Coached by Paul the Apostle
Lessons in Transformation
Father Nathan Cromly
ISBN 9781594175237
eISBN 9781594175244
I did not realize I had fallen so far behind on this series. I had a digital copy of this and two over volumes in the ‘Coached by’ series on my reader, When I went to write this review found another forthcoming volume. Reading this volume marks the third in the series I have read.
When I read the first book in this series, Coached By Joan of Arc by Alexandre Havard, I was unaware it was the beginning of a series. They are to date all excellent reads. When I returned to University in my late 20’s the first course I took was ‘Paul’s Life and Letters’ the final was an independent reading course on ‘Pauline Theology’. Since then I have tried to read at least one Pauline Studies book a year. This one is a good read.
The description of this book states:
“St. Paul’s initial transformation was a dramatic shift from Saul to Paul, from persecutor to believer, from darkness to light. And yet, the scales falling from his eyes was only the he lived and taught the lesson of transformation for the rest of his life.
In his book, Fr. Cromly reveals the universality and timelessness of St. Paul’s leadership, what can happen if we let Christ transform our lives, and how we can find guidance from this great saint who is, in fact, much like us. Paul is the one who dares us to be impactful Christians in an often-perilous world, and who shows us how to transform our fears into courage, our rejections into opportunities, our suffering into grace, and our solitude into union with Christ.”
Another on the Scepter site states:
“St. Paul’s initial transformation was a dramatic shift from Saul to Paul, from persecutor to believer, from darkness to light. And yet, the scales falling from his eyes was only the beginning: he lived and taught the lesson of transformation for the rest of his life.
In his book, Fr. Cromly reveals the universality and timelessness of St. Paul’s leadership, what can happen if we let Christ transform our lives, and how we can find guidance from this great saint who is, in fact, much like us. Just a few of the lessons we can learn include:
• Five essential questions that help us engage our God-given freedom into action
• The forms of inner paralysis that result from giving in to fear and negativity
• How to follow Christ’s call to love – in whatever state of life we find ourselves in
• How God meets us where we are broken and weak – and how to be open to it
• The role of the Holy Spirit in confronting fear and uncertainty
• St. Paul’s secret to turning negative circumstances into positive results
• The redemptive role of the “daily grind” – and how to use it to glorify God
Paul is the one who dares us to be impactful Christians in an often-perilous world, and who shows us how to transform our fears into courage, our rejections into opportunities, our suffering into grace, and our solitude into union with Christ.”
About the author we are informed:
“Fr. Nathan Cromly is the founder of the St. John Institute and the podcast Dare Great Things for Christ. He is a speaker, writer, and educator whose retreats, workshops, and seminars have touched the lives of thousands of people nationwide. Originally from Toledo, Ohio, he is currently living out his priestly ministry in Denver, Colorado.”
The chapters in the volume are:
Introduction
One: Freedom’s Roadmap
Two: With Eyes like Flames of Fire
Three: Hold Your Head High
Four: In Ashes, Flame
Five: In Darkness, Light
Six: Jumping
Seven: In Pain, a Name
Eight: In Loss, Gain
Nine: In Solitude, Friends
Ten: Life on the Edge
I highlighted numerous passages while reading this book, some of them are:
“This book is not a work of deep spirituality, and it is not a work of spiritual direction. It is a practical book, written simply to help us answer a question: What would our everyday lives look like if they were coached by St. Paul?”
“Second, Paul gives us an approach to leadership that is different from that of the world. Its structure and circumstances are the same, but its impact is entirely new. Paul encourages us to engage our world, not for any gain this could bring us, but in order to bring the influence of Jesus Christ to bear upon it. The impact of St. Paul’s leadership is not measured as much by the scope of his influence as by its depth.”
“Stat crux dum volvitur orbis. It’s a Latin expression which, loosely translated, means, “The world spins while the cross stands erect.””
“This book intends to help Christians in every state of life find a deeper relationship with Jesus by engaging in the duties of the life to which God has called them.”
“When we try to act, we discover our weaknesses—the holes in our lives, if you will. St. Paul will coach us that we do not need to avoid or even overcome these to be successful in God’s eyes because God wants to meet us there and sanctify us. Indeed, St. Paul shows us that the “holes” of our lives are where God wants to make us holy!”
“All human beings have something in common: we sleep until we wake up. After that, the hard part begins. It’s not that our lives are bad—our days are, in fact, full of many wonderful things—but undoubtedly they are often still a grind.”
“It’s not that we don’t have a justification for not living the lives we want to; we all want to move our lives forward. It’s just that sometimes we see so much that needs to be done while simultaneously we feel incapable of knowing where to start.”
“The important thing is to realize that paralysis isn’t an illness, but a symptom. What the world often forgets is that true leadership is fundamentally a question of the heart.”
“If leadership requires courage, and courage comes from the heart, then the more we can engage our heart in our leadership, the more impactful our leadership will be. Since no one knows the heart better than God, no one leads better than the one who lets God teach them how to lead from the heart.”
“Whenever we do something intentionally whether great or small, we engage our freedom. And this means we necessarily pass through five stages. First, we start by wanting to do something. Next, we decide on the best way to do it. Then we choose to begin to do it and discover how to finish what we started. And, finally, we find a way to share with others what we have done so that they can be a part of it. St. Paul—indeed, any impactful leader—has followed this map from paralysis to freedom, and we can too.”
