Going Further

The timer when off and the alarm sounded on my phone. As I sat on the floor in the darkness of my home office, I was shocked that eight minutes went by so quickly. I turned off the timer and entered back into the stillness.  Eight minutes wasn’t enough time to unravel the tension, tightness and holy noticing I was practicing with the Lord. It was a reminder to me as I prepare for 2025 and all the good things like goals and new endeavors ahead, that with increased activity must come increased soul care.

Author Connie Zweig, Ph.D., is not a Christian but understands the importance of shifting from Role to Soul.  As a Christian coaches seeking to serve Christian and non-Christian clients across various niches, we are invited at the start of a new year to go further, not just forward, to borrow her phrase.

When we seek to go forward we are seeking to grow income, accomplish new business goals, master the craft of coaching with new credentials and accolades.  Going forward is all about achievement.  It’s about our outward reputation and resume. Frankly, many of these things like expanding our revenues so we can sustain our coaching practice in a meaningful way, are really important.  Growing revenue is an important part of building our practices for many coaches.  But it isn’t ultimate. On the journey we can start to live at the edges of our lives, over-rotating to activity and losing the depth of being anchored in the whole-hearted, spiritually sustaining way our Heavenly Father has for us.

Going further expands beyond the outer circles into the center of life with God.  It is a way of being that releases the roles, responsibilities, and achievements as the defining identity markers of our lives. It moves away from contingent statements like the ones below into an eternal and perfect love.

• When I have _____ many clients I can be proud of myself as a coach

• I am worthy of love when ___________

• When I earn ___________ I can accept myself

• When people say ________about me I will finally be able to believe I am worthy

• When I get _____________credential I will finally be someone

• Write you own _______________ statement.  We all have a version of one.

Going further is about entrusting ourselves to the Author of our lives and our salvation. It is about surrendering and releasing, taking on the yoke, remaining in the vine, and receiving the invitation to the upside-down kingdom.  His ways are often not our ways. We must unlearn and relearn in this new life how to enter into fullness.  Not a one-time entering, but a daily, weekly, and yearly, season after season, entering in.  Never arriving in this life but always in a state of receiving the eternal flow of life from the Father, Son & Holy Spirit that we now share in.

As you, like me, get inspired, plan, and dream for 2025, let’s cheer each other on to run the individual and collective races God has for us!  May the Lord bless you and keep you and may His favor rest upon you and your coaching practice in 2025!

And may He give each one of us the grace to go FURTHER, not just FORWARD, in 2025, holding His hand at each step and receiving the life-flow of the eternal fullness of His loving kindness.

Many Blessings,

Brian Bennett, CCNI President, January 2025

Currently serving as President of Christian Coaches Network International, Brian seeks to be a blessing in the world by empowering leaders to bring their best self to their life and work. He brings management and executive perspective from his experience as the Director of the KCLI Leadership Institute, Executive Coach, & Executive Pastor. He has the privilege of coaching leaders across the sectors of business, non-profit, and church ministry.  He holds an MBA, an M.A. in Organizational Leadership, and an M.A. in Christian Ministry and Leadership. He is a Korn Ferry certified Leadership Architect, a Certified Behavioral Analyst by TTI Success Insights, and a certified Professional Leadership & Life Coach by Professional Christian Coaching Institute. Brian resides in Missouri with his wife and two sons.