Finding a good coach

 A few years ago a UMC district asked a number of their experienced pastors to serve as coaches for their bivocational pastors. I was asked to lead a training session to address both coaching and bivocational ministry to these new coaches. I was very impressed with the district's leadership to providing this opportunity to their bivocational pastors and with the coaches willingness to add another responsibility to their busy schedules.

The business world has long known the value of providing coaches to their senior leadership. In fact, some top companies offer coaching as a perk to attract the best leaders to their organizations. The church world has been slower to see the value of coaching for pastors and denominational leaders. This is very unfortunate. I have seen first-hand the value of having a coach.

I had a ministry coach for a year who helped me through a time of confusion in my life and ministry. At the time I was uncertain whether to remain in my current ministry or go in a different direction. I was also considering pursuing my DMin and was uncertain whether this was where God was leading me. Having a wise coach helped add clarity to my choices. I remained in my current ministry and earned my DMin. I am thankful for doing both.

My DMin project and thesis focused on the effect of coaching on bivocational ministers. For the project I coached six bivocational ministers across the US and Canada for three months and wrote about the experience. In my thesis I included statements from each minister about how the coaching experience impacted their lives and ministries. That thesis has been downloaded over 3,300 times. I also wrote a book that detailed that coaching experience titled The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide.

Too many people look at the cost of having a coach rather than the impact it can have on one's life and ministry. It's true that Executive Coaches can cost as much as $750.00 an hour, but ministry coaches charge much less than that. Instead of viewing the cost of having a coach as an expense, it's better to see it as an investment in your future.

If having a coach seems too much, at least allow some experienced pastors mentor you through their books and podcasts. John Maxwell, Charles Swindoll, William Lane Craig, Gary McIntosh and many others have influenced my ministry in many ways through their books and podcasts. Find good people whose books and podcasts speak to you and learn as much as you can from them. Both your personal life and ministry will benefit.

Bivocational pastors need someone to support them

There were times during my 20 years as the bivocational pastor of our small church that I felt very alone. Working a full-time job, pastoring a church and going to Bible college while trying to be a husband and father left little time for anything else. There certainly wasn't time to attend clergy meetings or denominational events. I was fortunate to have Area Resource Ministers who were always ready to answer my questions, but I also knew they had other churches to support as well. It would have been nice to have had someone else to talk to, someone to bounce ideas off of and sometimes have someone else to vent to.

I'm afraid our spouses end up being that person, and that's not fair to them. Many of them already feel like they are living in a glass house with everyone judging their every move and comment. Dumping our stuff on them isn't fair and doesn't make for a healthy relationship.

Although I was never reluctant to talk to my Resource Minister, when I entered that ministry after leaving my church I learned that many pastors are afraid to share too much with their Resource Ministers. They are concerned that if they reveal their frustrations and fears it might affect their future ministry. Perhaps the Resource Minister will be less likely to assist them in finding a new place to serve if and when that time comes.

Every minister, and especially bivocational ministers, need safe people to talk to. We need people who do not know us, our churches or our situations. We need people who will not judge us when we admit our weaknesses. We need a coach who can come alongside us to both encourage and challenge us.

When I began my ministry there were no life coaches or ministry coaches. Now, it is not uncommon for CEOs of large corporations to have an executive coach as one of the perks offered by the company he or she leads. Many people today hire financial coaches, exercise coaches and life coaches to help them grow and move forward in their lives. As is often the case, the church trails the rest of society in this, but we are now seeing more and more ministers having coaches to provide the listening ear they need. And these coaches are doing more than just listening. They are assisting these ministers in their own personal growth as well as the growth of their ministries.

My last book, The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide, came out of my doctoral dissertation on "Coaching Bivocational Ministers for Greater Ministry Effectiveness." In that project I coached six bivocational ministers in the US and Canada and reported on the impact it had on those ministers. For the book I added four more ministers I had previously coached and reported on those experiences as well. Each of the ones I coached was required to write a two-page report on how the coaching experience impacted their lives and ministries. Each of them reported very positive changes.

Coaching is done at times convenient to the person being coached. Often it is done over the telephone which means they don't have to take time to drive to some destination to meet someone or sit through a seminar that might or might not address their needs. As part of my coaching training I had a coach and found it to be an experience that enabled me to grow as a person and a minister. Since then, I've enjoyed coaching other persons in the hope they would experience the same thing in their lives.

If you would like to know more about how having a coach could benefit you, please DM me so we can discuss it further. I do not coach too many at one time so if you think you might be interested I encourage you to contact me soon.

Would having a coach benefit your ministry?

My DMin thesis was "Coaching Bivocational Ministers for Greater Ministry Effectiveness." For my project I coached six bivocational ministers located throughout the United States and
Canada. The paper explored the issues we discussed and the solutions the persons being coached discovered that would address those issues. Each minister was asked to write a two page report on how the experience impacted their lives and ministries, and in each case the impact was positive. That paper was later rewritten and published in my last book The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide. I added four more ministers to the book whom I have coached over the years and added their stories to the ones in the thesis.

For a number of years many major corporations have provided executive coaches for their leaders. These companies recognized the benefits of their top executives receiving coaching far exceeded the costs. It was an investment they were willing to make knowing these coaches would add value to their executives and companies.

Many individuals today have life coaches to help them address challenges in their lives or to help them improve certain aspects of their lives. Some have financial coaches to help them make wise decisions about their money and investments. Some have physical coaches to help keep them accountable for their workouts and diets. A growing number of people today are willing to invest in having a coach help them grow in every aspect of their lives.

Unfortunately, few ministers have seen the same value in having a coach. The Lone Ranger syndrome that plagues many ministers is at work in this area of our lives as well. This is a shame. In my doctoral project I coached some ministers who were really struggling in various areas of their lives and ministries. They had no one to talk to and no answers to their problems. Yet, in a series of brief coaching sessions they began to find the answers they had been seeking. In some of the conversations I had with them over the telephone I could almost hear the light bulb go off as they suddenly discovered those answers. In our next coaching session I knew I was going to hear a great story of a breakthrough in their lives, and I was seldom disappointed. Yet, despite the positive things that can happen when one has a coach, few ministers are willing to work with one.

It should be noted that coaching is not exclusively for those having problems. A coach can help a person grow in areas in which the person is already strong as well. In fact, some of my favorite coaching times comes when a person wants to work in areas of their strengths. They want me to help them improve things they are already doing well.

