For information on Summit Coach Training from Pinnacle, please click here.
Clergy Coaching
“Being a minister is like being an athlete (let’s face it, sometimes ministry feels like a full-contact sport!). Ministers, like athletes, need good coaches. Someone with an experienced set of eyes on the larger game. Someone to push you to play toward your strengths. Someone to encourage you through the tough losses. This is what a personal coach provides for you as a clergy leader.”
—Clergy coaching testimonial from a pastor of an innovative congregation
What is Coaching?
The International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential, which is particularly important in today’s uncertain and complex environment.”
First, the person being coached is the focus of coaching. The coach is thoroughly engaged in the coaching conversation, but the conversation is all about the client. The coach is there to serve the client’s agenda—to listen, ask questions, and support.
Second, the coach guides the process and the person being coached provides the content. The client identifies the subject or challenge that he or she wants to address, and the coach helps the client to discover their preferred future, identify and gain clarity about what will get them there, set a goal, develop action steps to get there, and support the person being coached as they pursue their goal.
Third, every person being coached has gifts and abilities to address their concerns even if they do not realize it. The coach helps the person to discover and apply these capabilities. The coach helps the client to dig deep and come up with the resources already available within to apply to the task. Most of us already know more than we are doing; we just need to get moving!
In all of this, the coach is not passive but active—questioning, encouraging, and sometimes challenging the client in her or his personal growth. Coaches help their clients to become their best selves.
Interested in Clergy Coaching?
Contact Coaching Team Leader Ircel Harrison at 615-423-8223 to learn more about Pinnacle coaching or review the coach profiles below and make a direct contact.
DISTANCE COACHING
Geographical distance is not a limitation when it comes to coaching. Much coaching is done by telephone or web-based video communication. The convenience of coaching allows us to work with clients from many places.
PINNACLE CLERGY COACHING
These Pinnacle associates have the calling and training to coach individuals for personal and professional growth. Please contact any of them directly to learn more about their approach to coaching.
Debra Griffis-Woodberry
It gives me joy to walk alongside others as they discern their identity and calling for today’s season of their lives. Helping others set goals and create steps to achieve them is a part of my coaching approach. As retired clergy, I enjoy incorporating the spiritual dimension into my coaching practice. I am a Board Certified Coach.
Ircel Harrison
My goal as a coach is to help a client discover her or his growing edge and to live into it. Each of us is a unique individual gifted by God to grow into the person God has called us to be. My emphasis is on helping leaders to become effective and productive contributors in their settings. I hold a credential with the International Coaching Federation and have provided over 1,000 hours of coaching to about 50 clients.
Peggy Haymes
I completed Summit Coach Training with Pinnacle because I saw what a difference coaching made on my own life. Having served on a church staff, as a hospital chaplain, a devotional editor and as a therapist, I enjoy working with ministers serving in many different areas, including those who are not sure of just where they fit.
Bill Ireland
My interest in coaching grew out of the experience of having a coach myself. As a result, I completed the Executive Leadership Coach training program at Georgetown University, an ICF accredited program. I have a strong interest in coaching ministers in the areas of leadership and personal development.
Steve Roper
Steve believes strongly in the value and potential of every person. It has been that perspective that has informed and guided his 4+ decades of ministry experience. He seeks to help others understand their own giftedness as well as build upon their potential. Helping clients realize their own unique, next, best steps in life is where Steve receives satisfaction and meaning. Though having served local churches as a staff member, both Baptist and United Methodist, it has been his 32 years at a denominational level, working with young adults, that has formed much of his career interest in developing Next Generation leaders. It is his own unique experiences that have led Steve to Pinnacle where he will offer coaching and consulting. Steve lives in Cleveland, Tennessee.
Robin Sandbothe
I see coaching as coming alongside someone to help them discover or rediscover who they are or want to be, what they want to do, and how to get there. As your coach, I would be helping you discover your inner wisdom, find your own answers, set your own agenda. Having been coached myself for the last 10 years, I recognize its value and how effective it is when making life decisions, starting a new endeavor, or seeking next steps in your spiritual journey. I am a Summit Certified Life Coach and have a certificate in spiritual formation.
Eric Spivey
After years of experiencing the power of leadership coaching guiding me as a pastor, I began training with Coach Approach Ministries. As a Pinnacle Leadership Associate, I have coached pastors and congregations around the country. I love coaching ministers who are leading their congregations through the fun and difficult work of adaptive change.
Beth Yarborough
After completing Summit Coach Training with Pinnacle, I am excited to be a part of the Pinnacle coaching team. In addition to being trained as a coach, I have training and experience in mediation, spiritual direction and interim ministry. I am looking forward to using my training and 25 years of experience as a pastor to encourage pastors and others in their journeys in these post-pandemic times.