What Is A Life Purpose Coach?

This is an email answer I gave to a young friend who asked: What is a Certified Life Purpose Coach?

The Life Purpose Coaching is a more specific type of coaching, aimed at helping you discover your unique design, and how God has directed you and equipped you so far. Of interest is what you enjoy doing and being the most. The point is to help YOU find the directions you should be going, to fufill your purpose. Often I work with a client through a book, one chapter per week that we both read, that helps dig into one's heart and mind. There are numerous possibilities: The Power of a Loving Man, S.H.A.P.E, Character Makeover, Telling Yourself the Truth, a John Eldredge book, or The Purpose Driven Life. Some of these things will beat us up in showing us our weaknesses!

Using the SHAPE concept, we could focus on 5 things: S - Spiritual Gift: (if you don't know yours yet, we have an inventory to help with that;) H - Heart: What's in your heart, what excites you, what would you do for free? A - Abilities: What skills or talents with people, computers, machinery, etc. do you have? P - Personality: Again, several tools are available here, like the DISC, to help you see how you work best with projects & people. E - Experiences: Where have you been, what have you done that contributes to who you are, and what you can do? How is God bringing all this together???

For a motivated man, I'd suggest we'd work through the S.H.A.P.E. book. If you're kind of "stuck" emotionally, kind of in a rut, we might use Telling Yourself The Truth. The format is a 10-week relationship, or based on the book chapters. It's generally a 50 minute telephone or face-to-face session. I'd rather work with a person who wants to change and grow, and trust the Lord for the results. He orders the book from Amazon, or wherever, and we'd go to work. We could meet somewhere convenient, or work by telephone, with email updates.

Sometimes I just listen to a guy: maybe where he's hurting, struggling... I've had several phone clients passed on from doctors, and I just kind of listen, ask a few questions, poke around, let him find his own strengths in the Lord.

A fellow looking at Holy Matrimony might be more interested in something on those lines... but being pounded with the material in S.H.A.P.E or Character Makeover would be fine preparation!
I've learned my spiritual gift is exhortation (encouragement), and part of my heart is the "least of these"... (and all of us feel like the least of these, sometimes!!) That shows up in my doing parenting classes for the Women's Resource Center, (for DFCS and Court Ordered adults who are trying to get their children back, or at least visitation rights).... that's feeling pretty "least". Another great part of my heart is my "younger brothers" (and I do work with the college & young singles in Sunday School, having spent some years with youth in general, and middle schoolers in particular).

SEE, knowing these things about myself, helps me know the areas/offers I'd thrive in, and also the areas that really wear me down. Then I can listen to my heart, and know which opportunities to say yes to (like working with a client, doing Middle School VBS) and the things to say no to (like being an active deacon again, after years of that, or working at a maintenance type job).

I am glad to work with an individual in any way that works for them. One thing we guys need is strong bonds and support systems... and I have friends in every decade of life that I know would "come back for me" like the Marines do, if they knew I was in trouble. Developing those type relationships doesn't come fast or cheaply, but is key to seeing the growth and maturity each of us is looking to build!