March 19, 2025

The SEND U Blog

Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

Category: Coaching

Training, Coaching

Training Coaches Within Our Mission Organization

Spain weather permitted us to do some of the training outside I am on my way home from Barcelona, where I participated in a “Training for Trainers” workshop.   I was not doing the training, but instead receiving training in how to train others in coaching. Last month, SEND U purchased the license and materials to train others in coaching, using the training materials developed by Keith Webb and Creative Results Management. Creative Results Management is the organization that has trained all of the coaches in the SEND U coaching pool, and a number of other coaches as well in SEND.  Now CRM has made a shorter version of the curriculum available to their graduates so that the training in coaching can multiply.   Furthermore, CRM provided some training to those who would use these training materials, to ensure that we would do so in the same interactive and effective style used… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Coaching

What is Coaching?

As I have been saying, an essential component of SEND U’s training is providing coaching for those who are seeking to grow and develop in their ministry skills and leadership. Based on our own personal experience with coaching, and our understanding of the needs of our missionaries, our International Director and I are convinced that personal coaching is critical to the success of our training programs. But what actually is coaching?  The word “coach” can conjure up in our minds an image of an angry, pot-bellied tyrant who yelled at you every time you touched the ball.   That is NOT what we are talking about. The International Coaching Federation defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”  Our SEND U website gives the following definition of Christian coaching: “Coaching is an ongoing conversation that empowers a… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Coaching

Training and Coaching Hold Hands

I frequently refer to SEND U as SEND’s training department, although I realize that training is also only part of what it means to “equip SEND missionaries and leaders to more effectively mobilize God’s people and engage the unreached in order to establish reproducing churches.”  The other half of what we do in SEND U, and a major focus of me personally is coaching.  The byline of our newsletter says “BY COACHING AND TRAINING, WE EQUIP MISSION LEADERS TO EFFECTIVELY MOBILIZE THEIR TEAMS TO ENGAGE THE UNREACHED AND ESTABLISH REPRODUCING CHURCHES.”  Are coaching and training two separate assignments or are they somehow related?  I see training and coaching as two complementary “hands,” both needed to develop our membership to accomplish our mission.  In fact, training becomes much more effective when combined with coaching.  An article in Public Personal Management analyzes the impact of a managerial training program.  They found that… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
Coaching, E-learning, Team Leadership

Team Leader Training Module Concludes

We have now completed all four weeks of the online SEND Team Leader Orientation. Some of the participants are still completing their assignments but a number of them have already submitted their final evaluations. Since this was the beta run for this module, we did not charge anything for the training, but in exchange we asked all the participants to track the number of hours they spent on the course and post their evaluations of the material at the end of each week, and again at the end of the course. I see a few areas where I need to revise the material, but by in large, the evaluations have been overwhelmingly positive. As has been documented by others, follow-up coaching after providing some training greatly enhances the impact of the training (see Keith Webb’s blog about this).   So in a couple of months, I will be contacting each of… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Coaching

Why Am I Convinced Coaching is Valuable for Missionaries?

Why am I so convinced that coaching is valuable for missionaries? Primarily because of how much coaching helped me at a time in my life and ministry when I was frustrated and felt that I had plateaued and was no longer growing. Back in 2007, I contacted Dr. Keith Webb in Singapore about some questions I had about coaching missionaries.  I was trying to “coach” a church planting team in FER, but I had no real idea what that meant. Rather than just “tell” me what a coach does, Keith graciously offered to “show” me by coaching me for the next 6 months. That coaching experience proved to be the most significant learning experience of my past 15 years of mission leadership. I believe that I learned more about leadership in those six months, than I had previously learned from any book, seminar or even the graduate classes on leadership… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
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