As part of my coach training I worked with a coach for nine months. It came at a perfect time in my life because I was at a crossroads in my ministry. I had told no one, but I was literally at a fork in the road and wasn't sure which direction to take. My coach helped me work through that. I am convinced that because of being coached at the time I made the right choice.

There are a number of good ministry coaches out there who can be a great asset to your ministry. Some will work with just the minister while others are willing to work with the entire congregation. If you wonder if having a coach would benefit you, read the stories in my book and see how coaching helped them. Or feel free to send me a direct message asking to talk to me about how having a coach might help you in the coming year.

How can denominations resource their bivocational pastors?

A few years ago I was invited to lead my "Healthy Small Church" seminar to a gathering of bivocational ministers in a United Methodist district. This district had over 100 bivocational ministers who turned out for the event. The following year this district asked some of their pastors to serve as coaches for these bivocational ministers and invited me back to train them on bivocational ministry and coaching techniques. I thought that was a great way for a judicatory to assist their bivocational ministers.

My DMin thesis was "Coaching Bivocational Ministers for Greater Ministerial Effectiveness." The last report I received indicated that thesis has been downloaded over 2,600 times. That thesis later became the basis for my latest book The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide.

For my thesis I coached six bivocational ministers for three months to see if that would assist them with some of the issues they were facing. As in all coaching, the person being coached chose the topic he or she wanted to address during the session. In addition to the six chosen to participate in the exercise I added four additional bivocational ministers I had coached previously to the book. Each of these individuals reported the coaching helped them resolve some of the issues we addressed.

One reason coaching bivocational ministers can be effective is because of their schedules. To insist on a face to face meeting can be very difficult. However, coaching can work just as well on the phone as in person. For the project I was coaching pastors in various places in the country and one in Canada. I think only two of the ten in the book were coached in person. The other eight were done over the phone.

Another reason coaching can be helpful is that the person being coached identifies the issue he or she wants to address at that time. That way you know you are dealing with the most pressing issue the minister is facing.

A third reason coaching can be helpful is that good coaching always demands accountability. At the end of each coaching session the person being coached identifies steps he or she is willing to take towards resolving the issue before the next coaching session. At the start of the next session the coach determines if the assignment was completed and the results of that. Coaching that does not lead to action steps is not good coaching.

A fourth reason this can be a good tool for the judicatory or denomination is that the coach can deal with a lot of people in a short period of time. The coach doesn't have to drive some distance to each person. It's possible to coach several people in one day on the phone where if you had to drive to a meeting with each person you might only be able to meet with 2-3 people.

Denominational leaders should look at coaching as a way to resource their bivocational ministers. It's been proven to add value to their lives and ministries.

If you are a bivocational minister who would like a coach, feel free to private message me. I would love to talk to you about the possibilities.

The pastor as coach

Some people see a pastor as a person who is able to fix their problems. I've had couples want me to fix their marriages. Parents have wanted me to fix their children's problem. Others have asked me to help solve their financial problems. In a few instances people have asked me to make a decision for them they didn't want to make. As much as I enjoy helping people, I really can't solve problems for other people. I might be able to solve a short-term issue, but if I do so they are apt to return later with another problem they want me to solve for them. How can we in ministry best help people address their problems? Here's an excerpt from my book The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide.

"Mentors, counselors, and consultants come in to solve problems. Coaches attempt to help the persons they are coaching to develop their problem-solving skills. As Tony Stoltzfus explains, 'We can build people or we can solve their problems. Transformational coaching is about building people. This approach is a far more powerful method of producing leaders, and yields long-term results.' Elsewhere he explains why this is so important.

'I'm much more interested in helping people become great decision-makers than in helping them make a right decision. If they make a good choice, I've influenced that one situation. But if I help them grow in their ability to make great choices, I've affected every decision they make for the rest of their life.'" Stoltzfus' comments come from his book Leadership Coaching: The Disciplines, Skills, and Heart of a Christian Coach.

This is why I enjoy coaching people. A coach does more than solve people's problems. A coach helps people solve their own problems which means the coach doesn't have to be an expert on any particular problem. By asking questions a coach can often help the person being coached discover the answer to their issues. I found out how powerful that was when I was coached by a trained coach, and, as I've coached others, I've seen in work in powerful ways in their lives.

In today's culture coaching is a necessary tool for a pastor to have in his or her tool belt. Rather than answering people's questions we need to be the ones asking the questions. Doing so forces people to examine their own values and beliefs and challenges them to think more deeply about their problems. Quite often, as they think deeply they suddenly find the answer that will solve the problem. Since people are more apt to implement their own ideas than those suggested by others, they will usually follow through with that implementation.

However, a good coach will hold the person being coached accountable to do what they said they were going to do. This is usually not a problem because they are going to do what they themselves identified as the solution to their problem.

I enjoy serving as a ministry and/or life coach because I enjoy helping people. Because I see this as an important aspect of my ministry, my fees are much lower than those typically charged by life coaches.

If you believe having a coach to help you address challenges you are facing in your life or ministry would be helpful, contact me and together we'll see if a coach would be beneficial.

First, earn the trust of the congregation

One of the most enjoyable things I've done in life is to earn a Doctor of Ministry degree. I was 61 years old when I completed the degree so I obviously did not pursue it to advance my career! The work was challenging, but I have to say I enjoyed every moment of it.

The most enjoyable aspect was working on my project and writing my thesis. The project I submitted was "Coaching Bivocational Ministers for Greater Ministry Effectiveness." My plan was to coach six bivocational pastors over a three month period and write on the process. Through a selection process I chose the pastors who would be coached and began the coaching relationship with each of them.

After graduation, I turned the thesis into a book which the publisher titled The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide. I've never been happy with the book title, but I am very pleased with the content because the book shares the coaching relationship I've had with ten bivocational ministers, the issues they had, and the solutions we were able to help them discover during the coaching process. Because coaching always works with the needs of the person being coached, we  were always working on the most important challenges they were facing. Many of these are challenges common to many in ministry, so the book offers possible solutions to issues you may be facing.

For example, one pastor was serving as a bivocational pastor after having spent several years in fully-funded ministry. In the 30 months he had pastored his current church it had grown from about  13 people to 30, but he felt that the lay people were still leading the church, not him. He wanted to know how long it would take before he might become the leader he wanted to be.

