The concept we’re examining is being an invitation. Everyone you’ve ever met is an invitation. So are you. For pastors and Christian influencers it’s a great advantage to determine: what is the invitation that you will be, from now on. In other words, what do you intend to invite? The clearer you are, the more […]
The Invitation (part four) Read More »
We’re looking at distinctions employed coaching pastors and Christian influencers. I hope coaches find these helpful with their clients. Pastors read this blog to more effectively lead those God’s entrusted to them. So, whether you’re a pastor, a coach to leaders, or both, this is for you. Christian ministers have a tricky leadership challenge. With
The Invitation (part three) Read More »
I’ve invited you to consider that, regardless of your personality, you are an invitation. All day every day, you invite … something. To discover what you invite, notice what keeps coming your way. Why would you want to know? If you’re not intentional about it, you’re likely inviting what you don’t even want. I coach
The Invitation (part two) Read More »
A friend challenged me once: “Kirk, you think you’re planting tomatoes, but you’re harvesting beets. And, when you don’t get tomatoes, you just work harder and harder planting and watering and fertilizing those same seeds. Beet seeds.” Derek wasn’t taking about vegetables; he was taking about my marriage. Unwilling to examine the seed I’d been
The Game You’re In (part four) Read More »
Look, I don’t mean to criticize pastors all the time. Many of my best friends are pastors. I’ve given my life to help pastors lead and live well. It’s just that most of what the Church does doesn’t have anything to do with what Christ’s followers are supposed to be about. It’s not that we’re
The Game You’re In (part three) Read More »
As a professional coach to ministers I get to invest my life in catalytic conversations. Conversations that produce change. And, change that transcends behavior. It’s a change in being. Clients have the opportunity to fundamentally shift the way they perceive themselves, their challenges, their ministry context, and those in it. Conventional coaching, I think, is
The Game You’re In (part one) Read More »
We’re almost thirty entries into this series examining distinctions I regularly use when coaching pastors and Christian leaders. This is the seventh of eight blogs focused on the very common—and debilitating—human drive to have life make sense…even when it doesn’t. So, when the events of life don’t make sense, we invent our own meaning and
The Meaning we Make Up (part seven) Read More »
We’re considering the overwhelming power of the meanings we give to the experiences of life. I assert that it’s not the events of your life, but the meaning you attach to those events that influences you so greatly – and creates such mischief in life. Here’s an example. A client who is a highly competent
The Meaning we Make Up (part four) Read More »
We humans are peculiar. We want so badly to make sense of life that we do a very insensible thing. We make it up! What I mean is this. When an event occurs—particularly if it’s surprising, we’re not content simply being surprised. No. We have to figure out what it means. The stronger your “TJ”
The Meaning we Make Up (part one) Read More »
We’re examining leadership coaching distinctions that I employ when coaching pastors and Christian leaders. Last time, I suggested that the client’s perspective determines what they see as possible and impossible as they search for solutions to pernicious problems. One common perspective is “playing to win” vs. “playing not to lose”. Pastors commonly cycle between “playing
Playing to Win! (part two) Read More »