Featured Content
The process of habit change is not well understood by Christians, and neither are the relational resources God has given us to do it. The key factor in change is motivation, not information. It isn’t knowing what to do that produces change—it’s having the incentive to tackle the hard work it entails. We have to get motivated, to get energized to change, and then stay motivated and energized long enough to form a new habit.
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Posted in Featured Content, Transformational Coaching, [None] by Tony Stoltzfus Jan 9th, 2012 |
Tags: Accountability, Coaching Relationship, Personal Growth |
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Accountability is an effective tool to help a coaching client change habits. And the principles behind accountability will work with any kind of action step. Whenever a client needs to get something done, accountability improves the chances of success. Here’s an overview of how accountability is normally applied in a coaching relationship.
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Posted in Featured Content, Transformational Coaching by Tony Stoltzfus Dec 12th, 2011 |
Tags: Accountability, How To..., Techniques and Skills |
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It’s 11:00 p.m., you just got back from another long day of ministry two time zones away from home, and you’re sitting alone on your hotel bed, exhausted. Tomorrow you fly back home through O’Hare, but right now all you want is to relax for a half an hour or so before bed. As you’re flipping through the channels trying to find ESPN Sports Center, there right in front of your eyes is a graphic, X-rated sex scene...
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Posted in Featured Content, Transformational Coaching by Tony Stoltzfus Nov 14th, 2011 |
Tags: Accountability, Coaching Relationship, Personal Growth |
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Dave was a youth pastor from a local church whom I’d been coaching for several months. One day he began to share his frustrations with Mike, one of the adults on his leadership team. Mike had been a member of the team before Dave was hired, and his ideas of what youth ministry ought to be were aligned more with the previous youth pastor’s approach than they were to Dave’s. As Dave settled into his role and began to carry out the mandate he’d been hired to accomplish, Mike got more and more upset.
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Posted in Featured Content by Tony Stoltzfus Oct 10th, 2011 |
Tags: Asking, How To..., Techniques and Skills |
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Coaching is based on internal motivation. The biggest obstacle to growth and change is motivation, not information. You can come up with a great idea for how to make a client’s life better, but if that person isn’t looking to change in that area, proposing it was a complete waste of time. People are the most motivated to act on their own plans and ideas. Therefore, if you want to maximize growth, you’ll allow people to set their own agenda, because that’s where the motivation is highest.
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Posted in Featured Content by Tony Stoltzfus Sep 12th, 2011 |
Tags: Coaching Relationship, How To..., Techniques and Skills |
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Making Life Messages is one of the more unilateral things God does. He decides where he is going to meet us, he creates or leverages the circumstances that get our attention and motivates us to engage him at the heart level. When we do engage him, it is Jesus that invades and transforms our hearts, too. Our job consists of two things: recognizing where he is already at work and choosing to go there with him.
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Posted in Featured Content by Tony Stoltzfus Aug 8th, 2011 |
Tags: Life Purpose and Destiny, Personal Growth, Perspective |
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A Life Message is a place in your heart where you have deeply meet Jesus, his life has replaced your natural life, and that incarnation flows out as a Message of Christ to others. Together, these Messages combine to form your being call—the essence of the Christ-in-you that is channeled through your calling role to impact others. Life Messages are individual facets of Christ’s character you specially model, while your being call is all those messages rolled together.
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Posted in Featured Content by Tony Stoltzfus Jul 18th, 2011 |
Tags: Life Purpose and Destiny, Personal Growth, Perspective |
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Ever coach someone who just can’t seem to get unstuck on the road to their destiny? Our first instinct as coaches is to help the person identify circumstances that block them or internal obstacles that hold them back, and then find a way around those obstacles. We operate this way because of a core belief most coaches share: that every person has a God-given destiny, and that anyone can find and follow that destiny today.
But what if our fundamental beliefs about destiny are wrong? Does everyone really have a destiny? And...
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Posted in Featured Content by Tony Stoltzfus Jun 18th, 2011 |
Tags: Life Purpose and Destiny, Personal Growth, Transformation |
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How an Entire District of One Denomination Embraced Coaching
Why has Western Ontario District [WOD] of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada been able to create an environment in their organization where people value coaching and desire to implement it in their ministry settings?
Nine years ago, two key leaders in WOD felt compelled to look for a tangible leadership development program that they could offer credentialed leaders (pastors) in their organization. In searching out what were identified as growth areas by a collaborative committee representing members in the organization, WOD was introduced to...
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Posted in Featured Content by Tony Stoltzfus Apr 1st, 2011 |
Tags: Become a Coach, Coaching Relationship, Impact of Coaching |
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Last time I wrote how being driven by distraction causes us to respond to impulse and urgency to the detriment of self care and relationships. This has a domino effect in that, when self care and relationships are not adequately met, we find ourselves driven by needs. We often do this unconsciously – how many times do we just need to take a break, go for a walk or rest but instead we decide to eat something? Even though needs may go unnoticed they do have a strong influence on our
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Posted in Featured Content by admin Mar 13th, 2011 |
Tags: Accountability, Coaching Relationship, Life Balance, Life Purpose and Destiny |
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If the practice of coaching were to be boiled down to it's two core functions you are left with reflection for insights and action steps for application. Yet, some people struggle with coaching action steps. They view stimulating reflection as virtuous and the main job of a coach, while generating action steps as too pragmatic and therefore optional.
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Posted in Featured Content by admin Jan 24th, 2011 |
Tags: Become a Coach, Biblical coaching, Impact of Coaching, Techniques and Skills, Transformation |
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Seven years ago, when I decided to pursue a career in coaching and started looking for coach training programs, I didn’t realize it would be such a challenging project! After becoming a coach, I found – like many established Christian coaches – that prospective coaches contacted me with questions about the field, and coach training in particular. Since then, I’ve authored an ebook, The Complete Guide to Christian Coach Training, to help Christians who are considering entering the field to make informed decisions that are uniquely best suited to them.
For those starting this journey, here are five things to know about Christian coach training...
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Posted in Featured Content, [None] by Linda Hedberg Oct 14th, 2010 |
Tags: Become a Coach, Certification, Training |
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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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Posted in Featured Content by Tony Stoltzfus Jun 11th, 2010 |
Tags: Biblical coaching, Business, Coaching Community, Practice Building |
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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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Posted in Featured Content by Linda Hedberg Mar 13th, 2010 |
Tags: Coaching Community |
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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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Posted in Featured Content by Tony Stoltzfus Feb 15th, 2010 |
Tags: Church, Church Growth, Leadership, Techniques and Skills |
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