Members Learn About LIFT

AAHWC had its first members-only meeting for the new year on February 25, 2024, where over thirty members virtually attended from the United States and Canada. They came together to learn about a training program called LIFT: Jesus’ Way of Coaching. Rick Mautz, Past President of AAHWC, created the LIFT curriculum to train lay church members to reach others by using Christ-centered health coaching principles. During the meeting, he provided an overview of the training program, which generally takes twelve hours to complete. Mautz also encouraged attendees to have the mind of Christ. This concept is beautifully captured by Ellen White, who stated, “Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Savior mingled with people as one who desired their good. He showed sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence”(1). 

The acronym LIFT stands for Listen, Inspire/Inquire, Facilitate, and Transform. In the training materials, Mautz explains how Jesus cared for people by thoroughly listening to them so He could understand them, being curious about them by asking thoughtful, powerful questions, and helping them to achieve things for themselves instead of doing it for them. By doing these three things, Jesus helped people achieve their goals, which naturally led to transformation. These are the main principles that the LIFT training program teaches so that lay church members can follow in the footsteps of Christ.  

Mautz envisions AAHWC members will complete the training and then train other church members at their local churches. This training can be done individually, in small groups, or with the whole church. In this way, trained church members will know how to meet people where they are, listen to them in a way they feel heard, and inspire them to move forward to reach their goals. In essence, they will learn basic health coaching skills without having to take a formal health coaching certification program.  

Many attendees were inspired by the information that the AAHWC President provided at this meeting, especially learning how to be relational with others in a Christ-centered way. Some voiced their desire to take the entire training and later train church members at their home churches.  

The complete training materials, including a study guide, PowerPoint slides, and seven training videos, can be found on the Rocky Mountain SDA Conference’s website: https://www.rmcsda.org/LIFT/.  The full twelve-hour LIFT training program was conducted at the Health Summit Intensive in person on April 26-28, 2024, at the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s North American Division headquarters in Columbia, Maryland.