As we talked he shared that the previous pastor had created deep divisions in the church which nearly closed after he left. The pastor being coached understood the fear and reluctance the remaining people felt in giving the pastor too much authority, but he still wanted their trust.

This pastor had been doing a lot of right things which I encouraged him to continue doing. We then began to talk about the need for him to lead through the leaders. I asked if there were leaders in the church who seemed to have the ear of the congregation. He identified two such persons and indicated he had a good relationship with them.

I then challenged him to think of some changes he wanted to make in the church, and he named two of them. Before our first session ended he committed to talking to these two leaders about these possible changes and report back in two weeks for our next coaching session. You'll have to read the book to get the rest of the story, but it's a good one.

A good rule of thumb is that the smaller the church and the more frequent the pastoral turnover has been the longer it will take for a new pastor to earn sufficient trust to lead the church. It will typically take a minimum of three years in a smaller church to earn that trust, and it can be much longer. (It took me seven years in my church.) Like this pastor, you have to lead through the existing leaders. Some pastors seem incapable of doing that, and they seldom last long enough to ever provide leadership in the church. These pastors not only damage their ministries, they also make it harder for the next pastor to be able to lead the church.

A small church will allow you to preach and minister to them, but they will not allow you to lead until you have proven trustworthy. Work very hard to earn that trust, and one day you'll become a leader in your church and your ministry will become much more effective.

The disorganized pastor

My book The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide came from my Doctor of Ministry thesis. My project was to coach several bivocational pastors and write on the results of that experience. There are ten case studies included in the book which are representational of many of the challenges bivocational ministers experience. They are also not uncommon for fully-funded pastors either. One of the chapters discusses the coaching relationship I had with the person I called the disorganized pastor.

In a coaching relationship the person being coached sets the agenda for the discussion. This pastor struggled to identify one issue to discuss in our first session but finally decided to focus on time management. The pastor admitted that feeling overwhelmed by all the demands of ministry, a second job, and family responsibilities was common.

It turned out this was a good choice for this pastor because this pastor was one of the most disorganized persons I've met. After missing two appointments for our second session I had to confront an obvious lack of commitment to the coaching process. The pastor insisted that it wasn't a lack of commitment but that so many responsibilities often led to missed appointments. I explained this demonstrated just how out of control her life had become.

It was nearly impossible to keep this pastor focused on completing anything. Like many, this pastor had become used to living in chaos. She was used to living on adrenaline which can become addictive. The problem with living like this is that one day the adrenaline is used up and will be replaced by depression and or other health issues.

This happened to me in the mid-1980s when I was diagnosed with clinical depression. I had been going for several years with little sleep and trying to juggle too many responsibilities. Eventually, my system shut down. The adrenaline ran out. I had nothing left to give. It took a year of medication and counseling to recover.

No one can do it all. Some bivocational ministers try to, but they often end up like this pastor I coached. They end up with disorganized lives that are frustrating to them, to their churches, and most of all, to their families.

Like many, this pastor needed to learn to delegate and to focus on doing those things in which she was most gifted. She needed to set priorities for her life and ministry and learn to say no to those things that were outside of those priorities. These were some of the important lessons I learned from my own experience, and they are some of the things I've tried to teach other bivocational pastors through the years.

In the book we go into this coaching relationship deeper than we can in this post, plus we also look at nine other pastors and their challenges. Chances are you might find some solutions for some of the issues you are facing. You may also decide that you are ready for a ministry coach. If so, contact me, and I'll be glad to talk with you about what that might look like.

Many ministers would benefit by having a coach

My Doctor of Ministry degree thesis was "Coaching Bivocational Ministers for Greater Ministry Effectiveness." The project involved me coaching five bivocational ministers in the US and Canada for six sessions each. As is the custom for coaching, in each session we focused on the felt needs of the person being coached. My thesis reported on the results of that project and later became the foundation for my book The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide.

As a result of that project I became convinced that nearly every minister would benefit from having a coach. A coach helps a person get from where they are to where they want to be. Where a counselor often looks at the past, a coach will focus on the future. Coaches are not usually focused on solving problems as much as we want to develop people. As one coach explained, if he helps someone solve a problem he has influenced one decision, but if he helps people grow in their ability to make great choices he's impacted every decision they will make for the rest of their lives.

What kind of people benefit from a coaching relationship?

• People who feel stuck. Many pastors feel stuck in their ministries. Nothing seems to be happening, and they are not sure what to do about it. Coaching can help such a person get traction and begin to move forward once again.
• People who are at a crossroads and unsure which direction to take. A coach helped me decide to return to school for my DMin degree. I was struggling to decide whether to pursue the degree or to go in another direction with my life, and my coach led me through a discernment process that convinced me to return to school. It turned out to be the right decision.
• People who want to enjoy more success in their careers. Some think coaching is just for people who are having problems, but it can be very helpful for those wanting to take their ministry to a higher level.
• People who are struggling with some issue in their lives. Some people I have coached were struggling with time management issues. Some have had family issues. At least one was struggling with his sense of call to the ministry. One was a new bivocational pastor who wasn't sure how to begin his ministry.

In short, just everybody is a candidate for coaching and would probably benefit from having a coach.

The book includes case studies from ten ministers, most of them bivocational, I have coached. The studies examine the issues each of these ministers presented. the process we used to address them, and the results achieved. You may find the help you need in some of those stories. At the very least, you may find that having a coach would benefit you.

I would be glad to talk to you about entering into a coaching relationship. Just contact me and we'll begin the dialogue to see if coaching will benefit you as much as it did the ones in the book.

Church consulting and coaching

Everywhere I go people ask what I'm going to do after I retire at the end of the year. While there are several things I plan to do, two of those things are to do consulting with churches and coach pastors and church leaders. My current ministry responsibilities did not allow me to do as much of that as I would have liked, especially with churches outside our region.

I should hasten to add that the Executive Ministers I was privileged to work with in our region never objected to my leading seminars throughout the US and Canada. In fact, they encouraged me to do so. One told me that I was one of the few who was doing such seminars and conferences for bivocational and small church leaders, and he would certainly not prevent me from leading those. At the same time, I felt that I had to be careful to not ignore my primary work in our region.

