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THE SERMON COACH: HOW A COACHING APPROACH HELPS PREACHERS IMPROVE A THESIS-PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY THOMAS WILLIAM SIMMONS IV JANUARY 2017 Copyright ©2017 by Thomas William Simmons IV. All Rights Reserved. CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v ABSTRACT vii Chapter 1. THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING 1 2. THEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK 22 3. LITERATURE REVIEW 116 4. PROJECT DESIGN 198 5. OUTCOMES 269 Appendix A. SURVEY 348 B. A COACH’S GUIDE TO HADDON ROBINSON’S TEN STAGES 351 C. CLIENT STARTER PACKET 355 BIBLIOGRAPHY 363 VITA 369 iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. GARY COLLINS’S CHRISTIAN COACHING MODEL SUMMARY 12 2. GARY COLLINS’S CHRISTIAN COACHING MODEL SUMMARY 42 3. THE COACHING FUNNEL 64 4. STAGES OF CHANGE AND APPROPRIATE CHANGE PROCESSES 122 5. LEARNING AND TEACHING 151 6. THE COACHING FUNNEL 222 7. SHARED AND LEARNED EXPERIENCES MODEL 262 8. CLIENT 1, SURVEY 1 272 9. CLIENT 1, SURVEYS 1 AND 2 COMPARED 282 10. CLIENT 1 IMPROVEMENT 284 11. CLIENT 2, SURVEY 1 294 12. CLIENT 2, SURVEYS 1 AND 2 COMPARED 299 13. CLIENT 3, SURVEY 1 317 14. CLIENT 3, SURVEYS 1 AND 2 COMPARED 322 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We stand on the shoulders of giants, and are heirs of those who have gone before. And there is nothing like research to remind one of that fact. The Bibliography at the back of this thesis project is testimony to the shoulders I stand on in the work I have done over the last four years. More important than those shoulders, however, have been the arms of the people who have borne me along this arduous journey. Foremost among them is my wife Tait, who has been indefatigable in making, beautifying and maintaining the life that surrounds me on every side. Without her loving loyalty and labor, her good sense and attention to every detail, I would have never been able to finish. She has borne the disproportionate burden at home with the countless “off-duty” hours and days I have dedicated to this project. Thank you, darling! I also thank our children, George, Henry, Posey, Mary Virginia, and Sarah Jane for allowing me all the time, which I could have spent with them, to be dedicated to this project instead. It feels good to be finished! Parents, of course, make all things possible, not only in the act of giving life, but in my case, in supporting my D.Min. program. My mother’s help has been invaluable as a sounding board in the creative process, especially pulling chapter two together. Then she edited every chapter, hacking away superfluous flummery from my prose, getting them ready for Dr. Gibson’s eyes. Her investment of many, many hours was mirrored by my Dad’s support with many, many dollars invested in tuition and expenses along the way. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for making all this possible. v Great thanks go to the people of St. Peter’s, who granted me leave for the two- week residencies and for all the time invested in research and writing. They happily welcomed Fr. Jeffrey Fishwick and Br. John Ogle as guest preachers, whose faithful presence over the years allowed me regular time every month to write these chapters. Among the people of St. Peter’s two parishioners were especially helpful, Dr. David Weiss and Dr. Andrea Lee. Their academic background and generosity with their time and insight were a big help in editing and refining chapter two at a critical stage. I also must thank my first coach, Jeff Williams, the man who demonstrated how effective coaching can be helping a person change and grow on the journey with Jesus. He also helped me develop the idea for this thesis and to think through the critical first steps of the creative process. Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love. We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side. We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us. We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone. Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom. Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen. Book of Common Prayer page 836 vi ABSTRACT Most preachers need to improve. Some recognize that fact and are willing to invest time and money to do so. For those motivated preachers, however, the means of improvement are in large part inaccessible, or ineffective. This study develops an approach, rooted in the discipline of Christian Coaching, that is both effective and can easily be made available to help preachers improve. It demonstrates that in two ways. First, it roots the mind-set, skills, and techniques of coaching within the Biblical narrative, as well as contemporary theoretical work in behavior change, adult learning, and secular coaching. Second, it presents a research study conducted with five coaching clients, over