Coach Randy's Story

I grew up going to church. In fact my great grandfather was a Pastor. I was baptized as a child, but I had no clue who Jesus was.The first time I was introduced to the Gospel was when I was thirteen. One of my summer camp counselors shared her faith. She asked a group of us, around a campfire to make a personal commitment to Christ. I was intrigued because she said we could know for certain that we would go to heaven.

That's not to say that I didn't have some great models and teachers. It's just that no one helped me find my place in the world. No one helped me understand my personal design or calling. Because of this, and my inquisitive nature, I stumbled my way through a lot of life; a pain that over time would become part of my passion.

I enrolled in the School of Hard Knocks, and though they were unconscious, I did have several consistent pursuits. I wanted to know God and understand how the world works. I also wanted to know myself and fulfill God's purpose for placing me here. When I look back from where I am now in life, there is a consistent message through everything that I’ve learned; one that the Lord has branded into my heart. “I am an extraordinary, abundant contribution.” You are too!

We are good at many things so we may lack focus and direction. All of these things set us up for broken relationships which can easily be interpreted as rejection, betrayal and abandonment. If you can relate to any of this, then you know that this can be a very long and lonely path with lots of twists, turns and dead ends.

After a year or so at this job, I had a powerful encounter with God. Strange as it may sound, I was in bed at the time, and to tell you the truth, I was pretty put off about something. In other words, I wasn’t feeling very spiritual. I heard God speak.

It was not in an audible voice, but an impression that was very clear. He simply said, "I want you to know Me." I knew in that moment that He didn’t want me to live by second-hand knowledge of Him anymore. He wanted to take me beyond a mental understanding into a personal, relational understanding. He sought a connection with me and He wanted to reveal Himself to me. He wanted to become my Mentor and Instructor. Over the years, He would use many people and resources, but the revelation that I began living by came directly from Him.

I'm sharing my story in the hopes of releasing many other people to do the same. Everyone’s story needs to be heard, but many people have never recognized the common threads that make their story unique or important. Many also don’t know how to fit the pieces of their story together in an articulate way.

People often feel they are walking in circles. You know many of these people. It's important that they not just exist, but that that they live according to their unique calling and purpose. Many of them have no idea what their purpose is. I want to be clear in this regard. God has left us all the clues and tools we need to work with Him.

You can help the people you care about. You can be instrumental in helping to set them on a clear course; one that aligns with God's version of success. If this resonates with you, then you're in the right place. I want to see you soar to new levels of personal leadership; to release God's provision and power through your life in supernaturally, natural ways. I want you to tell God's story, as He's manifested it in, and through your life. I want you to help others tell History too!

The seasons that I'm going to share with you are designed to expose and remove these things. It’s often not a pleasant process, but it is SO worth it. So it's up to you whether you want to continue along with me or not. 

I believe that you and I might be similar in the fact that we want our lives to matter. We want to make a difference. If this is true, then you might be simply lacking the tools that you need to follow through. That's why I want to help you tell your own story and through it, inspire and influence others to do the same.

The thought of living a vague, indistinct life terrifies me. I hope it does you as well. I want to add value you by sharing my story. Hopefully you'll gain enough to want to share it with others.

I'm convinced that the process of sharing your story can set you on a course that will transform your life, making it as impactful as possible. I'm equally convinced that it will transform the lives of the people you share it with.

I can help you help others because of the journey I've been on. I have experience as both a Pastor and a professional Coach which enables me to help people, both personally and professionally. As you continue to hear my story you’ll see that my credentials, in part were formed from my frustration and pain. God has taught me a lot through my own experience; things that I now apply to serving others. I've woven the truths that He's shown me into a unique coaching process that really works. I’m using my system to guide people through the process of telling their story. At the same time, I’m challenging and equipping them to tell it as accurately as possible.

