Partners, Process, and Potential

I always intended to go back over my notes from the seminars that began the Comprehensive Coaching Program. Finally getting around to that now.

We started by discussing three Ps - Partnership, Process, and Potential (I love alliteration).
1) Coaching is a partnership. The leaders spoke about the coach and coachee, as well as the Holy Spirit - all partners in this
2) Process. Yes, OK. But what really caught my attention was what they said around
3) Potential. I remember them asking us to consider: Who am I called to be as a leader? Who does God need me to be?

The word "need" is what I began to wonder about. It seems presumptuous to believe God needs me to be anyone in particular, or at all. I assume it is within God's power to work around me, in fact. (As in: all things work together for good, despite the bad choices I sometimes make.)

Still, it's empowering to imagine I have a place that important in God's plan.

Who does God need me to be . . . ?

Something my coach said Friday may help to move me toward the answer. We were talking about a scenario I'd described as ideal but impossible in my current position. He was pressing me to consider whether it might really be possible, and I was raising all the objections he said it was natural to raise and that warranted examination, of course. He said, You have ideas about what would be a really ideal situation - a situation in which you could function at your best. That's worth exploring! It's never entirely selfish, because the point is to be your best for others.

I preached about service today: how we're all called to a life of service - to others and to God. I'm thinking God needs me to be in top form as I undertake that service. God needs me to function at my best - for my own sake, and for the sake of those I serve.

So here's my homework:
1) Imagine what - in my current position - would be ideal. An ideal preaching schedule. An ideal weekly routine. An ideal agenda for Session meetings. I guess I could go any direction with this.
2) List the reasons my ideal won't work. Examine the values underpinning those objections.
3) Imagine how this change (if I made it) might work for good - for me, for the church, for the denomination, for others . . . .
4) Consider: How might I incorporate at least some of these changes? Or aspects of the changes? What might the impact be?

If you want, it can be your homework, too!