By Integrus Leadership
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20 Oct, 2022
Have you ever preached an entire message with your fly-down? I have. It was worse than it sounded. We were about eight weeks into a new church launch and meeting in a movie theater. The stage was dark because we had zero budget for equipment, so our cost-effective solution was to shine the stark spotlights on me and my unzipped zipper. The metal teeth of the zipper were sparkling in the bright lights for 25 minutes before my message concluded. I was the last to know what everyone else had already noticed. Even though my message was Christ-focused and well-delivered, only one thing mattered, the awareness of my issues. My zipper problem would have been easy to fix if I’d been aware. I share my embarrassing moment with you because I think it illustrates what you and I know to be true about leadership coaching. People around us can see our constraints before we do, and a great leadership coach is an effective way to grow in leadership–– they are empowered to bring attention to our constraints. You and I are not doing ministry in a vacuum, your ministry has a culture. It might be unnoticed, but it's fully realized. Your ministry culture involves how you lead, how your teams interact with each other, how you handle conflict, and how everyone communicates with each other. Combine all those organizational elements and you have a culture in which you’re immersed. One you might not even notice. After years of vocational ministry as a church planter and lead pastor, I’ve benefited from a leadership coach. So much so, I’m coaching ministry leaders myself because the tools I’ve learned catalyzed our church for greater impact.