern Baptist

I am grateful for my heritage as a Southern Baptist. I was exposed to the Bible and worship from a very young age. I grew up in a church in south Alabama that supported the Cooperative Program of missions giving. This meant that our church had the benefit of being part of a supportive group of local churches and the educational opportunities that afforded. Our state convention provided varied and effective ministries with groups like orphans, ethnic groups, and college students. We supported missionaries at home and abroad. We had good Bible study and training literature (which we paid for, of course). I went to an accredited seminary and paid a remarkably low tuition. Wherever you went on a Sunday morning (in the Southeast and Southwest, at least), you could find a church that sang the familiar hymns and studied the same Bible lesson. In hindsight, I realize that this Southern Baptist utopia was imperfect. There were significant theological differences, often geograp

The Bible Tells Me So

As I read the story of the Good Samaritan during my devotional today, I was reminded of the times that I have heard the story in the Christian education setting of the local church--as a youngster in primary and intermediate classes (old terminology), as a young adult in college classes, and then as an adult, often teaching the passage myself. The characters and story line are very familiar due to these experiences of Christian education. These are challenging times for Christian education in the church. Like so much of what is happening in the church today, the old forms do not seem to support present needs. What once worked no longer seems to be effective. Christian education or the formation of believers is in a state of flux. In an article on ethicsdaily.com , retired professor Colin Harris addresses this issue. He points out that the period of the 60’s and 70’s “saw the beginnings of a loss of vitality within the educational dimension of church ministry, as the

Metaphors of the Kingdom of God

In a recent blog , consultant Seth Godin addresses the power of metaphor. He points out, “The best way to learn a complex idea is to find it living inside something else you already understand.” In other words, “this” is like “that.” “When you see a story, an example, a wonderment,” says Godin, “take a moment to look for the metaphor inside.” Jesus turned this around. In the use of parables, he told a story or provided a metaphor and challenged his hearers to see the truth within. For example, in his teaching on the Kingdom (or Reign) of God in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus compares the Kingdom to such things as a mustard seed, yeast, a hidden treasure, a net, a king, and a landowner. His hearers are encouraged to use their imaginations to understand something that they had never experienced. He also attempted to shift their perspective so that they might see signs of the Kingdom breaking into their present reality. These are metaphors for the Kingdom. Where do w

The Tragedy of Willow Creek Community Church

File photo of Steve Carter, Heather Larson, and Bill Hybels As Christian brothers and sisters, we need to pray for Willow Creek Community Church. On the eve of the Global Leadership Summit, a worldwide conference sponsored by the church in cooperation with the Willow Creek Association, church leadership imploded as a result of further allegations against former pastor Bill Hybels. Last year, Hybels introduced the team who would assume church leadership upon his retirement--lead pastor Heather Larson and teaching pastor Steve Carter. Although the founding pastor planned to stay on to assist in a time of transition, reports of sexual impropriety involving Hybels surfaced early this year. He accelerated his departure from the church and left the board of the Willow Creek Association. When other charges emerged last week, teaching pastor Carter resigned. On Wednesday evening, Larson and the entire elder board--lay leaders who provide accountability on behalf of the congreg

A Future for the Global Leadership Summit?

Craig Groeschel, the founder and senior pastor of Life.Church. The Global Leadership Summit which began as a project of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, and its founding pastor, Bill Hybels, over 25 years ago was held this week without Hybels. For several years, the GLS has been now produced by the Willow Creek Association, a spin-off organization and a loose network of churches but Hybels has been its driving force. Attended by thousands at the church facility in South Barrington and broadcast to thousands more at satellite locations, the annual meeting brings together not only evangelical leaders but outstanding speakers from business, charitable organizations, politics, and business. For the first time, Hybels did not appear due to allegations of sexual impropriety brought against him over the past year by former employees, staff members, and business associates. He has already left the church and resigned from the board of the association.

Barnabas File

Search This Blog