{"id":30206,"date":"2023-01-17T16:14:35","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T00:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=30206"},"modified":"2023-01-17T16:14:35","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T00:14:35","slug":"goldmining-at-the-margins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/goldmining-at-the-margins\/","title":{"rendered":"Goldmining at the margins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mining for Gold<\/em> discusses leadership development through coaching. Specifically, coaching that integrates biblical principles with identity, purpose and strengths. The book is divided into two parts comprising of six chapters each. The first part focuses on the process of discovering God\u2019s gift in one\u2019s life, and the second part on refining or developing the gift.\u00a0To guide us on how to become coaching leaders, Camacho lays out six important principles, namely: the Holy Spirit does the work of refining, Identity is the foundation of thriving, thriving is based on cooperation with our design, we all have a sweet spot \u2013 where we naturally bear fruit, the cross is God\u2019s great refining tool, and ultimately, all true thriving is relational.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

This practical book uses the historical background of discovering divinely-deposited gold in South Africa to argue that the task of coaching leaders \u201cis to become gold miners, treasure seekers, who work continuously with God in the search and development of godly kingdom leaders.\u201d[2]<\/a> In other words, following the model of Jesus in His relationship with the twelve, Christian leaders must diligently seek out the gold\/raw talent within emerging leaders and patiently develop it (invest the values that will cause it to thrive) to the point where it is sustainable in the absence of the experienced leader\/coach.<\/p>\n

This is important because according to Camacho, \u201cThere is a battle over the gold of thriving, godly leaders\u201d.[3]<\/a> Most people would agree that the kingdoms of light and darkness are in fierce competition over leadership talent. For instance, God was very interested in Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego – but so was Satan, who worked hard to defile them with the king’s rich food during their season of training. When that failed, he tried idolatry. Ultimately, he tried to eliminate them through the fiery furnace and a den of hungry lions.<\/p>\n

The goal of the book is to “develop godly, thriving leaders”.[4]<\/a> To this end Camacho explains that \u201cthriving is not just a good idea. It is your birth-right (John 10:10)\u201d.[5]<\/a> The author also equates the abundant life<\/em> of John 10:10 with thriving\/flourishing.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

Overall, the book evokes feelings of gladness in me, especially when I consider its implications for my ministry context, which is low-income communities. Coaching leaders<\/em> is a new term for me. I’ve heard about servant leaders, transformational leaders, benevolent dictators<\/em>, but this is a new term. Basically, I understand it to be about experienced leaders who wisely and patiently develop potential\/emerging leaders, just like the Lord Jesus developed the twelve, coaching them through the discipleship process. Well, a coach identifies talent in players and maps out a pathway for growth using drills and exercises that seem life threatening<\/em> but, ultimately, bring out the best in the prot\u00e9g\u00e9, student, disciple, apprentice or rookie<\/em> that perseveres until the end. If this is applied within grassroots communities (at-scale, lovingly, prayerfully and consistently),\u00a0 it seems clear that God will be greatly glorified by the outcome.<\/p>\n

Camacho also points out that a coaching leader is here to “help you get to places you cannot reach on your own”.[7]<\/a> This excellent phrase for discipleship and coaching leadership rings true within low-income communities, where several individuals exist with untapped, and often seemingly unknown, potential. Arguably, this lack of knowledge of the talents that exist within grassroots communities is due to very little personal reflection and belief in self. In thinking about how I might help people in my context \u201cget to places [they] cannot reach on [their] own\u201d, it seems the only way is to follow the model of Jesus by engaging the poor, especially with soul-piercing questions that will help them inventory, develop, and use their God-given gifts for the common good.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Camacho, Tom. Mining for Gold: Developing Kingdom Leaders through Coaching. (London. Inter-varsity Press, 2019), 16.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Camacho, Mining for Gold, 19<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid, 19.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid, 171<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid, 171<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid, 171<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid 171<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mining for Gold discusses leadership development through coaching. Specifically, coaching that integrates biblical principles with identity, purpose and strengths. The book is divided into two parts comprising of six chapters each. The first part focuses on the process of discovering God\u2019s gift in one\u2019s life, and the second part on refining or developing the gift.\u00a0To […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"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":[1555,2518,1558],"class_list":["post-30206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-camacho","tag-grassroots","tag-mining-for-gold","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30206","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\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30207,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30206\/revisions\/30207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}