With my upcoming retirement I will have more time available to lead such events. I already have four speaking engagements scheduled for 2016, and I have been in conversation with one church about the possibility of consulting with them in 2016.

Like many churches, this church is not associated with a denomination, so there is no one they can contact to help them address some issues in their church. The church leaders are currently deciding whether to invite me to come and work with them.

One of the things I enjoy is coaching church leaders. My DMin thesis was "Coaching Bivocational Ministers for Greater Ministry Effectiveness." That thesis later became the basis for my book The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide. That work demonstrated how effective coaching can be for church leaders who are ready to move forward with their lives and ministries. In my retirement I would like to coach church leaders who are feeling stuck, facing problems, or are just ready to move to a higher level of effectiveness. I believe this will be a great way to add value to their lives and ministries.

Conferences, consulting, and coaching. Three of the ministries I enjoy doing the most. If your district is ready for a conference to help train your bivocational and small church leadership, give me a call. If your church needs a consultant to help them work through a challenge they are facing, I may be able to help. If you are a church leader who is ready to move forward, let me coach you through that process.

Bivocational ministers are entrepreneurs

The best bivocational ministers I have met have been entrepreneurs. The very nature of their calling forces them to approach ministry with a different mindset. This mindset is very similar in many ways to that of a person starting a new company. An effective entrepreneurial, bivocational pastor will share some common personality traits with the entrepreneurial business person.

There have been numerous articles written on these personality traits, and the list of these traits number anywhere from 5-25 depending on the article. I think these five personality traits will be found on most of these lists. These five traits are explained in more detail in a Forbes article you can read here. These traits are

1. Passion - Most bivocational ministers I know serve because they are passionate about their calling. Few people would willingly serve as a bivocational pastor if they were not passionate about doing ministry in that context.
2. Resilience - Not everything we attempt to do works out the way we planned. Most bivocational ministers do not view failure as the last word. When something doesn't work out as we planned we try to learn from the failure so we can improve. It's hard to keep a good bivocational minister down.
3. Strong sense of self - Entrepreneurs are normally very self-confident, and the same is true for many bivocational ministers. It's not so much a confidence in ourselves because most of us know our weaknesses and limitations, but it is a confidence in our calling. A weak leader who lacks self-confidence, bivocational or fully-funded, cannot effectively lead a church, and it's painful to watch them try.
4. Flexibility - A bivocational minister better be flexible. Every day is an adventure. I always use a pencil when I schedule something in my calendar because the one thing I know that's constant is change.
5. Visionary - The only thing more painful to watch than a minister who lacks self-confidence is to watch one without vision. If the pastor doesn't know where God is leading it will be impossible to lead the congregation in that way. Entrepreneurs in business and ministry have a sense of where they are going, and sometimes it is that vision that prevents them from getting stuck.

How many of these personality traits do you have? Chances are that if God has called you to bivocational ministry you have some of all five of these traits. You may be stronger in some of them than in others, but it is likely at least part of all five of these make up your personality. If you identify some that cause you to struggle, they may be something you want to address. As you become stronger in each of these traits you will see positive improvement in your ministry and in your overall life.

If you struggle to improve in some of these areas a good ministry coach might be able to help you. If you think that is the case, it would be a good investment of your time and finances to work with a coach to help grow in those areas. If you do not know a ministry coach in your area, feel free to contact me.

Can a coach help a bivocational minister?

What does a bivocational pastor do when it seems nothing he or she does makes a difference? This was the issue confronting one of the pastors I coached for my DMin project. This pastor was a seminary graduate who had served several years as a fully-funded pastor before becoming bivocational. He was frustrated that he was not able to provide leadership to his church, and he felt that his ministry had made very little impact on the people in the church, especially the younger people.

As we went deeper into what had been accomplished in the 2 1/2 years he had served as pastor I was amazed at what he had been able to do. His impact on that church had been far more than he realized. I began to remind him of the things he had shared with me that had been done since his arrival as pastor. As I affirmed the significance of his ministry he immediately became encouraged and expressed optimism about his future dreams for the church.

In future coaching sessions this pastor was much more focused on the future. He developed a preaching schedule which he shared with me, looked into furthering his education, and began to discuss the need for the church, and he, to become more evangelistic oriented.

It is easy for ministers to become discouraged at what we feel is a lack of results from our efforts. During such a period in my own ministry I met with a more seasoned pastor who reminded me that ministry is often two steps forward and one step back. Things don't often happen as quickly as we might prefer, and sometimes it is difficult to see that what we are doing is making any impact on the lives of others. It is in those times that we need someone to come alongside to clear away the fog and reveal to us the good that our ministries are accomplishing. Often, that person is a coach.

My DMin project was "Coaching Bivocational Ministers for Greater Ministry Effectiveness." That project was later turned into a book,The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide. As part of the project I coached five bivocational pastors, but the book records the stories of ten pastors I have coached over the years and the results of those coaching relationships. Most were bivocational; a couple of pastors were fully-funded.

Chances are you will find some of the challenges you are facing in those stories, and the solutions these pastors found might be the answers you're seeking. Coaching is a powerful tool to help a person move forward in his or life and ministry, and having a coaching relationship with an experienced coach can be life-transforming. But, if you cannot have such a relationship, this book may be the next best thing. You'll find that you are not alone in the struggles you face, and that there are solutions to every challenge.

After reading the book, if you feel that having a coach for a period of time would be beneficial, contact me. As I am retiring from my judicatory role at the end of the year I will be taking on more coaching relationships in 2016. Perhaps we can work together to help you move forward in your life and ministry.

Others have faced your struggles before you

In 1967 I went away to Navy boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois. The first week was especially hard. An experienced recruit who was half-way finished with boot camp was in charge of us during that first week, and he was determined to make it as difficult for us as it had been for him. It's probably safe to say that all 80 of us in our company hated him...until the last evening he had us.

The next morning we would leave processing and go across the highway to really begin our boot camp experience. Before we turned in that final night he called us all together and admitted he knew he had been difficult on us. He said it would only get harder when we went across the road the next morning, but he wanted us to remember one thing. We would never be asked to do something we could not do, and we would never be asked to do something that tens of thousands of sailors had not done before us. He assured us that the things we might be asked to do may seem impossible, but they were not.

