by R.A. Weigel
What is Christian coaching? Here is a good way to think about it.
Someone stands at the base of a mountain and wants to climb to a higher level but they’re not sure how high they can go. To them, that mountain peak looks awfully high and a long way off. They’re unsure of many things and they’re concerned about what it’s going to take to undertake that climb, but without a doubt, they want to get higher than they are currently. So, they consider their options.
They could simply take off on whichever path looks the most promising and hope for the best. They could ask different people what they think would be the best path to climb the mountain and probably get that same number of opinions. They could retreat from the base of the mountain and resort to reading about mountain climbing, watch movies of others who have made the climb, or take a course on how they might sometime in the future scale that mountain peak. Or they could rely on a guide – a coach – someone who has both been to the peak and knows how to provide support for others who want to climb that mountain.
Life has many different kinds of mountains and nearly everyone has some type of mountain staring them in the face. Some people only want to move a little way up their mountain while others want to reach the peak. No matter how high someone wants to climb, the best and more effective way to make progress up that specific mountain, is with a climbing coach. And… since all mountains are well known to God, it makes even more sense to have a Christian climbing coach, someone who listens to the Holy Spirit in order to help climbers make continual progress in the most efficient, effective, and personally acceptable way.
Mountain climbing with a Christian coach is about having a guide that knows the scope, dangers, and wonderment of certain mountains. The Christian coach is the only one who knows that God prepared places for rest, food, comfort, and helpful people along the mountain paths. The Christian coach understands how God also designed special ways to overcome the many obstacles that the enemy has scattered along the path up the mountain.
Now… there are also false guides for mountain climbing. Those are the people the enemy puts in the way to mislead those who want to climb the mountain. Those false guides tell the climber that the path is easy, but when they start along that false path they find that they have to sell their soul to the world in order to keep going.
In all mountain climbing, there are dangers along the way. There are false paths, pitfalls, large boulders, gaps to cross, wild weather, and even wild animals (that tend to look a great deal like people). Without a Christian coach, it’s easy to get distracted, be persuaded to take a false path, fall into a trap, become overpowered by weather, be overtaken by a temptation, or fall victim to one or more of those wild animals. There are plenty of ways to fall off the correct path up the mountain but it’s the Christian coach that can help the climber to be prepared, keep them from falling behind, avoid the pitfalls, ward off the wild animals, or give up when the climbing gets tough.
God knows every mountain that people want or need to climb. God knows every detail of ever mountain, and He has already prepared the best strategies for the climber to reach their destination. Thus, working with a Christian coach means bringing a committed Holy Spirit listener to help a climber to keep moving along the best possible path up the mountain until their destination is reached. God can also provide the right Christian coach at the right time to help a climber avoid distractions, stay on the right path, prepare for the journey, provide for safety, and build the momentum for another day toward the desired destination.
God wants to take His people farther up the mountain than they realize thus climbing a mountain begins with trusting God first, then working with a Christian coach.
Psalm 95:4-5 (TLB) – He controls the formation of the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains; all are his.He made the sea and formed the land; they too are his.
You can tell God about the mountains you face…
– OR –
You can tell the mountains about the power of your God
Dr. Rich Weigel
RICH WEIGEL HAS SERVED AS PRESIDENT OF CHRISTIAN COACHES NETWORK INTERNATIONAL SINCE 2020 – IS A CERTIFIED LEADERSHIP AND VISIONEERING COACH, (CPCC, CPLC, CPVC) – AUTHOR OF ENGAGING CHRISTIAN LEADERS: A TALENT-BASED COACHING WORKBOOK – CEO OF PROEDCOACH: LEADING A TEAM OF EDUCATORS TO PROVIDE A NEW MODEL OF EDUCATION FOR CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS – VICE PRESIDENT OF REGION LEADERS – AND OVER 20 YEARS LEADING SCHOOL DISTRICTS. YOU CAN REACH OUT TO DR. WEIGEL AT PROEDCOACH@GMAIL.COM.
