Over the years I've personally been deeply grieved to watch a number of important relationships in the Christian coaching world implode over contract issues. Those experiences started me thinking: what does scripture have to say about a Christian coach’s relationship to contracts and the legal system? We all use coaching agreements, and we have contracts with the schools that train us with those who do work for us. Is the way we craft these agreements biblical, or are we just copying common business practices without really thinking about how the fit with a Kingdom perspective?

So let's dive in and explore what a biblical approach to coaching contracts might look like...
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Judy Santos, MCC, founder and director of the Christian Coaches Network, passed away on Tuesday, March 2, in Bellingham, WA. She was a beloved coach, mentor, colleague, friend, mother and grandmother. As a community of Christian coaches, we grieve with her family and all those who knew and loved her.

It may be her cheerfully raspy voice or delightfully distinctive laugh that we first remember when we think of Judy Santos. After all, as coaches living in a virtual community, many of our most significant relationships...
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I’ve been coaching church planters for over twenty years now. Church planters are a unique breed, often presenting distinctive challenges to their coaches. I know this because I’ve also been—and currently am—a church planter. I know firsthand how challenging we can be, and I also know what we need from our coaches.

Our international qualitative research project shows the outcomes of what good coaching accomplishes. We have isolated the competencies and microskills a coach needs to accomplish those outcomes. But one question I’m often asked is this: To coach a church planter effectively, what else is needed besides the basics of being a good coach?
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Do you want more clients in your coaching practice? Then present your target audience with evidence that coaching is a sound investment. Research can show clients how coaching was used in situations similar to their own and what results were obtained. The studies also help coaches determine which techniques and tools are most effective in specific settings.

Where Can I Find Coaching Research?
The best resources for coaching research are university library databases... Here are a few coaching research sources accessible online:
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"Why has God given Christian Coaching to the Church at this time?"

The retreat leader who asked this question to a group of Christian Coaches said that he wasn't sure that the Christian Coaching movement as a whole had a clear answer. He also said that we needed to understand God's purpose for Christian Coaching in order to be good stewards of the ministry into which He had called us.

The answers from the audience were similar. The theme was that God isn't done in human history, that The Church is His chosen vessel through which He wants to accomplish His purposes and Christian Coaching is a way to strengthen it. In other words, Christian Coaching is one way God wants to strengthen the Church to fulfill its purposes...
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What will it take for coaching to find its potential within the domain of the church?

I received an email from a friend who participated with me in a recent tele-class. "I appreciated hearing the speaker," he wrote, "but I expected someone to ask a question about coaching in the church...and no one did. What do you make of that?" In my answer, I agreed that this was an extremely vital topic and that, although it didn't fall inside that speaker's expertise, it was part of the ongoing conversation we are trying to foster in the Christian Coaching Magazine.

I went on to comment that, in my opinion, the church is the new frontier for coaching--the place that has been perhaps least impacted to date, yet holds some of the greatest potential to be seen in our field...
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Paul, one of my first coaching clients, engaged me to help him discover a sense of purpose in his life. Several months into the relationship, his teenage son was tragically killed in a car accident. That event completely changed Paul's focus and his sense of what was meaningful in life. Over the next year, we talked about issues like transparency, grieving, how to allow others to support you, who your real friends are, and much more.

When Paul was finally ready to reengage the life purpose question, nothing seemed to really motivate him. We looked at several different business or ministry tracks he could have gone down, but nothing clicked--until he hit on the idea of setting up memorial funds to help young families with the financial burden of adoption. The idea was...
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What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and Should a Christian Use it?

[Editor's Note: We'd like to start a dialogue on this issue, so feel free to comment!]

These questions come across my desk or are raised in a telephone conversation almost daily. I would like to shine some light on this topic and open a conversation and exploration about it with you. In doing so I think it is important to define what is NLP, explore it's origins, and applications.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming: What is it really?
The origins of NLP are fairly simple. Two men, John Grinder and Richard Bandler were interested in...
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In the last week (even though I'm on sabbatical) several exciting coaching opportunities came my way. They weren't so much chances for me to use my own skills, make money or accomplish something, but to connect others to the opportunities they needed to fulfill their calling. I get fired up when I have a chance to connect people and opportunities in a way that helps them succeed. Unfortunately, in all these cases I didn't know how to make the connection. One individual had an opportunity for coaches who work with parents and teens to write about what they were doing. Another was coaching in New Zealand and not seeing a lot going on with coaching there--I'm sure it would have been a great encouragement to connect him with other leaders in his nation with the same passion...
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God has placed a distinct call on the lives of Christians in the coaching profession. Whether you are thinking about becoming a Life Coach or are looking for a Coach to walk alongside you, let this discussion help you reflect on two things: First of all, God has His eyes on this influential, Kingdom-building group of dedicated servant-coaches. And secondly, He has anointed them to coach on a vast array of topics in the power of His Holy Name.

As Life Coaching fast-becomes a partner to the Lay Counseling ministries in our churches...
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We are all looking for ways to be more efficient. Both coaches and clients want to make the best use of our time and money. Efficiency requires more than economizing - it must be effective. When coaches need to "work smarter, not harder", we want to serve more clients in less time and generate more income. When clients need to "do more with less", they want powerful results in less time at lower cost. Group coaching meets these requirements. Group coaching has lagged behind as the field of coaching has grown. A quick search for books revealed none - not one - that addressed coaching in the manner in which the ICF and professional coaches define the field
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     Several years ago I invited a number of leading Christian coaches to join together for a summit to discuss the current status and direction of our field. The participants were all trained professional coaches that I respect greatly. To aid the discussion we brought in a professional facilitator who later reported that he had never been with a group that was so resistant to working together. It was a cordial meeting with good interaction and camaraderie. But we each appeared to be clinging to our own agendas, practices, training programs and future plans without sharing.
      Perhaps in the early stages of any movement there is turf building and reluctance to work together. There still is competition for...
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Walking with leaders through transitions draws on a coach's skill in helping leaders discern God's true agenda in a time that may call for equal parts letting go and getting on with life. New, exciting opportunities come to capable leaders in transition -- and the rush of taking on a new challenge seems especially appealing when what we were doing before has come to a frustrating end...
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Here is a neat video to watch…