I've been visionary and the blueprint that I now carry came through many encounters with God. The first that comes to mind began when someone gave me a cassette tape (I realize I'm dating myself:-). I think the man on the tape was named Happy Caldwell. At the time, I was Youth Pastor at the large church I spoke of earlier. This elder friend eventually became a respected confidant. I believe this was my first real encounter with him. Dick Gordon was adamant the Lord told him that this message was specifically to be given to me. The tape was all about influencing entire cities for Christ. Dick has since gone home to be with the Lord. I had the privilege of officiating at his funeral. I’ll always be thankful that he and his wife Shirley lived their lives in a way that told God’s story. Dick’s influence has forever shaped my life.

I was captivated by the message on that tape. The idea of influencing entire communities was inscribed on my heart. I began a prayer meeting and Bible study to inspire and connect people towards these ends. That meeting ran for many years. We had bumper stickers printed that said, "Christ is King over Canton, Ohio." We wrote letters to inspire the Mayor and other community leaders. We strategically prayed for them and our city.

At the same time the youth group that I was leading was exploding. If my recollection is correct, we started with about fourteen kids. The group grew into hundreds. I was teaching, coaching and directing all kinds of ministries at the church. It seemed that everything I touched was turning to gold. I had favor. Lives were changing. Miracles were happening. I became well known around the community. Sometimes people would hand me hundred dollar bills and express their appreciation for the impact I was having.

I felt I was spiritually invincible and unknowingly believed that my success was the result of both the sacrifices I had made and the disciplines that I lived by. I was sincere and would have sworn on a stack of Bibles that I was one of the most humble souls on God’s green earth, but my pride was enormous. So I kept praying these dangerous prayers. I told God that I wanted to go all the way. I wanted the ministry of Jesus. I wanted to be like Him. I wanted to fulfill my purpose.

One day He answered with a question. He asked, "Do you really want what you've been asking for?" It wasn't an audible voice, but somehow it still had a "tone." It shook me. I knew that I better not give God a quick response, so I considered the Lord's question for a week or two. I finally responded that my answer was "Yes."

pressure over time. Fortunately, the Lord finds ways to infuse His people with vision before the pressure comes. It's our responsibility to nurture and protect that vision through life's storms. If we do, it will serve us well. It will give us hope and enable us to preserver. It becomes a compass to keep us pointed in the right direction. If we respond obediently to life's challenges, the vision will become more detailed and more deeply implanted in us over time. This is one proof that the vision is indeed from God.

Without a vision people perish. The NIV translation says without God's revelation, they "cast off restraint." This is a recipe for losing one's way in life. Everyone needs the vision of God. It becomes our reason for discipline. God has much that He desires to do through us. Vision becomes a snapshot of His preferred future for us.  He creates the environment for vision to be implanted. Whether or not it takes hold has a lot to do with our responses to His encounters with us.

Sometime after we receive a vision, the season of our life will change. We’ll be fixated on “doing,” what God showed us, but God’s concern will be focused on our “being.” He will begin a process that is designed to remove our dependencies so our self-worth, security and significance are met solely in Christ. The book of Hebrews says that everything in heaven and earth that can be shaken will be shaken, but we’ve received a Kingdom which cannot be shaken. In other words, He will shake everything that can be shaken out of our lives so His work alone will remain. This process is a long and windy road and vision is what keeps on the path.

If you have a vision you must maintain and preserve it. If you never had one, it’s time to ask for it. If you had one and lost it, it’s time to be reminded what it was and to get it back.

" For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12 - KJV

You might think that the easiest venture in the world is to simply be ourselves, but that's never the case. Our truest selves are deeply buried under layers of image that we project in order to feel worthy, secure and significant.

This problem is compounded by the fact that we're cultured into mindsets and beliefs that become the filters through which we see life. Our filters are often inaccurate, but they serve as our personal version of the truth.

As the season shifts, God's Word and Spirit begin the work of separating Jesus from our faulty perceptions and mindsets. He turns up the heat to reveal our true motives. As this happened in my life, it wasn’t long before I began seeing that I was actually part of the very problem that I wanted to solve. I had no idea however just how deep the rabbit hole would go.

