This is a six part series. I’ll put the links to the rest for your convenience.

1. Change Is Unavoidable. This Will Affect You.
2. Three Ways You Can Prepare for the Coming Change Storm
3. What To Do When the Change Tornado Has You Spinning
4. How to Avoid Drowning in Change
5. The One Thing Change Requires That We Always Forget. Tears.
6. The Road Ahead is Littered with Foolish Bones

Three Ways You Can Prepare for the Coming Change

Change is coming for you. Many people dread it and spend countless hours worrying about it. Change, like taxes and death, is inevitable. I want to accomplish three goals in this email.

1.       I want to relate to you what led up to this major change in my life.

2.       I want to let you know how you can prepare for change.

3.       I want to prepare you as I hope you will move with me to a new communication platform.

Use “The Mountain” As a Landmark

When my dad was serving in the army during the Korean War, they would often send a country boy ahead to scout. Country boys were less likely to get lost. They would identify a landmark on the mountain ahead of them and then head for that landmark rather than just remembering each twist and turn of the trail. This was important because you often had to change your route due to an enemy patrol or a field of landmines.

My wife has started saying to me, “If you’re not taking a step toward the mountain, then you are headed in the wrong direction.” This really clarifies the picture for me. It hasn’t been the mark of Biblical Saints to stay in a safe and comfortable place. It has been the mark of the Saints (read Hebrews 11) to follow God into a more fruitful place without having visual confidence that this journey will work out to their advantage.

One problem we have from our limited perspective is that it doesn’t always seem obvious where God wants us to work. I could see how I could use coaching skills within my position as a pastor to do a lot of good. Our church leadership improved tenfold when I began to use a coach approach with their development. I could see how I could use coaching skills as a denominational leader to draw out the best from the pastors and churches under my care, but the administrative portion of that role makes me uncomfortable. I wouldn’t be working out of my strengths.

Is God calling you to a position that you have trouble identifying because it isn’t a common, defined position?

God invented a position for Moses. David was only the second person to become King of Israel. People didn’t expect Jesus to come in the position that he did as a servant. Head for the mountain and don’t worry so much about finding a position. God will invent one. He invented one for me.

Take Advantage of the Long Runway

The bigger the plane, the longer the runway. No pilot enjoys driving an airplane down a road. The pilot wants to lift off and leave the ground. You need to build momentum into the coming change.

I have one month left of regular paychecks. My last day pastoring is September 27. I’m not going to lie to you. I have some fear. I think, “I’m not ready for this!” I have to remind myself of the truth. I’ve spent four years training for this — sharpening my coaching skills through experience, communicating about the benefits of coaching, and learning how to market my services. I am ready for this. Feelings don’t always reflect reality.

Negative feelings may be the biggest obstacles a person will face when trying to embrace change in their life. Coaching is largely about action, but a lot of the coaching I received during the “long runway” has been about building confidence in my abilities.

A few years ago, a young man wanted a little coaching. I obliged and asked him what he wanted to do. He said he wanted to be a professional writer. I responded with great enthusiasm. I also love to write. It’s my goal to write every day. To be a good writer, I’ve spent a lot of time over the last four years, writing a lot of articles, blog posts, and sermons. I even hired a writing coach. I asked the young man how much he writes each day. His answer shocked me. He hasn’t written anything. He feels he must find a publisher first.

I hope you’re not waiting for a publisher before you write anything. If you want to be a painter, you need to paint. If you want to be a preacher, you need to preach wherever you have an opportunity. If you want to be ministry coach, hire a coach, train to be a coach, and find clients to coach.

Your change may be four years away. What kind of investment do you need to be making every week to prepare yourself for the change that God longs to lead you into?

Gather Feedback

Every American Idol tryout singer informs us his mom thinks he’s a wonderful singer and should definitely be on the radio. Your mom doesn’t count. Your spouse counts a little. Your kids may count a little more. They are painfully honest.

Over the last four years, I’ve been paid to coach about 45 people over 450 hours. I don’t say this to brag but to look for feedback.

·         I got paid. That is positive feedback. Payment communicates value.

·         Clients signed up for multiple rounds of coaching. To get to an average of 10 hours per client, many clients had to renew their initial contract with me. Renewal is positive feedback.

·         Many clients have been referred to me by someone else.

All the feedback won’t be positive. Over 20 years of pastoring, I’ve received some wonderful feedback and some horrible feedback. It can be brutal. But in four years of coaching, I can only think of one training event where I received some difficult feedback. In that case, I brushed off the pain and shifted gears. I don’t think I wowed them the second day, but the negativity went away. I listened and adjusted.

The overwhelmingly positive feedback about my coaching and training has launched me into this transition despite the fears of possible failure.

If the feedback isn’t consistently positive, figure out way to get better. If you’ve taken the basic training in whatever it is God is calling you to do, and you’re not yet getting consistent positive feedback, you might consider hiring a professional help. The key to me getting better and better was to pay the money and hire the best coaches I could afford.

Do Your Homework

You are heading at a breakneck pace toward change, and God has designed you for an awesome purpose. If I were to give you some homework, here is what I would ask:

·         What is your mountain? Write down where God is leading you. Describe it as thoroughly as possible.

·         How far down the runway have you traveled? Write down the next steps that will give you the experience you need to lift off.

·         What is the best feedback you’ve received? Remember that one thousand positive comments plus one negative comment often equals one negative comment. Write down what others have observed you do well. Then write down areas where the negative feedback would encourage you to change. Enjoy the positive feedback. Let it build your confidence. Make a plan for the areas that you need to improve.

How This Email Affects You

This is the second of a six email series. I plan to send you one more email from this email address next week. Then I plan to move your contact information to the Coach Approach email list and then send you three more emails about change and transition. If you don’t want to move with me, please unsubscribe. No hard feelings.