Thank you, friend. I appreciate you.

All that training is designed to deepen both my self-awareness so I can serve my clients with greater presence, clarity, and care. I'm grateful for the opportunity to come alongside Christian leaders as a coach and spiritual director, and look forward to continuing this ministry.

In a field that isn’t formally regulated, an ICF credential represents a commitment to excellence, ethical standards, and accountability. Renewing an ICF credential requires at least forty hours of continuing education, including supervision by a mentor coach.

With a half day retreat, I would start by journaling to clear my mind, then rotate between silence and scripture and more journaling. Leave other books behind. Also, is the anxiety from worrying about what you're stepping away from for the day, or about what you might encounter through the retreat?

How much time do you have? It's ironically tempting to try to accomplish a lot in retreats like this. I would emphasize silence, solitude, and rest, trusting the Spirit to plant seeds for the strategy work as you show down and get quiet.

If the cost of coaching is a burden for a fledgling church, then sponsoring coaching is a great way for partner churches or regional denominational bodies to support new churches. It's an investment in the health and sustainability of leaders who are willing to take big risks and start new things.

Coaches aren't consultants who are paid to provide strategies. We have experience, but don't lead by giving advice. Instead, we use intentional questions to help our clients listen to the Spirit and discern the best ways to move forward in their unique ministry contexts.

Coaches provide accountability, encouragement, and assistance in discernment for new worshiping community leaders. This support can make the difference in whether or not a new church thrives.

Amen.

(3) Rewrote my introduction to make it clear to myself what I am trying to accomplish with this project. Now all the parts are clearly connected and working toward the same end.

(2) Siezed the moment: One daughter was having her allotted screen time and the other was listening to a podcast. I had an unexpected free hour and chose to write instead of busying myself with chores, scrolling, or other distractions.

(1) Moved everything out of Word and into a single Google Doc, using the tabs function to separate the chapters. So much easier to navigate and toggle between chapters.

Growing Through Accountability: How Structure and Community Promote Real Change: open.substack.com/pub/stillmou...

Finding our way forward is going to involve listening deeply to our contexts and discerning how God is moving around us. We can begin this work by listening closely to our own neighbors and neighborhoods.

Yet those who are doing this work face a soteriological crisis, meaning they don’t know how to talk about salvation and Christology in ways that relate to our culture.