Why I Coach – Part 1

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What a great week! I was in Colorado Springs training leaders in coaching skills.

Today I shared with all of them why I got involved in coaching.

Why I Am Coaching

Over twenty years ago, my wife and I moved to Castaic, California to start a church. At 25, I was just naive enough to think I could do it. I certainly had a lot of fears and I had limited knowledge of what to do. The Missionary Church Western District (denomination which I joined to partner with in starting Lake Hills Church) was committed to developing the systems to sustain church planting.

To help me get started, they assigned me a coach: Steve Ogne! Steve had been involved in two church plants and had a wealth of experience in ministry. What I loved about Steve’s approach is that he didn’t tell me what to do. He listened. He asked powerful questions. He helped to navigate the challenges that I faced in planting a new church.

I am so grateful for Steve and his coaching. He really blessed me.

I am also grateful to the MCWD for providing coaching to me as we got started. In 1990, coaching was not as common as it is today in ministry contexts.

What happened to me as Steve coached me was amazing. I discovered new insights, discerned appropriate direction to move forward, and committed to action steps. As we met a couple of times each month, Steve followed up on my action steps and helped me to keep moving forward. It really worked.

And in addition to the impact it had on the start of our church, my experience with coaching helped me to see the value of empowering leaders in our church through coaching. I began to develop my own coaching skills and tried to mimic what Steve did with me as I met with leaders in our church. I listened. I asked questions (some of them were actually powerful). I helped them to navigate the challenges they faced in ministry.

I experienced coaching — and I experimented with coaching.

I was hooked. I saw first hand how coaching was a hands on process of helping leaders to succeed. I saw the coaching involved intentional conversations that actually empowered church planters like me and leaders in my church to fulfill God’s calling in their lives.

So I started coaching because I was personally impacted by a coach – Steve Ogne.

If you haven’t experienced coaching firsthand — I’d highly recommend you find a trained coach who can come alongside you and help you move further faster. (If you need some ideas of where to find one – check out davedevries.org)