I've never forgotten that advice. It serve me well during my 12 week boot camp experience and throughout my four year enlistment. I still remind myself of those words of wisdom even though it has been 48 years since they were spoken to me. Life can get hard sometimes, and it's helpful to remember that others have  faced the same challenges I've had to face, and they came through those challenges victorious.

Like every bivocational pastor, I faced numerous challenges during my ministry. There were times I felt like giving up. A few times I wasn't sure I could do what needed to be done, and there were times I wasn't sure it was worth it even if I could. Then God would remind me that He would never ask me to do something I could not do and that thousands of other bivocational pastors had not done before me. That reminder never failed to renew my strength and my commitment to the calling God had given me.

No doubt, you have had those challenges that threatened to overwhelm you. Family and friends may have even told you that it's too much and you need to give up. Please don't do that. Whatever you are going through, you are not the first one to experience it. Others have overcome the same challenges that you face, and you can too.

My latest book, The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide, tells the story of ten ministers I have coached over the years. These ten were chosen from the many I've worked with because the challenges they were facing will be common to many of us in ministry. In our coaching sessions each minister has the opportunity to tell me what he or she wanted to work on in that session. We tried to identify the main issue and find solutions to address that issue. At the end of each chapter, the ministers tell how they benefited from our coaching relationship and the victories they enjoyed over their challenges.

Chances are good you will find some of your challenges in their stories. You may even find that the solutions that worked for them will also work for you. At the very least, you'll be encouraged to know that others have faced the same issues you face and were not destroyed by those challenges. Remember, others have faced your struggles before you and found ways to emerge victorious over them. So can you.

Coaching for bivocational ministers

One of the things I look forward to doing after my retirement at the end of this year is to spend more time coaching bivocational ministers. A few years ago I received training to be a coach and learned how helpful it can be to have a coach.

As part of our training we received coaching for a year, and it so happened that I was facing a crossroads at the same time. There were two paths that looked equally inviting so I used my coach to help me choose the better path for me. From that experience and the training I received I became convinced that having a coach could be a huge asset for a minister.

Good coaches don't give advice. They are not counselors. They are not consultants. They are not even mentors. They ask questions. Powerful questions that force the person being coached to look deep within himself or herself for the answers. Coaching begins with the premise that we often already know the solution to our problems, we just need help in bringing that solution to the surface.

Since receiving the training I've had the opportunity to coach a number of ministers, both bivocational and fully-funded. I chose to coach a number of bivocational ministers as my DMin thesis and write my dissertation on the results of that coaching. That dissertation became my latest book,The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide. I think the title of the book is unfortunate because it doesn't indicate that the book is about coaching ministers, but it is the title the publisher selected. However, the content of the book is what is most important, and the content describes ten coaching relationships I've had with ministers, the issues they raised, and the solutions our coaching relationship helped them identify.

Coaching isn't just for persons with problems. It can be very helpful any time someone feels stuck and isn't sure which direction to take. Coaching can help someone who wants to raise his or her leadership skills to a higher level.

For a long time I've wanted to have more time available to coach ministers, but my current ministry has limited the amount of time I could commit to that. As I prepare to retire from that role at the end of December I am praying that coaching opportunities will occur.

If you feel having a coach could help you more forward with your life and/or ministry, contact me. At least read the book. You may find that your challenge is addressed in that book and you may find solutions there to help you overcome the challenges. At least, after reading the book you'll better understand coaching and can determine whether it is something that can benefit you.

The benefits of coaching for bivocational ministers

My thesis paper for my DMin was "Coaching Bivocational Ministers for Greater Ministry Effectiveness." That paper was written five years ago. Each month I receive a report of how many times the paper has been downloaded from Digital Commons. Last month it was downloaded 43 times for a total of 1,713 downloads since it was written. That amazes me!

When I was doing my research I found very few papers written specifically for bivocational ministry. In the five years since writing my paper I have been contacted by several individuals who were writing papers on various aspects of bivocational ministry. This is just one more indication of how this ministry is growing and finding greater acceptance.

What really amazes me about the number of times my paper has been downloaded is that doctoral papers are not the most entertaining reading available. They are to required to be written with strict guidelines that make them more scholarly than the general public would find enjoyable to read. This causes me to assume that other scholars are downloading this paper for their own research.

My latest book, The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide, takes the information I learned from that research and puts it in a more readable format for the general public. I was not happy with the title, but the publisher has the right to give titles to the books they publish. My title was the same as my doctoral paper which I felt better described the content of the book.

This is a book about how coaching can benefit any minister and especially those of us who are bivocational. It includes ten case studies of pastors I have coached and describes the challenges they were facing and the solutions we identified through the coaching process. Chances are you will find some of your own issues in these examples, and the solutions that helped them may resolve your issues as well.

Coaching is a powerful tool for addressing those times when you feel stuck and not sure which direction to take. I have benefited from having a coach in my life during such times, and I believe I have helped others as a coach when they've felt pressured by things in their lives.

Coaching goes right to the issues you are facing and looks forward to find the solutions to those challenges. It doesn't spend time looking at the past. That's counseling, which is sometimes needed, but that isn't the role of a coach. It's also not consulting which you may need in certain instances. Coaching depends on asking powerful questions that enables the person being coached to find the solutions that are often already within the person but just needs help in coming to the surface. I believe it is a great tool for anyone in a leadership position and certainly for the bivocational minister.

I encourage you to read this book, especially if you are feeling stuck or frustrated with your life and ministry. Each of these ten pastors brought different issues to our coaching relationship so you may find your situation addressed in these examples. If nothing else, I believe you find this book will encourage you that no matter how difficult your challenges may seem, there are answers to them that will allow you to move forward with your life and ministry.

Every solution doesn't need a proof text

It's human nature for people to spend too much time focusing on their critics, and I am human. I came across such a critic who complained that my book on coaching bivocational ministers didn't make use of the Bible. He didn't elaborate on what he meant so I can't respond to specific concerns he might have had. Recognizing that assumptions are dangerous things I will still assume he thinks that every problem requires a "Thus saith the Lord" response. They don't.

Of course, Scripture should serve as the basis for our core values in life and everything we do should be God-centered and done in such a way that will glorify Him. At the same time, the Bible does not specifically address every issue that comes up in our lives. Every solution does not require a proof text.

