Life Coaching in Russia

Periodically I need to write in more detail about some of what is happening here in one or more areas of ministry, and that is my task today.

My ministry in Russia is multifaceted, and though it all fits together, today I want to tell you more about the way God has allowed us to begin what we trust will become a large movement of Christian life coaching. But first I need to explain a little more about what life coaching is and why I consider it critical towards what I understand God to be calling me to accomplish in St. Petersburg and beyond.

Life coaching has both Christian and non-Christian schools, but of course I follow one of the former. In that context, the aim of coaching is to help a person discern God's work in his life, where and how to move forward, and set realistic goals and action steps to fulfill that call. It can be applied in personal growth, in relationships, and in a professional context, as the coach is an expert in the change process, rather than an expert in a given field. The process and the results can be powerful because:
transformation is primarily experiential, not informational;

• God initiates transformation through real, everyday life experiences;
• effective coaching flows out of mental, emotional and spiritual maturity;
• each person is a uniquely designed individual whom God has entrusted with a stewardship over his or her own life;
• authentic relationships are foundational to leadership growth and abundant living.

I had a private practice in Christian counseling in Virginia from 1997 until we moved to Russia in 2007. In 2006 I got certified in life coaching through Lifeforming Leadership Coaching. The impact on me was tremendous personally, and when I added it to my practice, the impact on my clients was also powerful. I realized that not only was coaching to be an integral part of my ministry in Russia, but that it was a key to re-building a culture of mentoring, discipling, and - my favorite term - spiritual fathering.

Russian soil was very fertile for just this concept. On the one hand, the concept of coaching generically speaking had just begun to penetrate the business world, and to a lesser extent the Christian world, so that the demand is there. On the other hand, there is almost no one who does coaching, and that primarily in Moscow. No one does Christian coaching.

We attend the church we do essentially because of the relationship I formed with Igor Sokolov, the pastor, while we were both getting certified at Lifeforming. I saw Igor as a forward-thinking, missions-minded man with a vision to use coaching as well as other creative approaches to reaching the city. He had already built a reputation as a leader in developing a small group movement nationwide. He had a track record, and he had already begun to translate the materials into Russian and to train his staff.

Working together as the only two Christian life coaches in Russia both inspired us and helped us move forward, since the task was so large. We began by continuing the translation process and the training of his staff, and we added in students (staff) from the Harbor. That original cohort is now about 2/3 of the way through the 40 week program, and we are just ahead of them in the translation process, which includes a host of audio files in addition to over 300 pages of written material. Igor and I have also begun a second group, this time consisting of students from my other trainings, many of whom are in orphan ministry.

As you can imagine, even with all the volunteer help we have had, to do this job professionally has required professional help, and we have gotten a generous grant from the Des Plains Foundation to help us get this far. It looks like we need about another $3000 to carry it through the final printing stage. We are also nearing agreement with the St. Petersburg Christian University to offer this training under their umbrella, which gives us both more credibility.

Eventually we see this movement growing out of the Christian community and into the business world as a great tool for evangelism. We also intend for the teaching to go nationwide. The potential is huge, but we are starting slowly and intentionally so that we lay a good foundation.

How do we know that God has His hand on this project? Take Nastya, for example. I have written about Nastya before, a key member of our Orphans Reaching Orphans project. Our main purpose in this ministry is to help orphans find their calling in Christ and to fulfill that with excellence, then to help others do the same. Coaching provides just the relational skills needed to do this. Nastya is one of my newer students, and I see her grow in her understanding and application of coaching every month. She recently told me about a young person named Lena whom she has been discipling for quite some time. Whereas in the past Nastya would have just given advise and told Lena what she needed, now she is using questions more and more to cause Lena to reflect on her own about why she does what she does, to consider taking ownership of her own growth (rather than put it off onto others), and to take seriously her allegiance to Christ. No one else is speaking into Lena's life this way, and Lena is responding. So much so that Lena has recently confessed to having suicidal thoughts. Nastya has helped her understand the need for counseling, and Lena will now be coming to me for deeper work. Just one way we team off of each other. Pray for Lena.

Inna, also a member of our Orphans Reaching Orphans team, also uses coaching regularly with the young adult orphans she mentors. As she puts it, "coaching is such a perfect fit alongside counseling as a way to come alongside these young people. The one helps them overcome the lies of the past. The other helps them forge a future with hope."

In fact, in Trinitarian fashion, I see coaching training as part of a larger framework for discipling leaders that God has given me:

• Soul Care: counseling, about which I have written more here 
• Spirit Care: spiritual formation training for lifelong growth in intimacy with Christ
• Body Care: life coaching, which is about effective application of God's word and call in real life.

I have other materials that I use in each area which I can share with those interested. The point is that I consider personal transformation to be dependent on how well we master each area. One is not sufficient. So my ministry in Russia at this stage is about empowering leaders in all three, because I am of the conviction that an exponential effect will result in them personally as well as in their circles of influence.

The heart of my work in all of this is a desire to see Russia overcome its "orphan spirit" and come to know God as Father. Therefore, I and my family have a significant ministry to orphans, particularly older ones graduated from the state system, and to ministries and leaders that serve orphans.

I hope this gives you more depth of understanding into our ministry here. If you are interested in giving towards this project or towards our ministry generally, then the best way is to click here. In any event, you will have a better idea how to pray, whom to forward this link to, and how to share with others about us. All of those are great ideas!

