Ain't God good?

Lynette Brown’s story is an example of what God can do through the life of one coach trainee who offers God their dreams.  Lynette took coach training at her church on the recommendation of her husband, Robert, who was familiar with coaching in the corporate arena and wanted to see others in their church discover and express their God-given life purpose for the sake of the Kingdom.  Their church, Ponte Vedra Presbyterian, sought out coach training to do a “coaching plus” approach to life purpose discovery.  They utilized study content called Blueprint for Life with the entire church and now offer follow-up coaching for those who want to more fully express their life purpose.

Lynette admits that coaching was not easy for her at first because she had a tendency to “fix” people (that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?).  But, after coach training and experience with coaching in a Crown Money Map context, she found coaching to be “gentle path of discovery” for others.  Now, Lynette says, “coaching is becoming a natural tool we use in everyday conversations and situations with others”.

As effective as coaching is for the others whom Lynette seeks to help, she has found it to be equally life-changing for herself.  “Coaching”, she says, “has enabled me to think outside the box.  Before I was coached, things on my heart were just too outlandish and never going to happen, so why verbalize them or write them down.”  As a result of her personal coaching, Lynette was able to take one of her dreams seriously and begin to take action on it.  As it turns out, God was just waiting for her to do that so He could do miracles in their church.

Lynette’s dream was to see her church participate in what has become known as a “Kingdom Assignment” (see www.kingdomassignment.com) where some church members are given $100 bills on a Sunday morning and asked to invest the money for the Kingdom over a certain period of time.  Churches who do a Kingdom Assignment often report that those who take the money multiply it by adding to the amount themselves and by getting other people on board to back a common cause.  The result is that the $100 turns into many hundreds or even thousands of dollars donated toward things that change people’s lives.  Eventually, the church has a celebration Sunday where all the testimonies of miracles are shared.

This vision had been in Lynette’s heart for over three years, and coaching enabled her to identify it, clarify it, and make a plan to express it.  She went to her pastor to get his blessing, and he gave her permission to make it happen.  She connected with the pastor who started the Kingdom Assignment in his own church, and he agreed to come to Ponte Vedra Presbyterian.  They did the kick-off in their Sunday services in April and Lynette says that, “The resulting stories are amazing.”  She has started a website to share the testimonies, and the church has a celebration service scheduled for September to hear about how God has worked through the 50 persons who were each given $100.  Lynette’s dream may literally have changed her church and the surrounding community in ways she could only have imagined before coaching.

These are the kinds of stories I have heard routinely from those who have been trained to do coaching in the local church.  Trainees will make a significant difference in the lives of those they serve through coaching relationships, but God will also do wonderful things in the trainees’ lives as well – things that will have long-term impact on their church as a whole.  Makes you wonder if coach training should be offered on a wider scale just for that purpose…Hmmmm…

By Russ Rainey, Ph.D.

www.courageousgrowth.com

russr@courageousgrowth.com

817-479-3231