Note To Financial Coaches

I want today’s post to be directly to all the financial coaches at NewSpring Church as well as coaches the IWBNIN team has trained across the country.  What we do is not always easy and I know at times it can be very frustrating and down right discouraging.  But we’re called to do it.

Last week I was reading a passage of scripture that made me think of everyone who is serving as a financial coach:

(Matthew 9:35-38 NIV).   Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Dear Fellow Coach, There are so many people out there who need our help and we are the workers out in the field helping show them the way to applying God’s word to how they manage their money.

You are a leader.

By most people’s definition of “leader” you might not think of yourself as one.  But I do.  You are LEADING people through a process of planning their finances to honor God and their family.  That makes you a leader.

Sometimes leaders get discouraged when they don’t see fruit for their efforts.  For financial coaches this happens when you’re trying to help the person who seems to have lost all hope and drive to change their situation.  Maybe they don’t do what they say they’re going to do and you want to just shake some sense into them…in Jesus name.

I want to encourage you to think back on the very first question you were asked when you went through the training to be a financial coach.

“Why are you here?”

You might even need to dust off the booklet from the class and read what you wrote in that blank to remind yourself.  What is it that drives you to volunteer your time to help someone you don’t even know?

For me it is a passion for saving marriages (either current or future ones) by helping people get the money issue right because I know first hand what an impact financial coaching and getting the money issue under control can have on marriage.

Remind Yourself Often

I recently shared with the coaches at the Anderson NewSpring campus that I sometimes struggle with negative expectations of people and I let this poorly affect my attitude about showing up.  It shouldn’t be that way if I’m reminding myself about my passion for helping others.

Keep your passion for helping others at the front of your mind and let that be the driving influence for your attitude about showing up and dealing with people no matter where they are in their situation.  Let your passion show through as you challenge people to the next level.  Let your passion show through as you encourage people through tough decisions.

Without your passion the people you’re helping might not get the spark of hope they need.  Please keep your passion alive.

Get Help Now!

One of many trends we notice about financial coaching is people are requesting appointments but then either not showing up, postponing over and over, or canceling completely. A year or so later they come back desperate for help but they’ve waited until it’s TOO LATE!

Shawna and I were talking about this dilemma and recalled that we were on our very last straw when we finally got help.  But the difference was we didn’t know how or where help was even available.  Our church, NewSpring, had not even started their personal finance ministry when we were hitting rock bottom.  Joe Sangl had just been hired there but we didn’t even know about him or what he was going to be doing.  It was God’s timing that NewSpring started a personal finance ministry and Joe showed up right after we hit rock bottom.

There are tons of people who are learning about personal finance ministry for the first time right before or after they are hitting rock bottom. THOSE ARE NOT THE PEOPLE I’M TALKING ABOUT! The people I’m talking about are people who have known that there are resources (books, classes, one on one coaching) available and they’re choosing not to take advantage of them or reach out for help in any way until it is way too late.

The Underlying Reasons For Not Getting Help:

There are lots of excuses for not getting help, but they mostly lead to one of the following underlying issues.

Pride

Whether broke or wealthy pride prevents people from getting a coaches advice because people are either unwilling to be transparent about the true situation or they’re too arrogant to take advice from anyone.  Either way it is unhealthy pride.

Heart

Some are putting off getting coaching because their heart just isn’t right about money yet.  They haven’t surrendered to the fact that God owns it all, we are just managers, and we have to honor God with how we use what he’s given us to manage.  They’re proving that their money follows their heart as the choose bad financial behavior over Godly discipline.

Trust

This is so rare most probably don’t know what I mean.  Believe it or not there are some who have legitimate concerns about trusting volunteer coaches.  BUT, before anyone runs to this conclusion they should seriously wrestle with these questions.

  • What evidence is there that the coaches can’t be trusted?
  • Have the concerns been discussed with the church leadership?
  • Has financial advice been sought elsewhere?

If there is no good answer to those three questions I would have to argue that pride or heart is the real issue.

If you or anyone you know have been putting off getting needed help please don’t put it off any longer.  There’s not much a coach can do to help when the mountain of debt is out of control and the house is already in foreclosure.  Don’t wait until it’s too late.  Get help now!