Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Coaching

I had the privilege of being a part of a one-year ministry coaching program, where I had a "coach" who talked with me, by phone, every other week. It was an eye opening experience and one that really benefitted me. I came away from that year feeling like I had a new lease on life. Intentional living is successful living. I believe we are called to live intentionally. Paul's phrase, "...this one thing I do..." seems to indicate that kind of living. Jesus, of course talked and lived an intentional life. That's my aim too.

Now, I would like to adapt the coaching idea to this context. I would like to plan small retreats for the district superindendants of the national church. 5 or 6 of them at a time. We will talk about personal life, family life, vision, communication, etc. I hope to transfer a bit of what I learned to them, but doing it in a way that works for them. It never works to put "someone else's armor on another person". Armor has to fit the person. That's what I hope to do. The president of the national church has given his blessing to this idea, stating that any leadership training that they can get will be helpful. I see that as being a key part of what we are doing here.

If you are reading this and feel so led, pause and pray that God will help me carry this out. My goal is to have the first retreat done by the end of March 2010.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A SHEPHERD


I recently attended the school board for our vernacular language Bible School. What this means is it is a Bible school that trains pastors who have not had an opportunity to go to school. They know how to read and write, but they are not strong in this area. The majority of our pastors have been trained at this school and are doing an admirable job.

We decided this year to implement a program that will enable them to learn how to care for sheep, and at the end of the year, the graduates will go home with a sheep in hand and a promise to contribute one sheep back to the school to help another student. The goal is to help our pastors learn how to do something that will help improve their living conditions. This was a tangible idea that will help do that. I'm excited about it and look forward to what this does. It is a small thing, but it has potential to help pastors catch a vision for what they can do.