In the book I mentioned one bivocational minister I coached whose wife was upset that some repairs and maintenance on the house were being neglected. He was struggling to find the time to do that while working a full-time job and pastoring a church.  Sound familiar?  However, there was an even deeper issue at work in his life. He wasn't convinced he was effective as a pastor, and as we dug deeper into this he admitted that he lacked a strong personal spiritual life.

As we looked at possible solutions he was able to identify two problems that he felt were major hindrances: finding the time to focus on his spiritual development and finding something that would help him start on this journey. We began looking at his schedule to find ways to create enough margin in his life to focus on his own spiritual growth. Finally, he decided to ask his wife to help hold him accountable. The remainder of that chapter reveals how this developed over the next several months. By the end of our coaching relationship his spiritual life had improved, he felt better about his ministry, and as our final coaching call was being done, some individuals from his church were there helping him make some repairs to his house.

He didn't need 30 scriptures on the need for spiritual growth. He already knew he needed to grow spiritually. He had enough guilt; he needed practical solutions around time management and how to pursue spiritual growth. He needed a coach who could help him realize that he needed to do what he would have told anyone else to do who came to him with the same needs in his or her life.

The book includes case studies of ministers, mostly bivocational, I have coached. It examines the issues they raised and some of the solutions we helped them identify. I believe every one of those solutions were God-honoring and scriptural even if they didn't come with a proof text.

I have found coaching to be a very helpful tool for ministers who are stuck or who want to develop even more effective ministries. I have found it especially helpful for bivocational ministers as it can fit in their busy lifestyles. This book was written to serve as a tool for ministers to see how others in their situations found solutions to their problems. My prayer is that you will find help in overcoming your own challenges from these case studies.  You can order the book here.

Coaching opportunities available

What would you like to accomplish in 2015?  In your personal life?  In your family?  In your ministry?  In your work?  Would you like to enjoy more balance in your life?  Would you enjoy being able to spend more time with your family?  Would you like to see your church get unstuck from ruts that may be decades old?  The reality is that if you merely hope that things will improve in 2015, they probably won't.  If you keep doing the same things you've been doing you will get the same results.  Nothing will change.  Two things need to happen if you want to see your life and ministry improve.

The first is that you need a goals program.  This season from mid-November through December is when I typically identify the goals I want to pursue in the coming year.  I began doing this several years ago, and it has had a very positive impact on my life.  I began using a program offered by Zig Ziglar that is probably still available through his organization.  I continue to use a modified version of that same program.

I begin by identifying some goals for the different areas of my life that I want to pursue in the coming year.  These areas will include my family life, my ministry, my career (if you are bivocational that will often be different than your ministry), my relationship with God, and my own self-care.  Writing these goals on paper turn them from being a dream to an actual goal.  This helps me be very intentional about pursuing these things and keeps me from merely drifting from one activity to another.  Once I've listed my goals (no more than one or two in each area) I then write down what I will gain from reaching the goal, I list the things I can identify that will hinder my reaching the goal, I identify the people and groups that can help me achieve the goal, I list some new skills or knowledge I might need, and then I begin recording the action steps I will take that will lead me to achieve the goal.  These action steps become mini-goals that reduce the big goal down into bite-size chunks.  I do not believe anyone can reach their fullest potential without setting challenging goals each year that will help them grow.

The second thing that is often helpful is to have a coach who believes in you and your goals.  The coach helps us stay focused and holds us accountable.  Many people will make a New Year's resolution to lose weight and will join a gym and begin an exercise program and diet.  All of this will last about three weeks.  One of the biggest reasons they will fail in their effort is that there is no one to hold them accountable.  The ones who succeed will often have invested in a trainer to work with them, show them the right exercises that will be most beneficial to them, and will often help them with their diet.

The business world has known for several years that a coach can help a person or organization get unstuck.  A good coach can help the one they are coaching to elevate their sights and begin to see past where they are to what they can become.  Many major corporations provide outside coaches to their top executives because they know that they get a good return on their investment.

Some in the church world are now seeing the same value in coaching.  At a time when 80 percent of our churches are plateaued or declining and ministry frustrations are driving many out of the ministry, some are turning to coaches to help their churches move forward and to regain control of their personal lives.  They are finding that this investment in themselves makes sense and provides a great return on both their time and money.  But coaching is not just for when things are not going well.  Some of the best returns is when things are going well, but the leaders want to take their church and themselves to an even higher level of ministry effectiveness.

For the past few years I have coached a number of ministers, both bivocational and fully-funded.  Due to my judicatory responsibilities I can only work with a few people at a time, but as we approach a new year I do have a few slots open.  My doctoral thesis was on "Coaching Bivocational Ministers for Greater Success."  I have found that coaching is an excellent tool to assist bivocational and fully-funded ministers move forward with their lives and ministries.  If you wonder if coaching could benefit you, please contact me so we can discuss it.

My latest book is a look at my doctoral project and the information that came out of it.  Included in the book are ten case studies of ministers I have coached and the results of those coaching relationships.  You may want to pick up a copy of the book to learn more about how coaching can benefit you.

Exciting study for small church leaders

Out of all the books I’ve written for bivocational and small church leaders The Healthy Small Church: Diagnosis and Treatment for the Big Issues has been the most popular.  Numerous churches have bought copies for their leadership to study as they began to look at the health of their church.  Some churches have purchased copies for every member of their congregation and have used it to study how they can become a healthier congregation.  One church that went through a church split purchased copies of the book for every member so they could try to determine how to prevent such a thing from happening again.  Judicatory leaders have purchased copies for the pastors of every church in their district.  Because of the book’s popularity I’ve led workshops based on this book for numerous denominations across the United States and Canada.  Numerous people have asked when I would develop a study course based on this book, and today I am announcing that study course is now available!

This course will consist of 15 lessons.  Each week you will receive an e-mail containing one of the lessons that comes out of the 15 chapters of the book.  Each lesson will consist of questions based upon things discussed in the chapter that you can use to examine your own church.  These will be ideal to use with your church leadership to lead them through a study of this book as you and they examine the health of your own church.

If you have follow-up questions you would like to have answered you can e-mail me your questions and receive a reply.  In addition, you will be entitled to one 45 minute free coaching call where we can discuss anything you would like to discuss.  (This by itself is a $100.00 value!) 

WHY AM I MAKING THIS STUDY AVAILABLE?

