\u201cIt is beautiful. It is pure. It is soft. It is rare.\u201d Honestly this book grabbed me with these twelve descriptive words, and I kept reading until I reached the end. I had no intention of reading every word, but this book was well-timed and really spoke to some struggles that I have been currently having. Camacho further states, \u201cGodly Kingdom Leaders are the same. They are precious, mouldable treasures called to serve as attractive representatives of the King of kings. Their hearts are soft and their love for God and others is tangible. God sees their great value, and we should too. They are precious because they reflect God himself and influence others in ways that build his kingdom.\u201d And then it hit me, I understood why those twelve words struck such a cord with me. It is the lens from which I view people. It has always been easy for me to find beauty in people. Growing up it was looked at as a na\u00efve quality, something to either change or guard against. I often struggled with what to do with this. As an adult I looked to the church as a safe and sacred place to embrace others, I felt that if there was a genuine space to view and appreciate the beauty of God\u2019s creation, it would be in the church. If I am being honest, I have found hurt and disappointment in the church; I believe that most of us have. But I have also found a community of God\u2019s extravagant love, a place of healing, exploration, and safety. It has been a place where I have found gold.
\nMining For Gold outlines some valuable tenets of leadership development and the value of coaching to help us better understand our identity in Christ. Camacho states, \u201cCoaching Leadership is about helping people make the contributions that God created them to make\u201d. I honestly get chills reading that statement. What an amazing gift that we have, the ability to assist others to be, to become exactly who God made them to be. That comes fairly easy for me in my work. I embraced the Appreciate Inquiry Approach to looking at communities, working with families and individuals over 10 years ago. It was a shift from looking at what\u2019s not working, what\u2019s missing, what needs to be fixed to naming and appreciating what is working, what are the assets, what can be built upon. It is hard to build on broken but building on substance is a step in the right direction. It is a process of asking the right questions, highlighting the strengths, identifying the resources, and helping to create a roadmap for community as well as individual success. I have used that approach over the last decade in non-profit organizations and faith-based organizations as a method of identifying what the true assets are and how they can be utilized to create positive outcomes. I guess you can say, I help them mine for gold.
\nMy challenge is allowing someone to do that for me. Allowing someone to look at my gifts, those clearly on display and those that I have learned to guard is not easy. Inviting a stranger to utilize coaching skills to uncover and my God-given, individual fruit and talents is still terrifying thought. It can be easy to believe a false narrative about yourself. The Imposter Syndrome is real. Second guessing your own gifts, your abilities and even the dreams that you have for yourself can become a real stumbling block. We (I) don\u2019t always see ourselves (myself) as having untouched potential. Honestly, the older you get, it becomes harder to believe that there is still more to discover about yourself. Yet, if I allow myself to go there, I also feel a youthful excitement attempting to emerge. There is a longing for exploring what has been dormant, untapped. I am taking a step of faith and allow the \u201cmining for gold\u2019 to happen in my own life. Will coaching uncover what is beautiful, pure, soft, and rare in me? Stay Tunes, Loved Ones! I searched for a scripture that I could cling to on this journey and I landed on Romans 12:6-8 , \u201cHaving gifts that differ according to the grace given to each of us let us use them: If prophesy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who extorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.\u201d <\/p>\n
Tom Camacho, Mining for Gold: Developing Kingdom Leaders through Coaching London: IVP, 2019, 2.
\n Tom Camacho, Mining for Gold: Developing Kingdom Leaders through Coaching London: IVP, 2019, 2-3.
\n Tom Camacho, Mining for Gold: Developing Kingdom Leaders through Coaching London: IVP, 2019, 86.
\n \u201cRomans 12:6-8,\u201d in The Holy Bible ESV: English Standard Version: Containing the Old and New Testaments Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2007, 2179.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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