Outstanding Podcast - give it a listen.

Please, I am begging you, set aside 39 minutes to listen to this podcast featuring my friend and colleague, Rev. Dr. John Ashley Null.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sport-faith-life/id1380516650?i=1000766511262

This is of immense value to everyone in the world of competitive sport.

Discussions with Coaches

 During a recent conversation with a colleague, I mentioned that sports chaplains and character coaches usually want to engage coaches with coaches like those suggested by Joe Ehrmann. "Why do you coach? Why do you coach the way you do? What does it feel like to be coached by you? How do you define and measure success?" Those are certainly questions I want to ask coaches to contemplate and discuss. The problem is, that presupposes they are ready to engage at that level of discussion. Many, if not most, are not.

Rather than simply wait for coaches to express such hunger for growth, I suggested to my colleague a few precursor questions leading toward deeper discussions in the future. Like most communication, speaking with coaches goes best when we start where they are and work to advance the discussion toward their hearts.

Let's think about questions for talking with coaches on three levels: 1 - Facts and Stories. 2 - Values and Opinions. 3 - Heart and Soul. Let's leave the Heart and Soul questions as Coach Ehrmann's listed above. I will offer a few questions for levels 1 and 2 in the following paragraphs.

1 - Facts and Stories. Most anyone will answer questions like these, if you phrase brief questions seeking brief answers. "Who was one of the best coaches you played for or coached with? Tell me about him/her." "Across your years of coaching, what has made for the best players (parents of players, assistant coaches...)?" "What have been some of your most rewarding moments in coaching this sport?" Enabling people to tell their stories can reveal a good deal about their values and approach to sport and coaching. Ask about people, situations, and experiences.

2 - Values and Opinions. If the coach has been forthcoming about level 1 information, and if you have time to talk more, transition to asking a follow up question. "Why was it about that coach you respected so highly?" "Why are those qualities in players  (parents of players, assistant coaches...) so important to you?" "How have those rewarding moments shaped how you coach?" Ask about values, opinions, and significance.

3 - Heart and Soul. Getting to this level of discussion may happen quickly, but probably will not. It could take weeks, months, or years to arrive. "Why do you coach? Why do you coach the way you do? What does it feel like to be coached by you? How do you define and measure success?" Ask about these most consequential, impactful, and transformational matters of the heart and soul.

When we engage coaches in these sorts of discussions, it deepens our relationships with them, it shapes how they coach, and it can enrich their lives immediately and eternally. 

April, 2026 newsletter for rogerlipe.com

 

rogerlipe.com is active!

Friends and colleagues,

A new ministry initiative is being launched today, https://rogerlipe.com/ is now live and I am ready to serve. In the months since my retirement and my wife’s passing, I have been contemplating how I could best fulfill my calling from God through this next season of life. The paragraphs below communicate my game plan.





Sporting organizations and Sports ministries, worldwide, are suffering from a tremendous “brain drain.” The Baby Boom generation is rapidly retiring and leaving the organizations with a deficit of senior leadership. As they depart, much of their organizational history, values, and wisdom for making decisions leaves with them. Further, these senior leaders become unavailable to the new generation of leaders due to relocation or disconnection.

I am making myself available to serve sports organizations and sports ministries as a trainer, a mentor, or a coach, in the USA and anywhere else in the world.In Training, I serve by leading curriculum driven presentations of information and development experiences.
In Mentoring, I serve by lending my expertise and experience to those being served.
In Coaching, I serve by leading growth through asking skillful questions of the one being served.

Please log onto https://rogerlipe.com/ for more information.

Background: Widower, father, and grandfather
Over thirty years of ministry in sport experience:

o 4 years as Character Coach Director with Nations of Coaches

o 27 years with Fellowship of Christian Athletes

o 8 seasons serving professional baseball with Baseball Chapel

o 31 years as Sports Chaplain or Character Coach to coaches and teams at Southern Illinois University in CarbondaleAuthor of sixteen books for ministry in sport
Trainer, mentor, and conference speaker on six continents of the world
Presenter at each of the four Global Congresses on Sport and Christianity
Blogger and YouTube content developer

Areas of Service:Sports Chaplaincy Training & Development (individuals & organizations)
Sports Ministry Leader Mentoring and Coaching
Ministry with Coaches (strategies & resources)
Team Culture Development (strategies & resources)
Team Leadership Development (strategies & resources)

Please contact me if I can be of service to you. My contact information is below.

Sport and Ministry

Training / Mentoring / Coaching

Roger D. Lipe

https://rogerlipe.com/

roger@rogerlipe.com      

 Mobile – 618.559.2735      

 X - @RogerDLipe

Becoming Undone Podcast

I was recently a guest on the Becoming Undone podcast with my friend and colleague, Dr. Toby Brooks of Baylor University.

Here's a link to our candid discussion of the changes I've experienced across the last fourteen months.

https://undonepodcast.com/ep152/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQsBt5leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFqVm9saFQ2MFNJdmVTbFozc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHpiX8xPVx4nCYTxb0gCNK8Akj4TPxDfapZqH-bou55jCZqqwjxigQwFkf5ae_aem_DUtxiA-_aXB9zmyB61nAQQ

By the way, this is an excellent podcast to which one can subscribe.

"Coach Said..."

I was recently privileged to be a guest on this show with the Coaches Ministry Director in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.

We both strongly believe in the influence of coaches with those they coach, with whom they coach, and with all those surrounding teams.

https://dailynewsnetwork.com/2026/shows/making-difference/making-a-difference-with-roger-lipe/?sessionId=37c6fed4-a05b-431d-8391-1dbd5788a01c&trigger_link=kMc2cIMbIdr1LkKPKFUs&fbclid=IwY2xjawQsCQ1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEed8J8NtP_EAqkIAfToAjm5msSGWZHMgQ6zN7yvEEDH0sTw5AJc8WZjtWGAy4_aem_l1IM3dzVWenx5y9q8-kg8w

Reflections from the Front Lines of a Cancer Battle

 My wife’s cancer battle consumed the first six months of 2025. It ultimately ended her life on earth, much too soon, and much too painfully. Throughout those months, I was alternately locked in the battle and trying to maintain an equilibrium to our lifestyle. As the weeks, appointments with doctors, treatments, emergency room visits, surgeries, and sleepless nights mounted, I became reflective and tried to make sense of what I was experiencing.

Writing reflections in the notes app of my mobile phone became a helpful way of processing all my heart and mind were experiencing. Below are those reflections. They are often raw, vulnerable, and gut-level honest. Later in the process, after the urgency of things had subsided, I began sitting with my laptop to write the narrative of our experience. I certainly have a long way to go in my grieving and mourning process.

Below, please find the link to a pdf of these reflections. I hope they are of some value to you, or to others who are experiencing disease, loss, grief, or mourning.  

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2jzmx9t7d4xea03cshcrl/Reflections-from-the-Front-Lines-of-a-Cancer-Battle.pdf?rlkey=hf1a6if0k725d9qh0pzrjxyor&dl=0