San Diego Josh & Me: An Earth First Guy Meets a Jesus First Guy
A “Chance" Meeting Several years ago, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit San Diego, California. We loved our time there, discovering that its reputation as one of America’s most beautiful cities is well deserved. One day we went downtown to see the city on foot, a custom we came to appreciate during our many years living in Europe. Instead of “doing” a city as Americans are want to do, our life in...
A Chalet In Switzerland & My Journey – L’Abri & Me
As a missionary to Europe I visited Switzerland many times, vacationing and ministering there. It remains my choice as the most beautiful place on earth. It is also among the most influential in my life as a Christian and pastoral coach. The story begins with a chalet in the western Swiss canton of Vaud near the French border. Francis and Edith Schaeffer Francis Schaeffer was a 20thcentury American pastor and Reformed theologian known and...
The Unknown History of the Church – Young Leaders
One of the complaints often lodged against each new generation of ministers is its ignorance of church history: for many young ministers, church history begins the day of their credentialing or with their first ministry position. It was true in my own life. When I was a young minister, though I was a history buff – I loved world, American, and Ohio history (I’m a Buckeye by birth) - I didn’t value church history or...
Are We Youth-anizing or Euthanizing the Ministry?
In a recent issue of a denominational bi-monthly publication for ministers, leaders cited two “killer” statistics within that denomination: Today, in 2018, the average age of an ordained minister is 60 years of age; In the year 2000, the average age of an ordained minister was 55 years of age. Clear evidence that the pulpit is greying. And at a rapid rate. Even a deadly one. This greying of the pulpit took place in spite of a...
Cross Coaching: A Post, A Beam, A Nail.
“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, in his book, Next Generation Leader At Journey Pastoral Coaching, we practice “Cross-Coaching.”Briefly stated, Cross-Coachingis a sustainable coaching model based on the principled combination of two mentoring relationships: walking with a pastoral coach...
Journey Surveys Young Ministers On Their Connection With Denominational Leaders
INTRODUCTION At Journey Pastoral Coaching our mission is helping young ministers build strong for a lifetime of healthy and effective ministry. One of our tools in this mission is research, research that takes place in three primary ways: asking experienced ministers to give us the benefit of their experience in ministry; posing a monthly Insight Question to Journey members; and, conducting research projects among young ministers in general. We recently surveyed one hundred young...
A Commencement Prayer of Blessing
I was privileged to serve five years as Campus Pastor at the national Bible College of my denomination. It was a wonderful season of life and ministry, walking with the most incredible people I have ever known – administrators, faculty, staff, and students. My colleagues remain cherished friends to this day. And those life-changing students: It was my great joy and privilege to help teach and train them for life in ministry across America and...
Those Who Get the Least From Pastoral Coaching
In a recent Journey blog post, we addressed the question, “Which young ministers get the most from walking with a pastoral coach?” Based on our years in coaching, as well as the expertise of other pastoral coaches, we were able to identify twelve qualities that mark the young minister who thrives as he or she walks with a coach. After reading and reflecting on that piece, someone asked me this question, “If young ministers like...
The 27 Cents Solution
A CARD COLLECTION & 2 KEYS Recently, on his Facebook page, a friend, posted a photograph of the many missionary prayer cards he has collected over the years. What a joy it was to see one of our family’s prayer cards in the mix of so many wonderful missionary-friends. My friend’s purpose in posting was not to show off a large card collection, but to highlight the Great Commission and the vital connection that believers...© [2015] — Journey Pastoral Coaching