BECOM Ethe person God has for me to become

Christian Coaching ...

How many of us grow as fast and as deep as we'd like? Very few of us! Why is that? We all would like to be more mature. Why do we grow so slowly (apart from crisis, anyway?)

We'd propose that part of the answer is this: Rarely do we human beings reach the potential God has for us by ourselves. It seems that He most often creates the "aha! s" in our lives ... the insights that truly impact us ... by speaking to us through others: pastors, teachers, mentors, disciplers, close friends and other brothers and sisters in Christ. Psychologists might say that's because it's difficult to maintain an accurate perspective when we are INSIDE the skin of the one doing the examining! (Example: We can often see things in others that they are not aware of themselves.) Multiple perspectives bring wisdom and maturity and growth.

Having said that, let's give an example for those of you willing to "play the game" for a moment. If you're not "in the mood" to play now, we'd suggest you come back to this page later. You will get absolutely nothing out of it if this is not a good time for you to "play."

If you had to pick one area of your life where you are not experiencing everything God has for you (you sense there "ought to be" or "could be" more), what would it be? Mentally write your answer here: (And please don't go on to the next sentence until you've answered this question.)

You just got a taste of coaching (albeit a small one) if you played. (A lot of folks likely didn't.) The "slightly-squirm-generating" feeling of self-examination? (A coach would not have let you move forward without answering, by the way :) Well, that's the first step in coaching ... you being guided into discovering and articulating the agenda you have for yourself (usually subconsciously ... just an inch below the surface) in becoming all the man or woman God has for you to become.

Coaching is a merely slightly more formalized venue for perspective and challenge than, for example, friends helping us work through a decision. Coaching is ... a coach ... assisting ... a person ... to grow ... through gently directed, self-discovered personal insights (in whatever areas the client tells the coach he or she wants to grow in.)

Examples:

World-class athletes hire coaches in order to improve / excel in their sport.
Business professionals hire coaches in order to become superior executives or managers.
Sales professionals hire coaches in order to become more effective (and successful) in assisting prospective customers.
Christians hire coaches in order to identify areas in their lives in which they might follow Christ more closely.
Couples hire coaches in order to facilitate enhanced "performance" in their relationship (and identify potentially ineffective ways they may be relating with their partners currently.)
Single adults hire coaches in order to develop or fine-tune their finding and building successful relationships.

Coaching is defined as ...

" . . . an ongoing partnership that facilitates a clients' producing of fulfilling results
in their personal and professional lives. Through the process of coaching, clients
deepen their learning, improve their performance and enhance their quality of life."

- The International Coach Federation

Coaching is not therapy or consulting or mentoring or discipling ...

Therapy is for unhealthy people who want to get healthy.
Coaching is for healthy people who want to excel.

Consulting is telling. (The consultant is the source of all the answers.)
Coaching is asking. (The client is the source of the answers.)

Mentoring is molding. Coaching is catalyzing.

Discipling is directing. Coaching is inviting.

Coaching is leading a client into that client's own personal discoveries of answers / convictions / conclusions that lead to a fuller life.

Coaching is a regular (usually weekly) telephone dialogue between coach and client within a productive, results-oriented context. A conversation whereby relevant questions at critical points encourage and support a client to look at different angles, strategies and, therefore, solutions. The coach acts as guide, gentle challenge, advocate and resource partner. Coaching is infinitely more about asking the right questions than it is about providing answers. An underlying assumption within most coaching contexts is that the client has the answer ... it's just that the answer is "hiding" below the conscious level. The coach's job is to "shine a light" on the answer such that the client discovers, accesses and acts on it.

(If you and I are told something by another person, we may or may not believe it deeply enough to act on it. If, on the other hand, we are led to a personal discovery of our own -- an "aha!" -- we believe it so deeply that we are much more likely to act on it. After all, we were the authors of that very personal discovery, right?)

If you are interested in finding out more about how the coaching process may benefit you, (including a coaching call at no charge whatsoever to confirm its effectiveness for you,) click here for a no-cost introductory coaching call. It could, quite literally, change your life. Find out why the top "performers" in every industry and walk of life are utilizing coaching to become more the person God has for them to become.

And may today be for you the astonishing day God has had planned for you since the foundation of the world!