I strongly believe in coaching, a process that intentionally invites a wise person to speak truth into another. I’ve been coached by Lance Witt, founder of Replenish Ministries and author of two great books, High Impact Teams and Replenish. We met via FaceTime each month and that hour was worth gold. One week we discussed several topics and these gems of wisdom rose to the top. I’ve put them into my own words.

1. Overworked schedules lead to underwhelmed souls. 
   Overworked schedules lead to underwhelmed souls.

   Click To Tweet
   • When we don’t keep healthy margin in our lives, our souls will shrink.
2. When we pastors get wounded, we must own those wounds and not let them get infected through bitterness and unforgiveness.
   • You will get hurt in ministry and as an old saying goes, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” What we do with our wounds is our responsibility. Wounds need healing and to a great degree we control that healing process. We can encourage the healing or we can allow those wounds to fester. Given time, as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, He will heal us. The scars may remain but the wounds get healed.
3. Our current church culture sets up 100’s of pastors to struggle with pride and 10,000 pastors to struggle with failure.
   • This insight refers to the challenge pastors face when they realize they won’t pastor a large church. Speakers at most church conferences are pastors of large churches and it’s tempting to feel like a failure when we compare our smaller church to the really big ones.
4. When you finish a staff meeting, make sure everyone understands what decisions you made and what are still discussions.
   • Often staff meetings end with fuzziness about decisions. This practice, however, can help us intentionally keep clear about actual decisions we make in contrast to ongoing discussions.
5. When you finish a staff meeting, make clear who needs to know the decisions you made.
   • Related to number 4, this practice reinforces our need to communicate, communicate, communicate.

Related posts:

• 8 Good Reasons Pastors Should Find a Coach
• Do Pastors Need a Personal Coach