Coaching in Missions: What’s the Connection?

Coaching Church Planters

I’m on a jet plane flying back home from Houston as this is going out. I’ve had a wonderful week at two events in this city. I started the week at a training event to learn how to do a better job coaching church planters. Then I ended the week at the PCA’s General Assembly, which is a huge church event for our denomination.
Dr. Tom Wood who is the founder and president of Church Multiplication Ministries led the training along with Tami Resch. Here’s some of the highlights on the training on coaching church planters. The coaching is gospel centered. I loved the strong emphasis on the gospel in coaching others.

Born to Coach

I enjoy coaching a great deal. I think it’s one of the areas I’m gifted in. A group of us started coaching church planters in Mexico in the mid 90’s. So I’ve been involved in coaching in one form or another for almost 20 years.
I must admit I was a little skeptical coming into the training. I wondered if I would get much new out of it, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Bringing Coaching to Mexico

Another highlight was the people I went through the training with – wonderful people. The main reason we are doing this is so that we can bring this training to Mexico and begin training and multiplying coaches for our church planters. I was able to bring two other Mexicans and one American who work with Mission to the World in Monterrey, Mexico.
It was outstanding to have them there, because we are beginning to form a team that can coach church planters and train others to do so.
I believe that this is one of the most important things that we are doing right now. It is a fact that church planters need a coach. They become much more effective with a coach. Bringing this training to Mexico and multiplying our coaches will aid us in seeing more effective church planters, which means there will be stronger churches.
The gospel emphasis is such a keystone to success in ministry. People need the gospel, and in many ways those in ministry need it most.
Please do pray for us as we work on bringing this training to Mexico. It’s going to take some time, but this will enable us to build a strong foundation.

Wonderful Connections with Friends

Another highlight was some of the other people who went through the training on coaching with us. I met Hector Guzman. He is now working as the Spanish pastor of a bilingual church plant in the Atlanta area. The last time I saw him he was a business man in Mexico City involved in the core group of a church plant that Dawn and I were working in there.

Pray for Jason & Kara Tippetts

I spent some time with Jason and Kara Tippetts from Colorado Springs. They are planting a church there. They arrived in the Springs just as Dawn and I were leaving to move to the border. I know Jason through some of our church meetings, but I had never really met Kara.
Kara has stage four cancer. They are going through a difficult season as a family. She writes an outstanding blog that is an encouragement to many called: Mundane Faithfulness. In her blog she shares her journey through cancer, and how God in his grace shows up and is carrying her and her family through it. I’d urge you to check it out.

• Pray for the Tippetts
• Pray that I learn and that our team learns how to coach other church planters with a focus on the gospel
• Pray that we will soon be able to train other coaches in Mexico
• Pray for my energy – it’s been a long week!

In His Grip, Dave
DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org