Old Dog Learns New Tricks

I am enjoying exploring the possibilities of life coaching, especially as it might be used in helping clergy and lay leadership discover their goals and create action plans for them. As part of the SC UM Conference emphasis on Natural Church Development, twenty-two lay and clergy are being trained to be coaches. As part of that process, we are meeting in Columbia for two days. During the next six months I will be coaching two persons while personally being coached. Each of the persons who are to be my guinea pigs want to focus on where God is directing them and developing a plan to do it. Already I am excited about the possibilities of how this technique could be very effective within the life of this conference. I especially like this process of asking open-ended questions that leads the person to finding their path and setting their own goals to travel it.

I find it interesting that the person who asked me to be part of this initial group of coaches served as an effective coach when I was trying to determine if I should accept my current position at First Church. Although this was not a formal arrangement, he did ask me several important questions that led me in my decision-making process. Perhaps this is why I have accepted this new opportunity to serve the church. Isn’t it interesting what happens when we open ourselves to new possibilities?