🌟 Coaching in the Presence of God

We're back—and today we're going to talk about coaching in the presence of God.

🎯 Objectives

• Recognize God’s presence as central to coaching

• Shift from performance to presence

• Practice awareness, prayer, and worship within sessions

🙌 What It Means to Coach in God's Presence

You are not alone.
God is always working.

We’ve talked about how you're the coach, and there's the client—that’s two—but there’s more than two.

God is always sitting at the table.

When I used to do marriage counseling, I’d try to help couples see this:

“I’m sitting here, you two are sitting here—but God is sitting here too.”

And when you two pray together and read the Bible together, you're inviting God to sit at the table.

When you do that:

• It's hard to stay picky or harsh

• It’s hard to say: “How come you didn’t make me anything?” or “How come this? How come that?”

Because God is sitting there:

• He knows who you are

• He knows who your spouse is

• He knows the truth

When you invite Him in, you become:

• More humble

• More honest

• More forgiving

Everything changes with that sense of God's presence.

✝️ Joining a Holy Moment

“Where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am among them.”

You’re not leading the holy moment—

You’re joining it.

God is leading it.

That’s a profound thought.

God has a plan, and we're a part of it. We’re not the ones making it happen—even when we use methods and structures, it is still God who changes the heart.

🕊️ Letting God Take the Lead

Begin every session with internal surrender.

Wow.

Hey—we try to do this at church, right? We open with prayer.

“Holy Spirit, guide us during this time. Teach us. Lead us.”

Worship songs often express that surrender:

• “Your goodness is running after me…”

• “I lay it down…”

• “I surrender all…”

When our wills are surrendered, the coaching session is surrendered.

Ask the Holy Spirit to guide the time you have together.

👂 Trust the Role of Listener, Not Controller

We’ve talked about this earlier:
Your role is to listen, not control.

🪔 The Ministry of Presence

• Be calm, attentive, and unhurried

• Listening becomes worship

• Silence becomes sacred

• Tears become offerings

“Be still and know that I am God.”

🔍 Spiritual Attunement

Sense God’s movement in the session:

• Where is truth stirring?

• What emotion is surfacing?

• What invitation is present?

Discipleship grows through awareness.

🌌 Coaching Is Spirit-Led, Not Just a System

In some ways, this session is underlining the spiritual nature of all this.

We’ve talked about steps and techniques, yes. But at the center of it all is:

God’s presence.

This isn’t just ministry science.
There’s something spiritual and even mysterious at work.

You might finish a session and think:

“What just happened?”

Because we take God's presence at the table seriously.

🕯️ Coaching as Sacred Space

Coaching is a sacred space.

Turn conversations into altars.

• Speak Scripture over pain

• Invite prayer in the moment

🎣 Ice Fishing & Prayer: A Sacred Moment

That’s a good point—invite prayer.

It doesn’t always have to be formal.

Both of us were raised in very ordered denominations.

I remember once, this guy named Wayne took me ice fishing. He had this big motor with a screw to drill a hole.

Before he turned it on—without telling me anything—he just looked up and said:

“God, it’s just a great day to be out here with my friend Steve. We’re fishing. Amen.”

Boom—started the motor.

I was used to hearing:

“Let’s begin with prayer…” at the beginning of a service, or at the end of a counseling session.

But this moment taught me: Prayer can come at any time.

Anytime.
Anywhere.
God is there.

🔑 Your Role: A Holy Steward

“You don’t carry the outcome. You carry the moment.”

Ooh… steward the sacred.

• Speak with reverence

• Pray without pressure

📜 The Ministry You Didn’t Know You Were Entering

I wish I had known that these were the kinds of points I should have been following when I first became a minister.

"This is what ministry is?"

It wasn’t really pointed out to me that I am a steward.

We had really no idea what we were doing, in some ways, when we left seminary.

“I didn’t know I was a steward of the sacred.”

Just that thought—like, what is sacred?
What is sacredness?

“How am I the keeper of holy things?”

🕯️ Keepers of the Sacred

It used to be that in the Middle Ages, the Church had keepers of relics.

• Chaplains of the relics

• Bibles kept hidden

• Sacred objects encased in leather, displayed in beauty

But now what we’re saying is:

The sacred is:

• The silence

• The session

• The relationship

• That simple prayer you say: “Let’s pray together.”

That moment is sacred.

That is holy ground.

📖 Signs of God's Presence in Coaching

Examples of God’s presence at work:

• A client says: “I’ve never told anyone this…”

• A tear breaks through the silence

• A prayer brings peace

• A Scripture comes alive

These are signs that you are:

Coaching on holy ground

We have seen this and experienced it repeatedly.

🌱 Inviting the Sacred

Some people will say:

“We’re witnessing to so many people with our lives…”

I mentioned earlier that atheist-turned-agnostic. Tonight I talked to him again after we finished the day. He started talking about spiritual things.

And what’s fascinating is that he said:

“You know, there’s something here. I just don’t know what it is yet.”

He added:

“I’m agnostic, but I used to be, ‘There’s nothing here.’”

That’s movement.

🕊️ Hosting God's Presence

Again, you are the keeper of the sacred.

You invited him into the sacred.
He’s not sure what it is yet, but he’s drawn to it.

So powerful.

🧎‍♂️ The Chaplain’s Role in Coaching

It really comes down to this belief:

Whoever we talk to—God is with us.
And we bring that sense.

This is the chaplain-type role.

“Surely the Lord is in this place.”

In the counseling session,
In the moment,
Every time you meet someone—

God’s presence is the greatest coaching tool you have.

🧭 Final Charge

Trust Him.
Host Him.
Listen to Him.

That’s a ministry coach.

Yep.