Learn more about coaching from the dozens of coaching articles and resources listed below! (Please respect our authors and do not copy or repost these without permission!) If you want to peruse many more articles like this, check out the Christian Coaching Center as well.

What is Coaching?
Want to get a picture of what coaching is all about? Start here:

• Definitions of Coaching
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Several definitions of coaching in layman's and in technical terms.
• Book Excerpt: What is Coaching?
  A chapter from the book, Leadership Coaching by Tony Stoltzfusintroducing the basic concepts of coaching and showing how they work in a real situation.
• The Coaching Approach to Growth
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Explores why coaching is so effective at helping leaders grow.
• The Heart of a Coach
  by Tony Stoltzfus. A look at some of the biblical basis of Christian coaching.
• What Makes a Coach?
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Three areas that coaches must excel in to be truly great.
  

Coaching Benefits
Here's a sampling of what coaching can do for you:

• Book Excerpt: The Top 5 Reasons to Be Coached
  Some compelling reasons why you as a leader could benefit from a coach. From the book, Leadership Coachingby Tony Stoltzfus.
• What to Look for in a Coach
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Tips on how to find the a great coach who is the right fit for your needs.
• The Benefits of Leading on Purpose (with tool)
  by Ron Marsh. Using your leadership influence to help others connect with their purpose.
• The Impact of a Great Coach
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Short stories from real clients about the benefits of working with a coach.
• Finding the Right Coach for You:
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Three key things to look for in a coach.

Coaching Tools
Skill-building articles, exercises and practical tools for practicing coaches.

• Top Five Asking Mistakes Coaches Make
  by Tony Stoltzfus. The most common asking mistakes and how to correct them.
• More Top Asking Mistakes
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Five more common errors and how to correct them.
• When NOT to Speak Up
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Tips on when to voice your intuitive insights and when to just listen.
• SWOT Analysis (includes tool)
  by Jeannette Buller Slater. How to do a SWOT Analysis with a leadership team.
• APA Analysis (includes tool)
  by Jeannette Buller Slater. Follow a SWOT analysis with this brainstorming tool.
• Strategic Planning with Post-it Notes (includes tool)
  by Jeannette Buller Slater. Converts SWOT and APA results into a strategic plan.
• Force Field Analysis for Team Coaching (inclues tool)
  by Jeannette Buller Slater. Looks at forces that support or oppose a proposed change.
• Building Authenticity
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Tools for taking your coaching relationships to a deeper level.
• Turning Off the Conversation in Your Head
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Practical ways to tune into others and improve your listening.
• Judo Coaching
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Redirecting the client's negative energy into positive steps toward the goal.
• What to Do When People Don't Follow Through
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Practical hints for getting better follow-through on action steps.
• But What about MY Needs?
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Escaping the self-focus traps coaches fall into.
• Pop Quiz
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Are you really working from a coaching methodology? Find out here!
• Eliminating Listening Distractions (includes tool)
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Discover what distracts you in your listening environment.
• Coaching with Teachable Moments
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Coaching techniques for helping coachees learn from life circumstances...
• The Power of Goals
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Explores biblical reasons why goal-setting gets results.
• Practical Goal Setting Tips
  by Tony Stoltzfus. How to create powerful, specific goals with your clients.

Self Management
Skill-building articles, exercises and practical tools for practicing coaches.

• Feedback: Friend or Foe? (includes tool)
  by Ron Marsh. Why feedback is withheld from leaders and what to do about it.
• Leadership Influence: Managing Your Attitudes and Emotions (with tool)
  by Ron Marsh. Refocusing on the positive; with an Attitude Check worksheet.
• Working Yourself to Death (and Coaching People Back to Life)
  by Tony Stoltzfus. How much work is too much?

Life Coaching
Articles about discovering your purpose and living a blanced, significant, called life.

