The greatest coaching you can get …

The church is about as “fad” oriented as the culture we live in.

Probably the hottest “fad” going today is coaching … or being coached. Some church leaders have multiple coaches for varying facets of their ministry or their life.

Besides being a pastor and a Christian clinical counselor, I’ve also provided services as a Life/Executive Coach. In general, I’m all for coaching. There’s nothing wrong with getting the input and support of someone with skills and experience that can enhance your own.

But I’m a little concerned about the coaching fad being so pervasive that I sometimes wonder if we overlook the greatest “Coach” any of us could possibly have: the Holy Spirit.

Here’s a serious question for those involved in being coached, and for those in a coaching network, or for anyone considering being coached: which do you seek first and most, the counsel of another human being, or the counsel of the Holy Spirit?

John 16:13-14 says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.”

There is no one … absolutely no one … who can instruct us in the Word of God and about the Lord Jesus Christ as rightly as the Holy Spirit! Only the Holy Spirit can perfectly instruct us in the truth. And yet, I rarely hear church leaders, or Christians in general, talk about the significance of the Holy Spirit’s guidance in their lives. That doesn’t mean it isn’t there, but is their relationship with the Holy Spirit their primary coaching relationship? We’re quick to buy the hottest book, go to the trendiest conference, watch the streaming video or listen to the audio recording. But how quickly are we to turn to interaction with the Holy Spirit?

If your relationship with the Holy Spirit isn’t your most important and significant coaching relationship, let me encourage you to build it to be so. Take the time to dig deep into scripture to become more intimately aware of who the Holy Spirit is, and His unique work as part of the Godhead (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit). Seek the Holy Spirit as part of your prayer life, and look to the Holy Spirit to provide you with insight into scripture. Cultivating a close, personal relationship with the Holy Spirit can be the single greatest “coaching” experience you can have in this life.

To those who serve as coaches, I would suggest a positive prerequisite for bringing someone into a coaching program would be that they first have a solid relationship with the Holy Spirit (or, assisting them to create such a relationship with the Holy Spirit being the first step of coaching). Having this as a prerequisite helps to ensure those seeking coaching are first looking to the leading of the Holy Spirit before seeking the leading of a human being.

Romans 8:2-6 says, “And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”

Scotty