Why a Website For Coaching Lead Pastors Only?

1..  NOBODY IMPACTS THE CHURCH MORE.

Everyone is important in the church, but not everyone is equally as important.

Leadership guru John Maxwell said it best, “Everything rises and falls with leadership.”   The local church us no exception.  The leader of leaders in the local church is (or should be!) the lead pastor.   No other position in the church comes close to the importance of the lead pastor for a church’s health and growth.   A church will become like its leader pastor in virtue, values, and vision.

The purpose of this website lead pastors coaching is to improve the one person that will most markedly improve Jesus’ church.

2.. IT’S LONELY AT THE TOP.

Listen to Chuck Swindoll’s insight:

“Lest we think that those who have reached the top of the ladder now ‘have it made,’ Solomon [in Ecclesiastes  4:1-8] pulls back the curtain and reveals that, more often than not, they’re frustrated, lonely, and empty souls.”

The pressures to have it all together press on the lead pastor more than leaders of secular organizations.  Frankly, the expectations many churches set for lead pastors are ridiculously unrealistic … and unbiblical.

The lead pastor has the thickest armor and should use it to shield his staff from the all-to-often petty and unwarranted criticism.

This loyalty goes both ways and is to be expected by the lead pastor of his staff.

What is lead pastor coaching?

1.. NOT LIKE SPORTS COACHING.

Coaching leaders of organizations is quite different from the coaching I received playing on high school football and basketball teams.   Then it was obey or sit on the bench!   My coaching today offers informed advice that the lead pastor may embrace, alter, or reject.

I’m committed to giving compelling suggestions, not absolute directives.

Admittedly, at times my sense of urgency comes across as, “You need to do this or God will bench you!”

2.. PROVERBS TEACHES THERE IS WISDOM IN MANY COUNSELORS.

A wise person facing a serious medical decision gets a second opinion.   I insisted my young pastor, who I mentored in ministry, get a different coach after the baton was passed.  I’m always here for him, but he needs a different perspective and voice.  All that to say, I encourage lead pastors I coach to get additional input.  Usually, it confirms my advice.  On occasion I learn a better way and my coaching improves.

Why do lead pastors need coaching?

1.. COACHING STRENGTHENS THE WEAK AND BETTERS THE BEST.

Not every lead pastor needs a qualified coach to grow a healthy church, most do, but every lead pastor would benefit from it.

Consider the following quotes on the need for coaching:
“I can go further and faster with someone coaching me than I can on my own.”
--Andy Stanley, pastor of North Point Community Church

“You will never maximize your potential in any area without coaching. It is impossible. You may be good. You may even be better than everyone else. But without outside input you will never be as good as you could be…”
--Andy Stanley, The Next Generation Leader

“I desperately want to be coached.”
--Aaron Rogers, Green Bay Quarterback, telling Peter King of Sports Illustrated the key to his success as the most efficient quarterback in the NFL.

“Who needs a coach? Every pastor could benefit from having a ministerial coach.  Even Michael Jordan needed a coach… Arguably the best player in the history of the sport of basketball affirmed the importance of good coaching.”
--Gene Wood, Leading Turnaround Churches

“Everyone needs a coach. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a basketball player, a tennis player, a gymnast, or a bridge player. We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”
--Bill Gates, TED talk

“Every pastor needs a coach, not only in times of ministry crisis, but also to instruct, correct, and encourage in the everyday challenges of life in the church.
--Daniel Borg, Regional Director of PIR Ministries

“Every pastor needs coaching… After entering the pastorate most of us quickly learn—there is a lot to learn.”
--Joe Thorn, lead pastor of Redeemer Fellowshi

Those at the top need coaching. One of the best decisions I made after 40 years of successful lead pastoring, was to secure the best church planting coach around when called to plant a new church in a small town.

Friends told me, “You coach others, why hire a coach—you already know what to do!”  But my coach gave me wise advice counterintuitive to me at several critical junctions.  One bit of advice was key to our unusual church growth.

Oddly, those who need coaching most, want it least.  Over the years I’ve witnessed many lead pastors make foolish decisions and fail to see what needed to be done where a qualified coach would have seen the need.

2.. A QUALIFIED LEAD PASTOR COACH PROVIDES.

—accountability & encouragement,
—objectivity in emotionally charged tough situations & decisions,
—identification of blind spots,
—a wise confidant,
—awareness of needed resources to recommend.

What makes me think I’m qualified to coach lead pastors?

1.. EXPERIENCE

No one has all the answers, certainly not me.   But I have diagnostic insight from decades of experience I yearn to pass on.

God has blessed me with 50 years serving as a lead pastor in
—planting two thriving churches,
—revitalizing three declining churches, and
—overseeing a relatively new church from renting university facilities to a 115 acre campus mega church with attendances over 6,000.

God graciously grew every church in spiritual and numerical growth.

My church locations were in major metropolitan cities with millions to small rural towns pushing 10,000 in population.

I’ve enjoyed serving in denominational churches and non-denominational churches as the lone pastor and overseeing pastors and staff of 60.   Annual church giving ranged from a few thousand to many millions of dollars.

I’ve worked with church boards ranging from wise godly unified team members to shockingly evil men out to try to personally destroy me.

Whatever a lead pastor is going through, I almost always think, “I’ve been there!”   It gets my juices flowing to help a guy navigate tough situations.

Finally, I’ve personally enjoyed officially and unofficially coaching over fifty lead pastors.

Caution!  A successful experienced lead pastor is no guarantee he will be a successful lead pastor coach.  I quickly learned I’m gifted in different ways than other pastors and must not attempt to fit another pastor into my unique D.E.S.I.G.N. That said, there are some passions and proficiencies necessary to the position of a lead pastor.

2.. CALLING

After mentoring a young man to follow me as the lead pastor of a healthy church plant, I retired at 70 years of age as a lead pastor and spent a year seeking clarity in my next calling.   My new God-given passion is coaching lead pastors.  Blessed with health and high energy, I hope to close out my remaining years building into the lives of lead pastors.

3.. TRAINING

The title of my doctoral dissertation, New Testament Eldership in Today’s Church, began my lifelong passion to drill deep into biblical church leadership.

I have completed intensive in the most highly recommended training I could find in the following:
—church planting
—church consulting
—interim pastoring

4.. COACHED

As already mentioned, one of the best decisions I made as a church planting lead pastor was to hire a qualified church planting coach.

While his focus was church planting, I learned much about lead pastor coaching from being coached.  We enjoy a close peer friendship now that I am coaching.  He is moving away from coaching to leading a new grief ministry

5.. IMPACT

The church, our Lord’s precious bride, is God’s only plan to reach the world.  No plan B.  As stated at the outset “nobody impacts the church more than the lead pastor.”  It stands to reason that if God can use me to make a positive impact on lead pastors, the bride of Christ gains health and beauty.   I cannot think of a more impactful use of my life at this time.