{"id":23540,"date":"2019-06-19T21:11:05","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T04:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=23540"},"modified":"2019-06-19T21:11:05","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T04:11:05","slug":"mining-for-gold-among-the-roses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/mining-for-gold-among-the-roses\/","title":{"rendered":"Mining for Gold Among the Roses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I have always said the people we work with and minister to are our greatest assets. It turns out Tom Camacho, author of Mining for Gold: Developing Kingdom Leaders Through Coaching,<\/em> feels the same way. He says, \u201cThe greatest treasure is found in people, not shiny yellow rocks. The people around us are treasures of unimaginable worth. In God\u2019s eyes they are treasures of pure gold.\u201d[1]<\/a> With his creative analogy of mining for gold, he takes us through clearly outlined steps of Coaching Leadership that show how we as leaders are called \u201cto mine for the gold in others, cooperate with God as He refines that gold, and then help them invest that gold in the kingdom.\u201d[2]<\/a> He outlines a three-step process of finding potential leaders, helping to refine them, and encouraging them to do the same with other potential leaders. I also love how he reminds us that \u201cGod is the great Refiner, who patiently transforms leaders until their heart and character beautifully reflect His own. He is a miner and a refiner of leaders.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

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The following statement Camacho made caused me to get a little agitated and it also validated my research topic once again: \u201cThe mission of the kingdom around the world is in continuous need of a fresh supply of godly leaders. What would be possible if your church or ministry had an instant supply of twice the amount of thriving leaders you have today? How could you impact your community if you had a continuous new crop of thriving leaders to serve and bring forward your dream and vision? The possibilities are endless. The world needs more godly thriving leaders.\u201d[4]<\/a> I couldn\u2019t agree more, but ironically we would already have twice as many leaders if we would just tap into the immense resource of female leaders. Yes, we need to coach and mine for more leaders, but when many churches and organizations limit their leadership to half the population, namely the male half, we end up with an extreme leadership shortage. More women graduate from college and have joined the workforce than men, yet still women are only \u201c25 percent of executive- and senior-level officials and managers, hold only 20 percent of board seats, and are only 6 percent of CEOs.\u201d[5]<\/a> Also, when female pastors only make up 9 percent of the total in the U.S., we are going to have a leadership shortage.[6]<\/a> This is why the solution to my research problem is men in key leadership positions sponsoring\/mentoring\/coaching\/mining for gold with potential women leaders around them.<\/p>\n

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The author also created a clever little acrostic spelling out the word GOLD to highlight his four key concepts of Mining for Gold\/Coaching Leadership:<\/p>\n