Research indicates that 80 percent (or more) of the churches in North America are plateaued or declining.  Approximately 100 churches close their doors every week.  Most of these are smaller churches that have been in decline for years.  A healthy body will be a growing body, and the fact that these churches are in decline or closing indicates that they have had health issues for years that have gone undiagnosed and untreated.  I DON’T WANT YOUR CHURCH TO BE ANOTHER STATISTIC!  That’s why I want to make this study available to as many people as possible.

There is another reason.  Most studies of this nature are not designed for smaller churches.  Even though the median size church in America today is 75 people, there are few resources developed that speak specifically to the needs of these churches.  That was why I wrote my first book on bivocational ministry and why I continue to write and speak on the issues that affect the smaller church and its leaders.

AFFORDABLE

• Because this is the first time I’ve offered this course I am making it available for only $249.00.  For that small investment you will receive:
•  15 lessons sent to you by email, one lesson each week for 15 weeks.  That’s less than $17.00 per lesson!
•  One free copy of The Healthy Small Church. (A $13.99 value)
• The opportunity to discuss with me by email the lesson for the week.
•  One free 45 minute coaching session by telephone on any topic you choose. (A $100.00 dollar value!)
• Discounted coaching if you should decide later that having a personal coach would benefit you and your ministry.

WHO SHOULD ENROLL IN THIS COURSE?

This course is designed for bivocational ministers and small church pastors.  If you are a lay leader in a small church encourage your pastor to enroll, or if you do not currently have a pastor you can take the course yourself.  I highly recommend that when you take the course that you do not keep this material to yourself but that you involve your leadership boards in this study with you.

ABOUT ME

For 20 years I served as the bivocational pastor of a small, rural church in southeast Indiana.  I left that church to become a judicatory leader in our denomination working with churches of all sizes, but the majority of the churches I serve are smaller congregations.  My passion is with these churches and their leadership.  I have published eight books and several journal articles on small church and bivocational ministry.  My Doctor of Ministry thesis was “Coaching Bivocational Ministers for Greater Ministerial Effectiveness,” and I have had the opportunity to coach numerous bivocational ministers and judicatory leaders who work with them.

Over the past decade I have been privileged to lead conferences and workshops for numerous denominations in the United States and Canada that addressed the needs of bivocational and small church leadership.  In these sessions I have been able to encourage and applaud these churches and their leaders for their contribution to the Kingdom of God as well as speak to the real challenges they face.  I want these churches and their leaders to achieve the vision God has for their ministries.

HOW DO YOU ENROLL?

I know most courses of this nature require enrollees to pay by credit card and some even charge the credit card each month.  I’ve been listening to Dave Ramsey too long to ask you to go into credit card debt for this study, so we’re going old-school.  Send me a check for $249.00 with your name, address, e-mail address, name of church, average attendance for your morning service and average attendance for your church school.  Send it to Bivocational Ministries, PO Box 1113, Madison, Indiana 47250.  Lessons will be sent out to this first cohort starting on September 8 which means the registration deadline for this cohort will be August 25.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.  If you’re ready to go, send in your registration material today!

Ministry challenges in the 21st century for bivocational ministers

"Bivocational ministers have the same responsibilities as fully-funded ministers.  There are sermons to prepare each week, people who seek counsel, conflicts that arise in the church, administrative tasks, meetings to coordinate and attend, congregants who need to be visited, and the various other general expectations people have of ministers, regardless of church size.

"There are also challenges associated with living in the 21st century.  It's not easy to be a minister today.  The way people think and believe is rapidly changing.  Expectations are higher today than ever before, and if people can't get their expectations met, they will simply move on to another church.  Denominational affiliation matters little in the 21st century.  If people have to attend two or three different churches to have their expectations met, they will do so.  In the past, it was enough for ministers to be able to exegete the Scriptures in order to preach to people.  Today it is just as important to exegete the culture to understand how best to reach it, but when we do so, we begin to see just how difficult it is to minister to this postmodern, pre-Christian society in which we live."

This is an excerpt from my latest book The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide.  In the book I go on to discuss several of the reasons it is so difficult to minister today.  I will just list them here.

• Rejection of Absolute Truth - It is very difficult to proclaim Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life and the only way to God to a culture that sees all truth as relative.  With the rejection of absolute truth also comes a rejection of absolute morality so we find ourselves living in a society in which everyone does what seems right in their own eyes.
• Generational Differences - It can be a challenge to develop a worship service that will be meaningful to four and even, in some churches, five generations.  Preparing a message that will speak to each generation at the same time will also be difficult.
• Membership Issues - We live in a time in which people have little interest in joining organizations but are very interested in being involved in things they find meaningful.  Many churches will need to revisit their membership requirements or risk losing talented people.
• Rapid Cultural Changes - Society is changing at a much quicker pace than most churches to the point that the church is always playing catch-up.

In addition there are some challenges unique to bivocational ministers that are also addressed in the book.  These include

• Time Constraints
• Self-esteem Issues
• Lack of Support
• Challenges of Serving in Smaller Churches

The book does more than just identify the challenges.  It uses real-life examples of individuals I have coached who were wrestling with many of these problems and shows how we were able to help them overcome their challenges.  This is an excellent book for bivocational ministers, for denominational leaders who work with pastors, and with lay leaders of bivocational churches.  It will help you coach yourself through some of the challenges you face, give you some tools you can use to assist others, and encourage you as you read the stories of others who overcame the same obstacles you face.

When churches transition to bivocational ministry

What changes occur when a church transitions from having a fully-funded pastor to a bivocational pastor?  This is a topic that needs to be studied because it is a scenario that is happening across denominations and one that is likely to increase in the years to come.  In the past few years I have seen several churches make this change.  Sometimes the change went well; others times it did not work out well for the pastor and/or the church.

One of the first things that has to change are the expectations that the church and pastor have about ministry.  I met with one church whose pastor was moving from being fully-funded to bivocational.  We talked about how the congregation would have to step up and assume some of the ministry responsibilities the pastor had been doing.  One of the dangers in this transition is that the church begins paying a part-time salary and continues to expect full-time service.  If the pastor has begun working another job he or she simply isn't able to continue to provide the hours the church used to expect.  Either others in the congregation has to take over some of the ministry responsibilities or they need to be let go.  Some churches find this to be very difficult.

