Does this sound familiar?
 
"I know we are all super overwhelmed. I hit my emotional wall on Sunday morning and woke up feeling pretty down today. I’m finding at times my thinking is fuzzy and muddled, and it’s hard to identify what’s going on emotionally. As I look towards the future I have clarity of action on some things, and confusion on others.
 
So I’ve made an appointment with my coach. I’m choosing awareness and clarity. AND agency.
 
How about you? A reminder that coaching produces organization of thought, clarity, new awareness, and it gives us agency, something we all desperately need right now. ...Don’t do your lives or ministries alone, especially in these times. I think we’ve built this community especially for such a time as this.... We are an embarrassment of riches. The world is a confusing place. We have tools for vision and clarity."
 
That email (bold print added) was sent in late March, which feels like a lifetime ago. Not much has changed, and at the same time, things continue to change at a rapid pace. We're Zoomed out, and our need for community is even greater. This Wednesday, we learned how coaching questions, skills, and tools can support you and your communities and ministries, no matter what emotions show up or what surprises come your way.
 
The Rev. Nathan Swenson-Reinhold is first of all a husband to Erin (23 years), and a father to Sam (20), Ephraim (16), and Emma (11). He is lead pastor of Lord of Life Lutheran Church, a multi-site congregation in northern Virginia. Nathan earned his MDiv from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, and his DMin from Portland Seminary as a part of the Leadership in the Emerging Culture Cohort. Nathan holds an International Coach Federation Professional Coaching Certification, as well as a certification in Behavioral Evaluation and Consulting. He owns Summit Coaching and Behavioral Consulting LLC, the professional face of his coaching passion. Nathan has been in some form of coaching or coach development since 2002. He loves watching human transformation, and when not watching that, loves equipping others to catalyze it as well. He is the Coach Coordinator for the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod, is a coach trainer for the ELCA, and is a mentor coach. His hobbies are sci-fi novels, pen turning, car detailing, and recently he became the Steward of a Little Free Library that surprisingly, he built.