Coaching

by Joe Thorn on September 13, 2006

I have not had as much time to blog lately, but have some things on my mind that should be making their way here soon. I at least wanted to let you know about my coaching situation. I pastor a small church in a small town. 60 people in a town of 3000. This town is currently a bedroom community that is experiencing quick growth. The metra rail, which bring commuters to and from Chicago, was just extended to this town. New stores are being built, a lot of new neighborhoods are popping up, and in time more “third places” will be built. This community is connected to a number of others much like it and is about 10/15 minutes away from a booming population segment in the far west suburbs of Chicago.

At Grace we know what we want to be, and how we want to live. We know what we believe and God has been moving us to live missionally. The people at Grace are fantastic. As a pastor, I can preach and teach. The areas of theology and piety have been where my strengths lie. But when it comes to creating a clear plan for the church to follow making the greatest impact in our community – I need help. I can see what we should become, but cannot always see how we will get there. I am a pastor, but not the mighty visionary, and I am okay with that. What this means though is that I would greatly benefit from meeting with someone who can help me, coach me, in these areas.

Recently Steve McCoy and I began meeting with a “coach” who is helping us to see weak areas in our churches and ministries, give us some guidance, and call us to specific action that can increase our effectiveness. Of course I say all of this knowing that God alone gives the increase, and has laid out in his word what he requires of us. This is simply a form of discipleship with a pastor who can mentor and model for us, focusing on specific areas of ministry in our unique contexts. If you pray for Grace, please pray for our work, effectiveness, and for this new coaching relationship.

About Joe Thorn

I am the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship in Saint Charles, IL, and author of Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself. Jen is my wife, and Katherine, Elias, Madeline and Kilian are my kids.

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  • http://sbcoutpost.com Marty Duren

    Kudos to both of you. I hope the coaching goes extremely well.

  • http://wmson.wordpress.com Pete Williamson

    man, I’d love to have something like this. I gotta ask: how did you go about setting up this coaching arrangement? was this something that the pastor approached you and Steve about or did you find him? where were you able to find a pastor with the time and interest to do this?

  • Josh M

    Joe, a coaching relationship can be a great thing, even when “philosophies of ministry” between the coach and the coachee are significantly different.

    I’m currently planting a church in Wisconsin and, until recently, met with a coach every week. My coach was steeped in the seeker-driven mentality and tended to view church and mission and life with those glasses on. My vision for a church is more of an emerging, missional, gospel-driven mentality. I preach expositorally; he preached topically. Our evangelism tends to be highly relational; his was attractional. I spend the bulk of my time reading theology and commentaries; he read leadership texts and Outreach magazine. Needless to say, our perspectives were quite different, but after two and a half years of a coaching relationship, I can look back and say that God used this man to point out many, many weaknesses in my vision and life that needed to be shored up. Even though there were significant differences in strategy, theology, and personality, when we addressed that elephant in the room, we were able to have a very great coaching relationship. May God use your new relationship for his glory as well!

    Josh

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Thanks guys. There are a number of coaching programs and networks out there to use. In our case we were encouraged to get coaching by a friend and were then connected with a local guy who pastors and coaches locally.

  • http://jason.voxtropolis.com jason allen

    That’s great to hear. I hope it goes well and you find it helpful. I look forward to hearing what God does through it all.

    Oh, and I’ve been reading you via bloglines so haven’t been to your site in a while. It looks great.

  • http://www.tobyneal.blogspot.com Toby

    Good for you guys. We all need “Pauls” in our lives, no matter where we are. I’m glad you and Steve stepped and took this risk, together. I’m pumped to see what’s going to happen! Thanks for posting this, Joe, it kinda made my day for some reason.

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