Coaching Leads to Great Progress for a Frustrated Team

How much more information do you need? Do you already know how to tell your testimony, share the gospel and invite people to follow Jesus? Most of us do not need a lot more information, but we do need more motivation. That’s where a coach can help. What a difference when we have someone to regularly talk to and who cares enough to ask, “What will you do next? How will you do it? When will you do it?” Our motivation increases!

An email came to me from my friend Paul*. He started with these words, “We have a coach!” Being a trained leadership coach myself, I was happy with this news. A coach can help you look at where you are, consider fresh options, and choose your action steps to move forward. What kind of difference can a coach make when you want to reach the unreached? Let Paul tell you about it.

We Felt Stuck

“About four weeks ago, we felt stuck. My wife Mary*, our daughter, and I have become well known in the neighborhood of “Little Asia” by Muslims and Hindus alike. We have been practicing friendship evangelism for 17 months. So, the question we had was, ‘What’s the next step?’

“We have read a lot about significant movements of peoples to Christ. We knew about strategies such as T4T and DBS which are being used to ignite many of them. We’ve also heard about Harvest Multiplication Training offered by YWAM-FM. What we needed now was a coach.

“Praise God, we now have a coach named Prithi*. She is Indian, married to Patrick*, an American. They relocated to the US after many years with YWAM in India. Prithi serves as a missionary coach, and agreed to take us on.

“She listened carefully to our story. She then shared an observation on friendship evangelism. She told us years and years of friendship evangelism often results in…well…lots of good friends. But none of the friends in the Kingdom. The reason? The people did a lot with the friendship side, but little or nothing with the evangelism side. They modeled the character of Christ. They were caring, loving, and serving. This cemented their friendships. But the non-believers only saw the Christians as ‘nice, good people.’ They needed to see and hear more.

A New Plan

“Through our conversation with Prithi, we came up with a new plan. We would follow the model of scattering seed as in the Parable of the Sower. As we don’t know where the fertile ground is, we will have to share Jesus far and wide, always looking for the opportunity to do so. We need to keep on sowing.

“Secondly, we will share our testimony with our non-Christian friends. We will freely tell them how Jesus radically and wonderfully changed our lives.

Two Week Goals

“She had us set two-week goals. Mary intensified prayer for Little Asia through twice-a-week prayer walks. She and some others have covered the entire neighborhood once and are re-visiting it. They are praying weekly for the Muslim people who live up and down our street. And of course, we YWAMers worldwide pray daily for the whole Muslim World during the month of Ramadan. (This year it begins on May 5, 2019. Get your prayer guide at http://www.30daysprayer.com/ )

“I responded to Prithi’s coaching too. My goal: double the number of one-on-one Beyond “I’m fine” friendships I have with Muslim men. God created an opening for me with one of my oldest friends. Mohammad Khan* from South Asia, is always so busy that the longest we could chat was five minutes. The day after the first call from Prithi, he and I talked. We spent an astounding 45 minutes together! We talked about creation, the garden, the fall, and Satan (whose job description, as Mo succinctly stated, is to get as many people as he can into hell.) I freely used Jesus’ name and Jesus’ words as we talked about loving others.

More Open Hearts

“Last year Mary spent hour upon hour with Nadoh*, who is from the Horn of Africa. They sat together in our living room for days filling out job applications online. Nadoh finally got a good job. She was so grateful that she gave us an ice cream cake. It cost her family four to five hours of her husband’s hourly wage! It was great that Nadoh finally had a job, but, because of that, she and Mary’s chances to see each other were rare.

“After our coaching session, Mary became relentless in pursuing Nadoh. Finally, they set up a time to get together at Nadoh’s apartment last week. With all the children careening around, Mary shared her testimony. Nadoh found it impossible to believe what Mary was like before Jesus! Nadoh’s oldest daughter paid rapt attention as Mary spoke. The next day, Nadoh called and asked if she and her daughter could come over. This had not happened since she began working. Clearly, what Mary had shared had an impact.

Our Coach – Excited to Hear

“We reported to Prithi after two weeks. Our coach was excited to hear what happened. She challenged us to keep going. Mary and I set a new goal. Goal: Do not let any exchange with a non-believer end without bringing some spiritual aspect into the conversation. We also decided to carefully watch for opportunities to ask people if they would like to follow Jesus. We realized we would get the same reaction as the seed in Jesus’ parable. Those who are “hard ground” may belittle us, or become angry. We would shake off the dust and go to others. As the story says, there is fertile ground, and sooner or later we will find it.

“We would love to see a people movement. We want to introduce people to Christ and baptize them immediately (which is important). Then, we want them to turn around and do the same thing with their families. Next, the family members tell their friends what has happened in their lives. This is the way many are being reached and how the gospel is spreading so quickly in many parts of the world.

“That is where we are heading. Having a coach to walk alongside us will help along the way.”

Are You Stuck Too?

What about you and your own disciple-making? Are you stuck like Paul and Mary were? Or is it something else? Distracted? Too busy? Discouraged? No one to team-up with? Not sure what to do next?

Let us help you find a coach. Use the contact form below to let us know of your desire for coaching toward a Disciple-Making Movement.

*not actual name