Working with Meg has transformed my ministry. With her coaching, I have been more grounded, more in touch with my vision and mission in ministry, and more able to take faithful risks in my leadership. I started working with Meg after beginning a new ministry in a larger church, and her coaching has helped me be a more effective leader in this complex system. Her approach is based on both faith and family systems theory, which is very helpful for me.
—Rev. Sarah Stewart, Unitarian Universalist minister
I’ve been ordained for more than 30 years and I’m waking up enthusiastic about what lies ahead in my work. Coaching with Meg is a big part of being able to approach life in a fresh and adaptive way. Clergy self-care is much more than a good massage (though I recommend that, too!). I need to work with someone in whom I have confidence and I have complete confidence in Meg. Her intelligence, insight, and vast experience in a range of different, but related areas all comes to bear in who she is and how she responds to what I present.
I recently presented to Meg a ministry initiative in which I had stalled out. The project still made sense, but progress languished. In conversation with Meg, I was able to both recall key details in the development of the plan and to have clarity about where to go. More importantly, I was able to regain real enthusiasm for moving ahead, enthusiasm that has propelled me into a number of concrete moves. Now I’m sure this endeavor will launch this year.
The Rev. Randall C.K. Day, D.Min., Priest and Rector, St. Mark’s-in-the-Valley Episcopal Church, Los Olivos, CA
The best part of the experience was the way Meg asked questions, questions that opened me to growth and expansiveness. I learned to trust myself more and I learned to lean toward my growing edges. Other benefits: I became more imaginative, I tried some new and fresh approaches, I learned not to be so caught up with the results.
Rev. Larry Williams, Spiritual Director, retired Southern Baptist Minister
I started working with Meg as a part of my professional growth plan as a new minister. I knew in theory the benefit of a systems perspective for looking at and working with congregations, but I tended to focus on individual stories and relationships rather than see the interrelationships and patterns at large. I have noticed, since working with Meg, that I can catch myself when I go into overdrive in anxious situations. I also have gotten to a place where I realize that my effectiveness as a minister is not as much about what I do as what I help others to do, or about figuring out how to get out of congregants’ way so that they can do whatever it is they need to do. I am also learning to trust letting things be less than perfect or (gasp!) even messy, as people learn from their experiences.
Rev. Tandy Scheffler, Minister of Faith Formation- Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, Oak Ridge, TN
It’s worth the time and money to take the step outside my daily/weekly/monthly schedule to do long-term reflection and work necessary for growth as a minister. I appreciate Meg’s focused approach to our conversations- I nearly always gain insights into what is going on in my relationships with congregation members from our sessions. Other benefits are practice focusing my goals, setting concrete action steps to make progress toward those goals, and developing a systems analysis to add to my understanding of ministry. For full-time ministers, there are very few opportunities to focus on the long-term goals of ministerial growth, and that is exactly what working with Meg fosters.
Rev. Sarah Richards, Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship, Carbondale, IL
I was a mid-life mess. Meg helped me figure out how to finish the never-ending dissertation, how to prepare for a crazy international move, and a few years later, how to navigate a difficult leadership relationship and organizational transition that was triggering all my anxieties. Her expertise and experience make her a veritable one-stop shop of wisdom and uniquely qualify her as a guide for clergy in transition. By some miracle, she managed to make working through life’s biggest challenges fun, and I left feeling sure I was her favorite client. Knowing Meg, I suspect all her clients feel that special.
Ben Byerly, PhD. Spiritual Director, Researcher, and Biblical Studies Lecturer working in France and Africa
