Partnering with Others to Discover and Pursue God’s Mission in the World
by Mary J. Wood, Pinnacle Leadership Associate
On New Year’s Day I was talking on the phone with my cousin from Kentucky. She said to me, “Mary Joyce (that’s what my cousins call me), our church had a real hard year.” I asked her to tell me more about it. She said, “We lost both our pastor of thirty years, and his wife. Our pastor died of complications from COVID 19, and his wife died shortly after.” My cousin and I shared expressions of sadness for such a loss and then we talked about how her church is doing right now.
“Well,” she said with a pause before continuing, “our assistant pastor stepped up and I don’t know what we would have done if he hadn’t been there. But there’s been some talk about his sermons. He just doesn’t have the same kind of sermon as our pastor who was here for thirty years and it’s hard to follow his thoughts.”
I empathize with her assistant pastor who is now the pastor. I am retiring in March after a 37-year career as a pastor. I know good and well that my preaching is not the same now as when I first started as a local church pastor. I remember finding my own voice as I kept going. Finding my own voice as a preacher was not an easy task for me. I also know that I’m not the same preacher as I was when I took preaching class in seminary. (You know, the three-point sermon with the introduction and closing intended to knock the socks off everyone).
When I look back on my career, some of my best growth in preaching capacities came through the help and challenge of others, such as continuing education events, listening to or reading books on preaching, or attending a weekly ecumenical lectionary group. In my situation, attending a lectionary group was very beneficial to me, helping to smooth some of my inexperienced rough edges, honing my style and development of ideas, words and theology.
However, there is another helpful tool to develop preaching capacities, although it was not well-known when I first started preaching. The use of an experienced, trained coach can help pastors to develop specific goals, such as preaching capacity. The desired goals of coaching sessions are not driven by the coach. The goals are driven by the individual seeking to be strengthened in a specific capacity. Trained coaches ask curious, thoughtful, intentional questions to help the person being coached (or organization being coached) to steer their own boat, so to speak.
During the phone conversation with my cousin from Kentucky, I told her about the Pinnacle Leadership Associates’ coaches, specifically Dr. Bill Ireland. I told her that Bill’s passion is to help pastors build their preaching skills. I provided my cousin with Pinnacle Leadership Associates’ contact information.
How my cousin proceeds with the information is up to her, her church and pastor. Will they contact Bill Ireland? I don’t know, but I invited them to join in Pinnacle’s mission of Partnering with Others to Discover and Pursue God’s Mission in the World. What a great way to start out the new year!