Planning to Restart
Recently I mentioned to a friend that my wife and I will begin our retirement with a sabbatical. He looked at me oddly saying that sabbaticals are usually followed by a return to work. My response was that Christ still …
Do I need a mentor or a coach?
In the last while, I have been thinking about how to strengthen our mentoring within SEND. In a recent analysis of leadership development within our organization, I noted that we needed more intentional mentoring of developing leaders by our current …
What happens in a coaching session?
Do I need a coach? This month, I will be thinking hard about my ministry and learning goals for 2021. My mission organization asks me to put together an annual ministry plan (AMP) and a personal growth plan (IGP) for …
I don’t really know if the training went well
How can we know if it is effective? I have spent the last 10 years of my life in training missionaries. Training events have taken me to more than a dozen countries. Through online courses, workers from at least twice …
A Time for Teaching?
There is a lot of emphasis on coaching and facilitating in mission circles today. And rightly so – these are great tools! Teaching often does not get much space at the table though. It seems to escape everyone’s notice that …
Processing Crucibles with the Help of Others
In three previous blog posts, I have been talking about crucible experiences (trials, or in other words, painful and stressful life or work circumstances) and the role they have in transforming us. But as I have noted, difficult life experiences …
The Value of Coaching
In our mission organization, we provide a coach for all of our new missionaries at the mid-point of their first term. This coach meets with the new missionary for a total of 6 times over a 3-month period to …