Mining for Gold

This past week I received one of the most exciting packages I’ve ever gotten in my life: copies of my first book, Mining for Gold, sent from Intervarsity Press in London! I have dreamed of being a published author since I was in high school. I am now experiencing that dream!

As I held the crisp new book in my hands, my mind went back through all the steps and stages that went into envisioning, creating and publishing the book. It has been an exciting journey, AND, a lot of hard work.

I’d like to share the back story of how Mining for Gold came to be, who it is for and what this journey of becoming a published author has been like for me.
Mining for Gold was written for two distinct purposes:

• to help Christian leaders flourish in their life and calling, and
• to equip those leaders draw out the gifts and callings in others so they also thrive.

Mining for Gold is a book about helping leaders thrive so they can help others thrive. The book is for leaders in churches, missions, non-profit work and kingdom businesses. It was written to help them learn an exciting and empowering way of leading. The principles in Mining for Gold can help leaders come alive in their work, multiply their influence and help others thrive.

Here are a few details of how the book came about. I have been a certified and professional leadership coach for several years now. In 2013, at a coaching training, I felt like God dropped in my heart an idea could really help people. The idea? How the principles of coaching could transform the way we practice leadership on an everyday basis. The concept lit up my insides like a bolt of lightning. In my mind, I could see leaders, practicing a coaching style of leadership, helping other people thrive all over the world. I began to ask the Lord what to do with the idea.

A few months later, I approached the leader of church planting for Vineyard USA and asked if I could pilot a workshop around the topic of helping church leaders applying the best principles of coaching to their leadership. I told him I thought it would help pastors, ministry leaders and especially church planters to thrive in their leadership. They would learn how to draw out the best in themselves and in those they led. He said, “Sure, go for it.”

Our first workshop, called the Empowering Leadership workshop, was held in Dallas, TX, in the summer of 2015. From the beginning, the feedback and enthusiasm about the workshop from church leaders was incredible. They said things like, “I wish I had known these principles 20 years ago when I began in the ministry!” Or things like, “This is such a better way to lead!”

Since then we have done the workshop or shared the principles of it in many places across the US and the UK. The feedback is always the same: these principles are incredibly helpful and can help so many Christian leaders thrive.

One pastor friend in London attended an Empowering Leadership workshop and was deeply touched by the material. He then came to another training I did and got more clarity on who he is and what God has called him to do. Then he came to visit me and my wife in the US and got another round of coaching, which brought him more freedom. At that point, he practically begged me to write down the principles and concepts of coaching leadership. He said, “So many others could enjoy the fruit of these concepts, as I have.” Then he did something that changed everything. He introduced me to Steve Mitchell, the publishing director of IVP UK.

Steve and I met at a coffee shop in Windemere, in the beautiful Lakes District of England, in the fall of 2017. I poured out what God had put in my heart to help leaders thrive. He was encouraging and asked for a book proposal which I sent to him shortly after our visit. Soon after, IVP UK sent me a contract to write the book. Wow, now I was committed. It was time to write!

I found the writing process exciting but also very challenging. As a great editor should, Steve pushed me to find my voice and clarify my thinking. He challenged me to write and rewrite over and over until we had clear, helpful material to share. It is definitely a challenge to take all the ideas in your mind and heart and capture them in words and a format that is simple and clear for others to read. I poured myself into the process. 

Steve helped me dig deep and think through what I really wanted to say. He coached me to find a structure that organized my thoughts and conveyed the power and potential of coaching leadership. He also encouraged me to be practical and clear so others could see and learn how coaching leadership worked.

About two thirds of the way through the writing process, the title emerged: “Mining for Gold.” I had been using that phrase for years, and one day, while I was praying over the book, the whole imagery of mining and finding treasure in God’s people jumped out at me. We agreed that “Mining for Gold” captured the heart of what I wanted to say and clearly expressed what the book was about.

Honestly, producing a book felt like a birthing process. My wife, Beth, and I have four children, so I’ve been a part of four births. I know it’s not exactly the same, but it sure was intense for me. Sorry ladies!

The next challenge was approaching significant friends and contacts I knew asking them to read the book and possibly endorse it. I was terrified to ask them, but pressed through my fears and asked anyway. Remarkably, almost all of them said, “Sure, I’d love to read it.” When I began to get positive feedback and enthusiastic endorsements, I was blown away. To this day, I am completely humbled by this whole process. I feel privileged to have had this opportunity to write down what I am passionate about, publish it in book form with a major publisher and share those thoughts with the world. I am grinning right now as I ponder the whole thing!

The next few months should be a fun ride as we see what God does with the book. I am already getting requests to blog, do interviews, and speak at churches sharing the principles in the book. We have two national leadership conferences for Vineyard USA coming up this summer where the book will be available. Also, plans are now in the works for a trip to the UK and Ireland in early 2020, where Beth and I can teach and train leaders to apply the principles of Mining for Gold in their local contexts.

Recently I was talking about the book writing process with my daughter, Caryn, who has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and is a professional Christian dancer. She said to me, “Daddy, you’re a professional artist now.” The idea hit me like a bop on the head. I thought, “Me, an artist? A professional artist? That sounds weird.” But now that the book is about to come out, the reality of her words are sinking in. God, by His grace, has allowed me to become a writer and a professional artist. It is a gift that I will always treasure.

Finally, I want to encourage aspiring writers and artists. You probably are like me and have some crazy idea up in your head that you think would make a difference in the world. Well, the idea is likely not crazy, and even better, may help a lot of people. It might change the world. Start sharing your ideas with others. Do some teaching on it or lead a workshop. Start practicing what you believe and see how it works in real life. Your life and your ideas matter.

You have a treasure inside of you put there by God Himself (2 Cor. 4:6-7). He knows the gold He put inside of you. He will show you the gold you carry, what it is for and who to share it with. I hope that my book, Mining for Gold, helps many people discover the gold inside of them and encourages them to invest that gold in the kingdom for God’s glory.