{"id":23522,"date":"2019-06-18T19:46:23","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T02:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=23522"},"modified":"2019-06-18T19:46:23","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T02:46:23","slug":"heart-of-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/heart-of-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Heart of Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIn order to see the gold God has placed in a person, we need to see them with the eyes of the Spirit.\u00a0 To draw out someone\u2019s true potential, we need to cooperate with the Spirit of God.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

So starts Tom Camacho\u2019s excellent read on coaching both for leaders in the church and by leaders in the church.\u00a0 Camacho draws on the lessons of Samuel and David demonstrating that God looks for leaders who \u201cwill see the gold in people by the Spirit and draw out those riches for His purposes.\u201d[2]<\/a>\u00a0 Mining for Gold is the process that, through prayer, coaching techniques, and trust of the Spirit allows the children of God to thrive.<\/p>\n

The text is full of amazing anecdotes, some involving Biblical analysis, some involving fighter jets, but the one that struck me the most (and one that ties into creation imagery and therefore very relatable for my research) is the story that commences chapter 12, \u201cAll True Thriving is Relational.\u201d Camacho writes about buying a new house that, lucky for him, had four grape vines in the back that \u201chad been neglected for several years and looked rather unkempt.\u201d[3]<\/a> After researching how best to maintain this mini-vineyard, Camacho learned that pruning was the preferred method and so he went ahead and started cutting \u201cthem back so much they looked sad and barren\u201d much to\u00a0 his chagrin.[4]<\/a>\u00a0 But then next spring, after following the advice of master gardeners, the vines were full with \u201chundreds and hundreds of plum juicy Concord grapes.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Camacho then moves from his own vineyard experience to the good news found in John 15.\u00a0 The four points that are inspired by John are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. God is the Gardener \u2013 God cares for us as a gardener cares for their vines<\/li>\n
  2. Pruning Works \u2013 Pruning can be a painful experience, but it is always for our good<\/li>\n
  3. The Life is in the Vine \u2013 God\u2019s love and life is shared when we are connected to the vine<\/li>\n
  4. Life without Relationship is Fruitless \u2013 We thrive when our relationship with God is energized by the Spirit[6]<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These garden images that come along in the twelfth chapter are Biblical and beautiful.\u00a0 After reading much about mining along veins of precious metal, I greatly appreciated this garden example.\u00a0 Though not etymologically related, the parallel images were simply stunning in my mind\u2019s eye.\u00a0 Not only is God the gardener and we are the vine, so too is God the miner and we are connected in love to the vein of gold running through the rock of life.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    The most immediately applicable elements of this text were the \u201cDeeper Level Questions\u201d and \u201cAction Steps\u201d found at the end of each chapter.\u00a0 These suggestions keyed in on vital teachings from the chapter and also furthered the reflection and discernment of the reader.\u00a0 I found myself halting my reading, and losing myself in some guided thought while I pondered how best to execute the very compelling suggestions.\u00a0 Since I have just started my sabbatical the one that resonated most poignantly was from the eleventh chapter, \u201cSay no to one thing this week that you are doing that is not even remotely close to your sweet spot so you will have more time to operate from your sweet spot.\u201d[7]<\/a> I thank God that I am just at the beginning of a season, one that promises to be full of time spent in my sweet spot.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    [1]<\/a> Tom Camacho, Mining for Gold: Developing Kingdom Leaders Through Coaching<\/em>, 12.<\/p>\n

    [2]<\/a> Camacho, Mining for Gold, <\/em>12.<\/p>\n

    [3]<\/a> Camacho, Mining for Gold, <\/em>125.<\/p>\n

    [4]<\/a> Camacho, Mining for Gold, <\/em>126.<\/em><\/p>\n

    [5]<\/a> Camacho, Mining for Gold<\/em>, 126.<\/p>\n

    [6]<\/a> Camacho, Mining for Gold, <\/em>126.<\/p>\n

    [7]<\/a> Camacho, Mining for Gold<\/em>, 113.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cIn order to see the gold God has placed in a person, we need to see them with the eyes of the Spirit.\u00a0 To draw out someone\u2019s true potential, we need to cooperate with the Spirit of God.\u201d[1] So starts Tom Camacho\u2019s excellent read on coaching both for leaders in the church and by leaders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1555,1558,1570],"class_list":["post-23522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-camacho","tag-mining-for-gold","tag-tom-camacho","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23522"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23525,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23522\/revisions\/23525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}