• Waiting for Our Destiny
  by Tony Stoltzfus. How to stay on course when fulfilling your call seems a long ways away.
• When NOT to Live Your Destiny
  by Tony Stoltzfus. The times in life when destiny must take a back seat to other priorities.
• Competing Commitments (with tool)
  by Jerry Graham. Helping people discover the hidden commitments that sabotage them.
• External Triggers Promote Client Success
  by Erna Kriigel. Reminder systems for different learning styles.
• Reinventing Yourself
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Guidelines for how to coach a client's internal renovation project.
• Strengthen Your Strengths
  by Ron Marsh. Using prioritization and delegation to focus on your strengths.
• What's Your Purpose? (with tool)
  by Jerry Graham. Clear purpose as the antidote to anxiety and negative thinking.
• Listen to Your Life
  by Tony Stoltzfus. A personal life-balance assessment especially for ministry leaders.
• Coaching Through Disappointment
  by Ron Marsh. Working with relational pain (especially in the Christmas season).

Coaching and Leadership
Learn about using coaching as a leadership development tool, and more.

• Leadership Development
  by John Purcell. Church consultant/coach looks at common problems with building leaders.
• Looking for New Staff (includes tool)
  by Jeanette Buller Slater. Tips for effective hiring and getting beyond the star system.
• How's Your R.A.S.?
  by Jerry Graham. Using the way your brain works to be a more effective visionary.
• Coaching Leaders through Transitions
  by Tony Stoltzfus. What the life of Abraham has to say about transition, and how coaches can be more effective walking with leaders in these difficult times.
• Theories "X" and "Y"
  by Erna Kriigel. Two distinct ways leaders look at employees, applied to coaching.
• Supervising vs. Coaching (includes tool)
  by Jeannette Buller Slater. Explores the two methodologies and which to choose.
• Leadership and Goal-Setting (includes tool)
  by Ron Marsh. The challenge of setting the right goal; and a tool to help identify it.
• How God Gets Our Attention
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Three primary ways God speaks and how to coach around them.
• Living Life from a Learning Stance
  by Erna Kriigel. Coaching and adult learning connections.

Coaching in Ministry
These articles address the unique challenges and opportunities of coaching in the ministry world:

• Coaching Workers
  by Keith Webb. Magazine article on unique issues of coaching missions leaders.
• Ministry Maintenance vs. Capacity (includes tool)
  by Jeannette Buller Slater. Identifying and moving out of maintenance mode to replication.
  
• Bringing Coaching to the Church
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Keys for how to present coaching so ministry people get it.
• Becoming the Leader You Were Meant to Be (with tool)
  by Ron Marsh. How to realigning with your vision when life has taken a toll.
• Growing Healthy Churches (includes tool)
  by Jeannette Buller Slater. An introduction to Natural Church Development (NCD) principles.
• A Career in Coaching Ministry Leaders
  by Tony Stoltzfus. An experienced ministry coach covers what you need to know if you want to coach ministry leaders as a career.
• Peer Coach Training
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Develop a grass-roots coaching culture in your church with peer coaching.
• Pursuing Balanced Ministry
  by Jeannette Buller Slater. Thirteen key competencies for healthy, effective leadership.
• Coaching and God's Revelation (with tool)
  by Ron Marsh. Coaching in the vulnerable moments when vision fades.

Coaching and Discipleship
Applying coaching principles to the art of disciple making.

• Coaching the Discipling Leader
  by John Purcell. Applying coaching concepts (goals and actions) to disciplemaking.
• Healthy Accountability:
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Four principles in a checklist form to keep you on track.
• The ORIENT Checklist:
  by Cheryl Baker and Tony Stoltzfus. Client worksheet to help foster effective delegation.From the Eight Principles for Life-on-Life Leadership coaching /discipleship manual.
• The Impact of Impartation:
  by Cheryl Baker and Tony Stoltzfus. Reflection exercise looks at those who invested in you. From the Eight Principles for Life-on-Life Leadership coaching /discipleship manual.

Practice Building for Professional Coaches
Some great tools and articles that will help you be a more effective coach:

• Five Quick Ways to Jumpstart Your Practice
  by Tony Stoltzfus. A quick look at practical ways to get your market program going.
• On-line Resources for Coaches
  by Tony Stoltzfus. The best of what's out there for coaches in several key niches.
• Using the Web to Get Your Message Across
  by Tony Stoltzfus. Tips on how to leverage the web from an internet marketing consultant.
• Build a Website in only a few hours with tools from Web Coaching Solutions.
• Coaching on the Fly
  by Tony Stoltzfus. How to create compelling coaching encounters wherever you go.