a one-year period, documenting each person’s path of improvement, and measuring the results. The coaching course developed in this study can be used to train other coaches to serve preachers who are motivated to improve. vii CHAPTER ONE THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING Identify the Problem Most preachers need to improve their preaching. Some know that and are willing to invest time and money doing it. However, the practical means of improving are either not effective or not readily accessible. This project will demonstrate that performance coaching methodology is effective and can be made accessible. Chapter four offers a manual to guide coaches to help preachers improve. That most preachers need to improve is obvious in my own career as a preacher. I’ve always considered myself a good preacher, but after I was the senior pastor of a congregation for about five years it became clear I was stuck in a rut. I had been preparing and presenting sermons in the same way, week-after-week for years with what I perceived as diminishing returns. Coming up with material for each week’s sermon frequently caused anxiety. It often felt like I was grasping at straws on Thursday for something to say on Sunday. I turned to other preachers for insight and material, particularly Tim Keller, N.T. Wright, Bill Hybels, Barbara Brown Taylor, and John Ortberg. They helped, but I soon became prone to imitation and tempted to outright plagiarism. I also suffered the curse of comparison: “They are so good. I am so lame!” Seeing the impact of their preaching, in the form of large congregations, popular books, and global ministries and prominence, I became increasingly frustrated by the seeming lack of impact of my own preaching. And when I thought about the future, depending on the 1 work of others for the next 30 years of ministry, I was terrified to realize this model was unsustainable. That is just one preacher’s perspective. Randy Pelton, in a 1994 survey of seasoned preachers, found that significant proportions of preachers struggle with sermon development. Pelton discovered that 43% of preachers struggle with illustrations, 34% with developing sermon outlines, and 39% with making the sermon relevant. In my own survey research of my clergy colleagues in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia,1 I discovered that while nearly every respondent put a very high value on preaching in their ministry, and are satisfied with the outcomes of their preaching, thirty-one respondents expressed ambivalence about the effectiveness of their preparation process, and seventeen of those “strongly agreed” that they were “willing to invest time and money to improve” their preaching. That’s one preacher in four who expressed strong motivation to work at improving. For those preachers willing to work at improving, however, the practical means of improving their preaching are either ineffective, or inaccessible. A cursory survey of how a preacher might improve illustrates the point: 1. A preacher might listen to good sermons on CD or podcast, but that is more likely to result in mere imitation (or maybe plagiarism) rather than the transformation of their own preaching. It is easy for a preacher to become 1 In October 2012, I distributed 86 surveys and received 72 responses from clergy colleagues in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. See Appendix A for the introductory letter, survey instrument and analysis of the results. 2 dependent on the material of others and allow their own creative well to run dry. 2. A preacher might read a book on preaching, but that educational activity doesn’t often lead to practical and substantial change in how one prepares and delivers sermons. Most people lack the discipline or time needed to translate good ideas from a book into sustained action, which behavior change often requires. 3. A preacher might attend a preaching conference where they participate in practical learning experiences, but most participants will not follow through and incorporate what they learned. 4. A preacher might take a course in preaching at a local Bible college or seminary. Access to this option, however, is limited by location and geography, and besides, most courses are tailored to the needs of new preachers. 5. A preacher might matriculate in a degree program geared to preaching, like the D.Min. track in preaching at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. However, such programs are few and far between, are costly in time and money, and might offer more than a preacher wants. The most accessible learning experiences (books, conferences, CDs) suffer from a fatal flaw: low information-to-action ratio. The preacher who wants to improve can easily access lots of information about why and how to improve, but Alan Deutschman has demonstrated that more than mere information is needed to change people’s 3