Words from Pastor Tim Johnson

My coaching experience with The Youth & Family Institute . . .

There are defining moments and people in ones life. There are defining moments and people in ones vocation. Situations and people that not only leave some sort of indelible mark on your life, but that actually help to shift or transform things in such a way that you truly find yourself in a far better place than where you started. I count my coaching experience with Dr. David Anderson and the Youth and Family Institute one of these treasured gifts from God.

I have been a parish pastor for 15 years, and have been in various forms of ministry for 25 years, and have discovered as does everyone that as good as my seminary education was, it didn't adequately prepare me for the challenges of congregational development, leadership, mission planning, and how my own uniqueness intersected the life of the church.

My congregation is about 2,000 members, and it is like so many other churches a really good church. Yet, we have struggled to negotiate some of the challenges of the changing dynamics of faith life in today's world. Namely, the reality that traditional church-centered discipleship simply isn't enough. My first real enlightenment came when our staff attended a Child in Our Hands conference, highlighting core faith formation principles, including the critical need for the church to enter into a far more substantive partnership with our homes. That rang true for us, and we subsequently invited Youth and Family Institute staff to lead our congregation in a weekend retreat/conference at our own church, highlighting, among other things, the Four Keys of Family Faith Nurture. A recommendation that came out of our weekend together was that our congregation enter into a coaching relationship with the Institute, in order to set goals, assure an integration of partnership principles into the fabric of our church's ministries, and provide for ongoing guidance and accountability. I was very much in favor of this; our church council believed that we could do this on our own. We did not.

The next couple of years passed, with our church struggling to employ some of what we had learned, but much of it was "left behind." Fast forward a bit through the retirement of my colleague (we were co-pastors), and I found myself and the church on the threshold of needing to redefine our staffing structure and priorities, as well as our congregation's vision and mission. This was a season of ministry for both myself and the church which would be defining.

Gratefully, I received the go-ahead from our Council to enter into a relationship with The Institute and David Anderson, with a focus on utilizing him as a sort of "Theologian in Residence" for the congregation as a whole, and as a "Coach" for me and other staff. This included his preaching periodically, meeting with all of our staff, leading a staff/council retreat, and guiding me through the process of discerning and articulating what is now our congregation's vision and mission for ministry. I count this relationship and time together as among the most valuable and necessary experiences of my entire tenure in ministry.

I would love to speak personally with anyone considering either a congregational or interpersonal coaching relationship with David or with the Institute. My journey is far from over, but I have a sense of clarity, conviction and means of practical application of ministry that I never had before. My church and I have been joyfully blessed!

Pastor Tim Johnson

All Saints Lutheran Church, Minnetonka

tim.johnson@allsaintsmtka.org