For Pastors and Church Leaders

We’re launching the Church Encourager Initiative, which is designed to equip pastors and church leaders with personalized insights through the Christian DISC Assessment. This powerful tool helps leaders grow in leadership, communication, and ministry effectiveness by identifying their unique strengths and challenges.

Pastors and church leaders often experience high levels of stress and burnout, with limited access to personalized coaching and development tools. Many struggle with team conflicts, leadership challenges, and personal discouragement, leading to ineffective ministry and, in some cases, early resignation. The Christian DISC Assessment offers a biblically rooted approach to leadership development, providing leaders with the tools they need to understand their strengths, communicate more effectively, and build healthier teams. However, access to such resources is often limited by financial constraints. The Church Encourager Initiative seeks to bridge this gap by offering assessments, coaching, and community support at no cost.

By participating in our beta test, you’ll gain early access to resources that can help you avoid burnout, strengthen your team, and foster a healthier church environment—all at no cost during this trial phase. Spaces are extremely limited as we seek funding, so if you’re ready to experience the benefits firsthand, get started by clicking on the link below and filling out the form to register for the Church Encourager Intitiative and free Christian DISC Assessment.

The weight of ministry can be overwhelming. You don’t have to carry it alone!

Ministry Coaching

Here are six questions to help determine if you might benefit from Ministry Coaching:

  1. If I wasn’t the pastor, would I attend this church?
  2. Is it normal to want to resign every Monday?
  3. What direction should I be heading?
  4. Who can I ask to help me?
  5. How do I know I will be successful?
  6. How do I maintain a balance between my family life and my ministry?

Ministry coaching is coming alongside you as a coach to encourage, equip, and empower you through the process of self-discovery in an effort to help you succeed. I like to process through this in three areas: Identify – Bearing the Burden; Planning – Heading to your Destination; and Lifestyle – Enjoying the Ride.

Ministry Statistics

72% of pastors report working between 55 to 75 hours per week.
84% of pastors feel they are on call 24/7.
80% believe pastoral ministry has negatively affected their families.
53% of pastors report that the seminary did not prepare them for the ministry.
54% of pastors find the role of a pastor overwhelming.
70% of pastors do not have someone they consider to be a close friend.
57% of pastors feel fulfilled but yet discouraged, stressed, and fatigued.
50% of pastors are unhealthy, overweight, and do not exercise.
Only 1 out of every 10 pastors will actually retire as a pastor.

Statistics provided by The Fuller Institute, George Barna, Lifeway, Schaeffer Institute of Leadership Development, and Pastoral Care Inc.

Three Key Areas of Encouragement

U

Identify - Bearing the Burden

Together we identify the immediate problems and obstacles and discuss ways to overcome them.

Planning - Heading to Your Destination

We will discuss together a healthy vision and then develop a strategic plan to move in that direction.

Lifestyle - Enjoying the Ride

Too many pastors are not finding joy in their calling. We will discuss ways to develop healthy family life, spiritual life and physical life.

Frequently

Asked

Questions

What is Ministry Coaching?

Ministry coaching is coming alongside you as a coach to encourage, equip, and empower you through the process of self-discovery in an effort to help you succeed. I like to process through this in three areas: Identify – Bearing the Burden; Planning – Heading to your Destination; and Lifestyle – Enjoying the Ride.

How Does Ministry Coaching Work?

Successful Ministry Coaching is accomplished primarily by asking good questions, listening intently for the answers, and helping someone being coached take steps forward and upward toward God and His plans.

Why Does Ministry Coaching Work?

God loves us so much that He puts his purpose, plans, and vision into the hearts of church leaders. The Holy Spirit then uses ministry coaching guided by prayer and the word of God to help a leader take action steps forward toward success in ministry.

How are Coaching and Consulting Different?

Coaching is not about the knowledge or wisdom of the coach – it’s about the person being coached having their own ideas, hopes, dreams, and plans generated by the Holy Spirit and acting on them, all in the context of a helping and encouraging relationship.

"You’ll get a lot out of connecting with him!"

Steve and his team at Keys Vineyard Church have built a church that has done an inspiring job reaching their community. Steve is a treasure trove of experience and has continued to prioritize learning and growth throughout his more than 30 years of ministry in a way few pastors have. You’ll get a lot out of connecting with him!

Putty Putman Phd – Pastor, Author (Live Like Jesus, Kingdom Impact), and Founder of the School of Kingdom Ministry.

 

"a valuable coach/ mentor."

Steve Lawes is a valuable coach/ mentor.  I’ve watched Steve over the last thirty years build a substantial outward focused church with disciples who do what Jesus did. He has inspired leaders of churches with simple/tested ideas to develop leaders and grow churches.

Bob Fulton – Pastor, Founder of Pass it On Ministry, Former International Director of Association of Vineyard Churches.

 

"authentic, creative, and personable."

Steve Lawes is an outstanding coach. He is authentic, creative, and personable. He has more cutting edge ideas than any pastor I know in regard to evangelism and meeting the needs of people in his community.

Happy Leman – Founding pastor at Vineyard Church of Champaign-Urbana IL

"a powerful voice of experience and wisdom"

I watched first hand as Steve experienced the devastation of hurricane Irma in his town of Big Pine Key, Florida. The town was destroyed, the church building rendered unusable and the staff impacted personally. I watched a leader rise to the need of his community and minister in a situation that not very many could. He has a powerful voice of experience and wisdom earned the hard way.

David Speicher PhD, DMin. Author of “Not Many Days From Now” Lead pastor of South Bay Church, Tampa , Fl.

 

Contact Me

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