No Health, No Growth

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I talk to business people, leaders of non-profit organizations and pastors on a daily basis.  Many of our conversations have to do with growth. The desire to grow their businesses, their ministries, their donor base, their personal wealth.  As a coach, people I see are looking for growth almost exclusively in their lives. There is some area, or some project that requires some sort of growth to become an asset, instead of a liability.  The need for vision and growth is important to churches, businesses and individuals.  There is an important pre-requisite to growth that is often ignored. That is health.

A pastor friend of mine always dreamed of building a large, powerful, important church. His motives were pure, for the glory of God and to reach people that were far from God. Due to a serious illness that literally laid him out for a season measured by years and not by weeks or months, he learned that God didn’t call him to grow a BIG church, but a HEALTHY church, because healthy things grow. And sure enough, health proceeded growth. As the church, and the leadership got healthier (spiritually, emotionally, intellectually and physically), growth took place.

Don’t assume if your organization is growing, or that if your family is ‘productive’ that it is healthy, remember cancerous cells grow too…rapidly.

I recently read Lance Witt’s book Replenish and in it he talks about the need for health over vision or growth.  Here’s his suggested 3 part strategy to pursue health.

1. Realize. This is gut-wrenchingly honest evaluation of who you are as a person and the issues that are a threat to your soul.
2. Repair. After you’ve done the really hard work of identifying the cracks in your foundation (or your business or church or family), you can take some steps to be able to in those cracks that have caused disease.
3. Refill. Okay, the inventory is take, the work of repair is done.  Now it is time to pour good, healthful, powerful ‘stuff’ into your organization, your family and your life.  The cracks are gone, so it won’t leak out.

Coaches are tremendous resources for all theses stages of moving toward health.  A coach can help you with honest evaluation by seeing things with fresh eyes. A coach assists in repair by tapping on your strengths and resources that allow you to correct broken processes. A coach encourages you to refill your life with the things that bring the greatest good to you. This is the process my coach has helped me through over and over again.

Big Question: Where are you in Witt’s strategy? Realize, Repair or Refill?

The mission of Matthew Reed Coaching is “To make the world a more effective and God honoring place, through coaching.” I love to help people genuinely experience the life they have always wanted. I’d be thrilled to be able to share with you the power of coaching.”

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