The Lord gives his beloved sleep. Jesus himself slept even at times when the disciples thought he should be awake—for example, in a boat in a storm! Rest is spiritual. We begin each day with rest, just as we begin each week with Sunday, a day dedicated by the Lord to rest. God understands that a rhythm of rest is

When considering how to be a better leader, we often focus on our physical health last. Priorities tend to lean towards the emotional and spiritual. However, a healthy body is foundational to a practitioner’s work and a balanced life for any person.  I was recently challenged by this verse during a sabbatical trip:  Joshua 14:10-12 (New Living Translation) 10 “Now,

Who’s Present with You Besides the Client? When a client sits down for a mentoring session, what we see is a single individual. However, an experienced mentor understands that it is more complicated than this. In Coaching, Mentoring and Organisational Consultancy, Peter Hawkins and Nick Smith discuss the law of three clients, which is the idea that our clients all

Learning to fill the tank My journey through burnout and recovery has remade me. I used to just go, run fast, and pay little or no attention to how I was doing. To recover from burnout, I had to learn to rest. For some reason, cultural—the pioneer spirit, a warped Christian perspective of self-emptying, or just plain low self-value, I

I didn’t see it coming Something was wrong, and I thought I was sick physically. I didn’t wake up one morning and say, “I’m burnt out”. It was a process of realising something was not right and my GP saying, “Don, I think you are heading to burnout”. Thank you, Dr Don, for your diagnosis. Feeling tired and flat. At

Our vision at Verve Lead is to create thriving Christian leaders and flourishing communities. But why is the vitality of a leader so important? If the community itself is strong, it may thrive or at least survive even with a struggling leader. However in the long term, a community will only be as strong as its leader.  In the book

How would you sum up the role of a practitioner? I recently stumbled upon two words in a conversation with my professional supervisor that have really stuck with me: grace and truth. Both of these are principles that I try to bring into every session, and I believe they are the linchpins of a safe and effective relationship with clients.

As a practitioner, I’ve spent extensive time working with leaders across churches, communities, and organisations; from school principals and CEOs to lead pastors of large churches. I have found that they often share a deep drive for achievement.  Leaders dream big, work hard, and are always considering what comes next for themselves and their community. They are constantly creating performance

When a client is in a leadership or care-giving profession, it can be almost impossible not to become emotionally invested in the people around them; problems, objectives and causes of others can become important to the client as well. Most of the time, this investment in others is part of what makes them good at their job.  As mentors, coaches