TPM in Russia

I had a private practice in Christian counseling and (later) life coaching in Virginia from 1997 until we moved to Russia in 2007. Although I had an Masters of Social Work which got my foot in the door to a group practice, from the very beginning I leaned not to my secular training but to training I had received in Richmond in Biblical counseling as the foundation for my work with clients. I considered my practice successful in the great majority of cases, because God is good to honor His Word when we choose to honor His Word.

In 2001 I was invited to get trained in Theophostic Prayer Ministry, which I had never heard of before, but because I respected the pastor who invited me, I attended. My practice would never be the same again. After only a day and a half of video lectures, I came back and started using what I had learned with astounding results. My very first client that Monday was a lady who was a compulsive shopper. In that first session, she found a root lie controlling her behavior, and God spoke His truth to her in a way that she was (either that day or soon thereafter) completely set free from her addiction.

In those days the founder, Dr. Ed Smith, did not teach as he does now, that practicing in a group setting for a whole year is the best way to master the ministry. God just gave me the grace for it to work immediately with me, since there was no group or other peers doing it. I consider that my background in Biblical counseling was a firm foundation, and I continue to teach its principles to this day. TPM does not teach us everything we need to know about how change happens in the soul, but I consider it a major tool that God has given to the Church in these days.

When I moved to Russia in 2007 with my family, I realized that I was not sent to have a counseling practice, but that I was to train others. The need for counseling in Russia is overwhelmingly large, to a great extent due to the national trauma it sustained during the Soviet years of atheism and of state terror. The atrocities of Stalin's day are very much an undercurrent to the state of the Russian soul today.

In fact, in Trinitarian fashion, I see counseling training as part of a larger framework for discipleship of leaders that God has given me:

• Soul Care: counseling, with a special emphasis on TPM
• Spirit Care: spiritual formation training for lifelong growth in intimacy with Christ
• Body Care: life coaching, which is about effective application of God's word and call in real life.

I have other materials that I use in each area which I can share with those interested. The point is that I consider personal transformation to be dependent on how well we master each area. One is not sufficient. So my ministry in Russia at this stage is about empowering leaders in all three, because I am of the conviction that an exponential effect will result in them personally as well as in their circles of influence.

The heart of my work in all of this is a desire to see Russia overcome its "orphan spirit" and come to know God as Father. Therefore, I and my family have a significant ministry to orphans, particularly older ones graduated from the state system, and to ministries and leaders that serve orphans.

So now to the history and development of Theophostic Ministry in Russia. Even though TPM began in 1995 and exploded around the world, it is a baby in Russia.

When Dana Evans and other leaders in their church-plant in Ekaterinburg, Russia heard about TPM in 2006, they immediately felt it was an answer to prayer as an instrument in helping the Russian people deal with life's hurts. They began to study, and a team was soon formed to train facilitators for ministry. As the training continued, the need became evident to have the materials in the Russian language. Dana Evans and Douglas Davis contacted Dr. Ed Smith (founder) about this need, and he gave permission for the translations, which began in 2009.

I learned of the team in Ekaterinburg early after moving to Russia. As soon as the DVD's of the basic training were ready, I started my first group of trainees in the summer of 2010. Now after over a year of training and practice with each other, some of the original group are now helping me lead two new groups of trainees. These two groups include Christian psychologists and many volunteers from a well-known Christian prayer hot-line.

After a lot of volunteer help as well as donations for translating and editing, we are done with that phase of the project. Formatting and printing the book will cost $3,500, with about $900 left needed to complete the project. Many TPM trainees are waiting to get a copy of this book in their language in order to be more effective in this ministry.

How do we know that God has His hand on this project? I put out one notice when I started training last year, and everything has been word of mouth since. Since the training is about more than just knowledge, all students must receive and learn to give ministry to each other. I am constantly amazed at the power of God to change hearts, behavior patters, emotions, and heal relationships as a result of one encounter. Two recent examples:

Ludmilla had been attending sessions for several weeks when she offered to let me lead her in a session as a demonstration for the class. The pain that came out in that one hour was intense, and it was clear she had a life time of pain, abuse, broken relationships, and sin. She was not ready to face the real lies at the bottom that first day, but God gave a small measure of comfort and grace to come back a second time. That next week she discovered one such lie that controlled her - that she had to control others' reactions to her. God opened her eyes (for it's not only head knowledge that counts, but experiential knowledge that reaches the heart that does), and she radiated with joy at seeing how she had been deceived for so long. Not only did she start relating to others better, others have reported that she has a joy that that had never seen her have before. And a curious side-effect: a chronic sub-normal body temperature has now been healed.

The second example is not one I conducted. In fact I was even there and don't even know what the story was. I had to be gone from class recently to attend something else, but since I had two others whom I could count on to lead it (from my first group), I didn't mind. It's hard to relate the satisfaction it was for me to walk in at the end of class to see hugs and tears of joy at experiencing the Father's love and gift of Truth. I found out later that this woman appears to have had her diabetes healed at that moment, as her blood sugar is at a normal level for the first time in years. (I'm not an expert here, but she said that the rule is that if your blood sugar is normal for three weeks in a row, that is the confirmation.) The miracles never cease to amaze me.

Students now stay late after class (which itself lasts 2.5 hours) for another hour for tea and conversation. They are bonding, they are passionately engaging the material, and they are so excited about what they are experiencing and witnessing that they can't stop telling their friends. Everyone wants to know when the next group is.

If you are interested in giving, then the best way is to click here and make a note in the comment section that it is for the TPM translation project. We are hoping to go to print this month.