“We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere.”  Tim McGraw

How are you raising up leaders to leverage your message?

You have heard me teach many things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Teach these great truths to trustworthy people who are able to pass them on to others.  (2 Tim 2:2, NLT)

One of the things I love most about training lifestyle coaches is the caliber of Christian leaders I get to work with.  Almost without exception, these are forward thinking men and women who are either at or destined to rise to the top of their fields.  The incredible (and humbling) aspect of that is the fact that as these folks assimilate coaching into their “way of doing ministry,” they will undoubtedly pass along their new skills and leadership paradigm to those they work with, who in turn, will pass them along to those they work with, etc.  Talk about leveraging time and influence.  Wow!

At the risk of offending those whom I don’t name, I feel compelled to help you begin to understand the impact and significance of what I just wrote by giving you just one example.  About two years ago, I began training John Chasteen, Associate Dean of Southwestern Christian University Graduate School in Bethany, OK.  Lest you think John is one of those “lofty” academic types, you should know that his deanship came on the heels of 21 years of pastoring, church revitalization, and church planting.  In there somewhere, he also served as a Conference Superintendent over a number of churches within his denomination.

Among other things, John likes to write.  When I started training him, he had just been asked to be a regular contributor to Charisma Magazine.  (I was impressed.)  Now his articles are popping up in Ministry Today as well.  But what I want to particularly draw your attention to is the weekly blog entitled “Hey Coach John” that he started writing almost two years ago.  Follow the link below and you’ll see the most recent article.  (I believe you’ll see why I sometimes feel like a proud papa.)

John took to coaching like a “duck takes to water.”  His leadership paradigm was truly transformed.  As you might expect, John is making plans to incorporate a coaching track of courses in the Graduate School.  He has so embraced the coaching concept that he feels that pastors need to have this training to be effective leaders of their flocks.

There is no way I can ever express to John, or to the 200+ other leaders like John whom God has allowed me to train as they learned coaching, just how much of a blessing each and every one of them were (and continue to be) to me.

Prayer Power
Father, I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve great Christian leaders of the caliber of John Chasteen.  As I use John as an example of the many you have allowed me to work with, I ask that you bless each of them and their ministries as they go forth and spread the coaching message.

Link of the Day
The Quiet Coaching Revolution

Blessings on you as you minister to others this week.