The challenges that I went through are too numerous to detail. Each of them could be a story of its own. Here's a synopsis: Heroes fell. My "Camelot ideal" of church was tarnished. I was falsely accused. People abandoned me. I burned out. I compromised my own moral values and lost all faith in myself. I melted from notoriety to obscurity.

I tried to build something that few people understood. I hired a compulsive liar. I made promises to the community based on wrong information; promises that I couldn't fulfill. I hired staff that I couldn't pay and spent two years making restitution. My attempts to change our community were like trying to move a mountain with a teaspoon. I didn't even make a dent. I felt utterly frustrated and useless.

We can spend a lifetime trying to change ourselves into what we believe God wants us to be. It's futile. God's process is not cosmetic, but transformational. It’s like a caterpillar being changed into a butterfly. For this transformation to happen, the caterpillar must go into a cocoon and die. The new creature that emerges is not of the same nature as the old.

Transformation: a change in perspective

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Romans 12:1-2 - KJV

God's perception of things is the only one that matters. To live life abundantly we must allow Him to enable us to see from His perspective. Fission is a season of transformation. It’s a trek through the fiery wilderness. It's a journey into a different vantage point. God's goal is to transition us from performance to rest and from busyness to fruitfulness. He doesn’t want us to do things for Him. He wants do His own work through us. The difference in these two perspectives is enormous.

I'm being brought into the understanding that God is my Source. As the One Who calls Himself, "I AM," He is everything I need and all of my needs are met in Him. Christ finished the work that He wants me to do. My job is to listen and exchange my abilities with His in order to obey His instruction. It can’t get much more simple or easy than that, but God’s ways go against the grain of our human nature. They expose our fears and challenge our pride.

I had a lot of Pharisaical fear, but it was carefully disguised. Each time I recognized and received God’s love on a deeper dimension, that love obliterated and replaced a new level of fear. My tendency was to grab and hold onto things but each time I receive from Him it becomes easier to give. I thought I had to prove and make a name for myself but I'm learning that I already have favor and approval. I'm learning that God is for me and greater than anything that is against me.

Through all of this I realized that I was trying to enact New Covenant faith using Old Covenant rules. My standard of performance always left me with a deficit. I always felt judged. I would condemn myself which would drive me to try harder. If I couldn’t go over, under or around it, I’d draft a new set of plans and try a different approach. Stubbornness can be a good quality, but in this sense my tenacious nature worked against me. This was an endless cycle.

God was teaching me about leadership. Fairly early on, I caught the concept that He wanted to lead me. I had a lot to learn however in terms of leading my own life effectively; something that was necessary in order to accurately lead others. God consistently removed the false layers so I could find the real me. His light would search my heart and his truth would expose my wrong motives.

This process began as a respect for Biblical values and principles. Over time, His Word became a life-giving connection. I began to draw my life from Him, learning more accurately to respond to "every Word that proceeds out of His mouth." This grew into a deepening relationship.

Through daily encounters, my purpose in life became more clearly defined. Like Joseph, my frustrations moved me through a process of understanding my unique design and calling. I went from being the favored "model child" to being misunderstood, abandoned and rejected. I initially prided myself on my ability to hold onto God. Eventually I heard the rooster crow. My dreams were broken. My capacity for patience was exhausted. I questioned my vision and calling often.

The long season of fission makes little sense until the next season arrives. It’s there that atomic power can be released. Fusion is the season where all that we've been through begins to make sense.

Fusion: when it all starts to make sense

"For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:." Romans 6:5 - KJV

Fusion is the fruit that comes when transformed people experience a connection of oneness with God, themselves and with others. This is where bad stuff is transitioned into good stuff.

This is the season when we go from doing church to being church. It's where we unite with people of kindred spirit who have been through the same process. It's where we harmonized with others who are synced with the awesome mind of Christ. It's where we fit together as one body. It's a place of deep, abiding relationships.

Fused people have been disassembled to be reassembled. I'm less familiar with this season than the previous but what I've experienced to this point is wonderful. I find myself being a catalyst everywhere I go. I can create the environment and context in which God can move. I expect it to happen and God always supersedes my expectations.