Such churches fail to understand the role of the pastor and their own role in ministry.  Whether the pastor is fully-funded or bivocational, it is not his or her responsibility to do all the work of ministry anyway.  Ephesians 4 makes it clear that the primary responsibility of the pastor is to equip the saints to do the work of ministry.  The pastor is not the hired gun of the church expected to do ministry while the congregation sits in the pews and evaluates.  The pastor is to train and equip the congregation so that everyone in the church is involved in ministry according to their gifts and ministry passions.  That is the only way our churches will ever significantly impact their communities with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Of course, it is not only the churches that struggle with this.  Many pastors have a problem of letting go of ministry.  Most pastors enter the ministry with a desire to help improve the lives of people.  We have a servant's heart.  If we've been to seminary we may feel that we have been trained to do ministry so it is our responsibility to do it.  Besides, doing it ourselves is often quicker and easier than training others to do it.  Even if we do transition to being bivocational we may find it hard to give up some of the ministries we've been doing.  We may have started another job that requires 20-40 hours a week, but we will still try to do all the ministry our church needs done if we are not able to accept the role of an equipper.  If that happens, our families, our ministries, and our own well-being will suffer.

Although the church I spoke of earlier seemed to understand that they would have to become more involved in ministry if their pastor became bivocational, it didn't work out that way.  Problems soon began to surface when the expectations they had of their pastor did not change when he became bivocational.  Within a short time he left that church because he could no longer meet their expectations and work another job.

Another pastor in the early stages of making this same transition asked me to coach him.  His pastoral studies had trained him to serve as a fully-funded pastor, and he wasn't sure how to function in a bivocational role.  He also was not sure what skills he had that might be useful in the public sector.  As we talked he identified two potential positions in his community that might be a good fit.  He applied for both positions and was selected for one of them.  He already had secured the approval of the church board and the congregation to become bivocational so that was not an issue we had to address in our coaching sessions.  This transition to bivocational ministry occurred a few years ago and has been very successful for him, his family, and the church.  His story if one of the case studies I included in my latest book The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide.

Many churches have successfully transitioned from having a fully-funded pastor to a bivocational pastor, but it does a lot of honest dialogue between the pastor and church and a willingness of both parties to see ministry done in different ways.  The pastors have to assume the role of an equipper, and the congregation has to be willing to become personally involved in ministry.

What I'm reading

People sometimes ask me what books I'm reading, so occasionally I like to mention the books I've recently read as well as the ones I'm currently reading.  Some of these were read on the Kindle app on my I-Pad and I found them at a greatly reduced price.  For the most part I still prefer reading real books, but when the price is right I have no problem downloading them on Kindle.  I enjoyed these books and learned a lot from them.  I think you might as well.

One of the most important things a leader needs is credibility.  Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner was a great read as it clearly demonstrated the need for credibility for anyone who wishes to be a leader and how to obtain and maintain that credibility.  Although my book is filled with highlighted sections, this one paragraph was worth the cost of the book.  "It is the credibility of the leadership that determines whether people will volunteer a little more of their time, talent, energy, experience, intelligence, creativity, and support in order to achieve significant improvement levels.  Managers can threaten people with the loss of jobs if they don't get with the program, but threats, power, and position do not earn commitment.  They earn compliance.  And compliance produces adequacy - not greatness.  Only credibility earns commitment.  And only commitment will get people to work beyond their job descriptions and to their fullest capacity so that businesses, communities, and economies can be greatly regenerated."  The same could be said for churches!

Get Off Your Donkey!: Help Somebody and Help Yourself by Reggie McNeal was a fun book to read.  McNeal bases this book on the story of the Good Samaritan and calls the church to get involved in ministering to the people in our communities instead of focusing so much of our attention on ourselves.  He insists that the church is not the major mission of God.  His mission is "the redemptive restoration of everything that sin has tarnished and broken."  That should also be the church's mission.  However, McNeal does sound a warning to church leaders that if they begin to shift the ministry of their church to those outside the church they should expect significant pushback from the religious crowd.  This book was a good reminder of what the church must be about if we want to significantly impact our communities.

One of my favorite reads so far this year has been The Ascent of a Leader: How Ordinary Relationships Develop Extraordinary Character and Influence by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and Ken McElrath.  Leadership is impacted by the character of the leader and the relationships he or she has.  I knew I would enjoy this book when on page 9 I read this, "Sometimes the deeper issues of a leader's life can have the same effect on her organization as removing the rudder from a ship: the leader and the organization may move very fast on the surface, but in no particular direction.  It is amazing how such drifting can be covered up by focusing on numbers, reorganizing reporting structures, and creating new programs."  A few pages later the authors point out that "too many leaders spend their energies trying to appear more consistent in a superficial way, rather than becoming more consistent in a heartfelt, genuine way.  They share that there are two ladders leaders can climb.  The first ladder is the Capacity Ladder.  It is based entirely on a leader's title and skill level.  It can only take a leader (and his or her organization) so far.  While this ladder is important and needed, a second ladder, the Character Ladder, must also be climbed if the leader wants to ascend to a higher level of leadership and take his or her organization to a higher level as well.  This book will make you think.

I initially wanted to read Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money by Rabbi Daniel Lapin because it is one of the books Dave Ramsey highly recommends.  I found the book to be a fascinating look at why the Jewish people are often very successful in whatever they pursue.  Rabbi Lapin is an Orthodox Jew who has done much research into the qualities and principles that has led to that success.  Interestingly enough, most of these are things that historically people believed in but have abandoned in more recent times.  Here I'm talking about such principles as sacrificing present pleasures for future benefits, respecting the value of education,  believing in the dignity and morality of business, networking, treating people fairly and with respect, understanding the value of money, and a host of others.  The book was an interesting look into the traditions of teaching of the Jewish people and one that I plan to read again next year.

As part of my devotional reading this year I read through the New Testament again.  I just finished and, as always, found some more nuggets of truth I had overlooked in previous readings.  Reading through the Bible or just the New Testament during the year is a discipline I do often, and I'm always blessed when I do it.

These are just a few of the better books I've read so far in 2013.  Currently, I am reading Prodigal Christianity: 10 Signposts into the Missional Frontier (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) by David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw, Gospel Coach: Shepherding Leaders to Glorify God by Scott Thomas and Tom Wood, and Resilient Ministry: What Pastors Told Us About Surviving and Thriving by Bob Burns, Tasha Chapman, and Donald Guthrie.  Maybe I'll review them next time.