Confucius said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”  Dr. Leo Marvin (“What About Bob” fame) said, “Baby steps, baby steps…”

On a cold weekend in January eighty-plus people took many steps from around the country braving threats of snow and ice to participate in our inaugural Coaching Forum in Nashville, TN. The evaluations we received from attendees were encouraging and educational. We did many things right and many right things! Overall 99% of participants said the event “exceeded their expectations.” That’s pretty amazing.  Baby steps…

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By John Michael De Marco | April 30, 2009 {1010}

With permission from e-Review Florida United Methodist News Service

NOTE: See related story, Florida Conference expands support to new churches

Two Florida Conference pastors have joined a nationwide effort to equip 1,000 people to launch 650 new United Methodist congregations by the end of 2012.

The Rev. Gary Shockley, former senior pastor of a new church start called HopeSpring United Methodist Church in Winter Garden, Fla., joined the Nashville-based Path 1 initiative recently as a new church strategist. Shockley is still living in Orlando, but commutes to Nashville once a month.

Path 1 is a response to the new church development goal “New Places for New People” — one of the 2008 General Conference’s four key areas of focus for the next quadrennium. The other three areas are developing principled Christian leaders, engaging in ministry with the poor, and fighting diseases of poverty, such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

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The word “coach” immediately conjures up negative memories for me. I was a pencil thin 6’5” gawky teenager with two left feet when I decided to join the high school basketball team. The coach was, at first, thrilled with the prospects of having another towering dude on his team. His enthusiasm, however, gave way to disappointment when he watched me in action. I moved like a spider with seven broken legs. Painful! My “coach” let out a string of obscenities, threw the ball at my head, and told me to get my act together. I managed to dodge the ball hurling at my head but I could not dodge the humiliation I felt. I left the court and never went back. I don’t care much for basketball even to this day. (more…)