This season has reunited what seemed like a million pieces of my broken dream into a concise and detailed blueprint. I'm watching Him build my business each day. Things that once seemed like heavy burdens and curses have culminated in a redemptive purpose.

I've got my energy back and my creativity has returned. I'm designing, writing and creating on an entirely new level. 

Maybe the greatest evidence for me is that my heart is circling back towards church. At one time I was a Pastor who hated people. I hate admitting that but it’s true. Though I led a church I distanced myself greatly from other leaders and the networks in which I used to be deeply entrenched. I could relate to the passage that says, "I was wounded in the house of my friends." I loved the idea of church, but my real life experiences had left a bitter taste in my mouth. As I built my business, I tried to stay as far away from the Christian audience as possible. That has changed and I'm finding myself drawn to serve God's churches once again.

Regardless of where you are on your own journey, I hope that my story encourages you. I've been through decades of fire and have survived to see the benefits on the other side. I've transitioned from survival mode to a place of blessing and prosperity. If you're in the fire, my word to you is, "Don't give up." Even when you lose the ability to hold yourself, God will be faithful to hold onto you. If you're not in the fire, I want to encourage you to share this story with others who are.

God's goal is never to leave us in the wilderness. He wants to get us to our promised land more than we want to get there. Peter tells us to entrust our souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is good. God will lead you towards the manifestation of your dream. It all began with Him and He will get you there if you continue to believe.

I have a love/hate relationship with this journey. It's exposed my deepest fears and exposed my best hiding places. The glory of it however is that it has delivered me from fear that I did not know that I had; fear that limited me in so many ways.

At times through this process it seemed that all was lost. God knew the perfect balance of favor and misfortune for me. He knew exactly what to allow and what to prevent in my life. He knew my limits and never took me farther than what He knew I could go; and He always extracted more from me in terms of faith, than I knew that I had.

Now I'm in a season where my strength is being renewed. I'm experiencing a new level of integrity, being less divided in my thoughts and actions. My vision is being renewed. It's the old vision, but it's also new. He's taken something that used to be in the clouds and made it something that is applicable and practical.

I'm so thankful for the Lord's ways. The more I understand, the more I see that His system is perfect. The results that I'm seeing make the journey so worth it!

You may feel that you are just holding on, or know someone else who is in this place. I want to encourage you. Through my struggles, I would look for solutions. They seldom came the way that I wanted or planned. What I consistently got was opportunity for a deeper relationship with God.

The results that you get will depend on what you want most. Do you want God's provision or do you want Him? You can have the former without the latter, but when you deepen your relationship with God, all of His resources also become available to you.

As I learn to walk in this place of manifestation I am so blessed. My vision is taking form. My fields are yielding good fruit. I want to take these things as far as I can steward them through God’s wisdom and ability. While I’m doing this, I’m simultaneously thinking and planning for any legacy God might want to build that might help others after I'm gone..

 The only thing that will survive any of us is the influence that we’ve had in the lives of others. Each of us has one life to tell God's story as accurately as possible. It will be our Testament of how great His love towards humanity is. We have one life to generate the finance, to build better systems, to impact more people. If we don't leave the earth a better place than it was when we got here, what was the purpose of our lives?

If you haven't already thought about this, I challenge you, to do so now. Your legacy is not just about you, though most people see it that way. It's about setting something in motion that will continue to tell God's story for generations to come.

Through my story I shared the names of two people who altered the course of my life. There were many others I might have mentioned. Every life has influence. It can be positive or negative. There is no neutral. It only makes sense to be intentional in this regard. Will you intentionally and positively influence the people in your life that are important to you?

By following these three easy steps we will walk you through the process of writing, and if you desire, recording your story. What you do (or don't do) with it is up to you, but you'll be invited to share it on this website.

Let's change lives together! I believe that my story has collided with the course that you were on. If you read, listened to, or watched it with an open heart and mind, I know that you've been impacted. Now it's time to use your influence to impact others. This is too critical to put off. I encourage you to do it right now!