Episode 12 -Sam Farina-How to have your best year ever

How would you like to experience all that God would have for you in the New Year? What if you were closer to your potential than you thought? This could be the year!

My guest today is Sam Farina. Sam draws from years of church leadership and is well known for his dynamic and creative speaking ability. Believing in the possibilities and value coaching holds for emerging leaders motivated him to create “The Farina Group.” The Farina Group is comprised of specialists in the field of coaching. Sam has achieved the title of Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coach Federation and gives focus to executive, individual and team coaching with the use of multiple assessments.

He holds a Doctorate of Ministry with an emphasis in professional coaching.

After pioneering to create the Assemblies of God Coaching Network, he continues to train coaches for the network and serves on their coaching board and task force. He hosts a monthly Coaching Skills Webinar.

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Resources Mentioned

Sam Farina website

Assemblies of God Coaching

International Coach Federation

Sam Farina App 

B00k-Atomic Habits

Book-Soul Keeping

Book-Disruptive Witness

Book-Emotional Intelligence for a Compassionate World:Workbook For Enhancing Emotional Intelligence Skills

 

 

Episode 11 Ron Henderson-“The Fitness King”-Faith and Fitness

My guest today is Ron Henderson. Ron has been a personal trainer for over 30 years. Now in his 60s he is still in amazing shape and continues to help people grow in their fitness. He is also the author of Fitness and Faith: Balancing the Scales. We have a fun conversation about how you can have the energy for all that God has for your life.

Ron’s website

Book-Fitness and Faith: Balancing the Scales

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Some reflections on Christmas after my trip to Israel

As I write this I am just coming out of the fog of jet lag and an Israeli cold that I got on my first ever trip to Israel. This was a trip that I am sure I will be unpacking for quite some time, but I thought I would take a stab at some reflections on Christmas since we traveled so close to the holiday.

The location of our hotel on the trip was very close to Bethlehem. Out of our window you could see the wall that separated Jerusalem from the Palestinian area of Bethlehem. The bus stop outside of our hotel was called, “Bethlehem Check Point.” It was a constant reminder of the traumatic experiences that region has experienced for centuries. I imagine Mary and Joseph had similar thoughts as they saw Roman soldiers on their way to Bethlehem. Your Christmas this year may feel raw and messy, but that is okay. The first Christmas would not have felt anymore like a Hallmark movie than yours does.

Before we left we watched a kids Christmas movie called the Star. It really highlighted the messiness of the first Christmas. Talking animals trying to figure out what is going on when things felt chaotic and dangerous. Most nights of the trip my wife, daughter and I each tried to come up with two take aways from the day. On one night my daughters had one of her take aways was that we as a family needed to learn to trust God more in the day to day experiences of life. She was so right. The same would have been true of  the story on that first Christmas. It was a journey of trust in a world that did not make sense.

Traveling on this trip with my wife and daughter makes me appreciate in a small way what Joseph may have felt on his journey to Bethlehem. As we travelled I was aware of the needs of my little family and the challenges of being in a new surrounding. I read someone talk about how it was interesting that the angel did not speak to Joseph about Mary’s situation until after Mary had talked to him. We like nice and neat where as God is okay with our journey as we learn to trust Him.

So as I look to Christmas this year, I will try and walk with God in a new level of trust. I still like five year plans, but I will try to trust God when He simply says take the next step with me. I will try and remember those rolling hills of Bethlehem and know that it is not always about nice and neat, but about the presence of God coming to our messy and chaotic world.