“This is what being coached by St. Paul is all about—it’s all about us discovering and putting the power of our freedom behind the fire of our love. What else is true freedom other than loving truly good.”
“Being Christian means shaking off the inner paralysis of negativity and fear, and waking up into loving activity that shapes the world we are called to lead.”
“1. What is the good that I want to pursue? 2. What is the best way for me to obtain it? 3. What are the first steps I need to take? 4. How can I persevere in my pursuit, despite whatever struggles I encounter? 5. What is the best way to share what I am doing with others so that they can be a part of it.”
“Just as surely as these questions swirl around the hearts of all who look honestly at their lives, the life of St. Paul stands like a colossal monument to the power of Christian hope.”
“Christian Courage shone through his fears as he found his way to his first steps; and Christian Constancy kept him from stopping. Despite all that he went through, St. Paul never stopped traveling, preaching, writing, and exhorting. He was a man of action, giving us a real example of Christian Courage as he dared the risks and acted on his love—following through despite the cost.”
“It is a daring thing to walk on water; it is a daring thing to raise people from the dead; it is a daring thing to be transformed. It is a daring thing to follow Jesus as St. Paul did. It is a daring thing to lead.”
“There are also, however, many truths that stick out to us with stark clarity. One of these is that, when it comes to our lives as human beings on this earth, God is not a big fan of the status quo.”
“But, the followers of Christ are able to do more than just heal the body. His followers can address an even deeper need: they can bring the transforming power of the loving mercy of God to the souls of those longing for life.”
“God does not do anything randomly or without intention, and the same holds true for how he transforms St. Paul and us. When God transforms us, he shapes us into the image of Jesus, his Son. This has major implications for how we understand our lives as Christians. At its core, it means that the goal of our Christian lives cannot be found on this earth.”
“A Christian leader uses the same tools as every other kind of leader but uses them in a different way. We speak, decide, act, and collaborate, but we do not do these things alone. Christ works through us. Christ leads through us.”
“He strides across the stage of history like a great lion of God, this saint, Paul. His achievements are incredible. Conversant in at least three languages, he used his approximately forty years as a disciple of Christ to found over twenty Christian communities, traveling well over ten thousand miles by foot as he summited mountain passes, crossed deserts, slept on highways, and hiked along trails. Along the way, he wrote thirteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, found himself at the starting point of at least five riots, spent over five years in prison, and lived often as a guest in the homes of the wealthy as he was left destitute to survive by the working of his own hands. His presence was considered so volatile to the status quo that at one point he was escorted by no fewer than 470 armed troops to protect him from the forty assassins who lay in wait to kill him, under an oath made to God to neither eat nor drink until they did so. He was a single man, with no money to his name, but the power of his word gave him the reputation of a man who would turn “the world upside down” (Acts 17: 6).”
“You see, our sins are not instruments of God’s grace—quite the contrary—but the human weaknesses, imperfections, and inner wounds that can point us to sin, can also, if we are brave enough to be humble, point us to the Savior instead. Rather than letting the flaws in us induce us to sin out of fear, we can bravely face them instead, and rely on the strength and grace of Jesus who comes to save us in our weakness.”
“Of course, leading requires tremendous personal strength. Leading in Christ, however, requires something even more: tremendous personal humility. In our humility before the strength of Christ’s desire to work through us, we find an even greater power than we could have on our own. This is what it means to become a saint in leadership, and it is the path that God marks out for each of us to walk on as he raises up saints to lead.”
“Following Jesus into love is like climbing a steep mountain, pulling against the gravity of our selfishness and the force of comfort into the cold, rarefied air of a mountain summit. We know that in order to love we need to act.”
“To lead others effectively, we have to pass over from the warm, soft shores of our dreams onto the cold, hardened land of action by the singular bridge of making decisions about how we will get there.”
“Perhaps, instead, the key to following God’s will lies in entrusting ourselves humbly and constantly to the Holy Spirit, allowing God to make all things work out for the good in his perfect time."
“Watching St. Paul in action, we notice something else. St. Paul had a strategy and a kind of plan, and yet he was ready to pivot depending on what he found in front of him.”
“To do anything, we have to start. Sometimes, starting is the hardest of things. What could I do before I try to start something that would make starting even easier? What small step could help me make the bigger step I need to make?”
“St. Paul was always ready to pivot in order to keep moving forward. Is God asking me to pivot in my life? What do I need to change to keep moving forward?
Seven: In Pain, a Name”
“Leadership talks and motivational speeches are all the rage these days. Whether from podcasts or radio talk shows, from books or videos, our modern public is ready to consume messages that challenge, inspire, and push us to action. It all seems wonderful—imagining ourselves fit, healthy, educated, leading our businesses—until we try it.”
“We learn to give cheerfully even when it comes at a cost. This is the essence of what we can call Christian Constancy and it is the blessing God gives the world when we persevere through the pain of “the grind” by his grace.”
“And, somewhere in the grind of forty years of living what was a “daily death” (see 1 Cor 15: 31), his identity became as real as his action. In the grind, he found his name. Deep within Paul’s sacrifices, God was at work—gradually transforming Paul into whom God created him to be: an apostle of Christ Jesus.”
“The truth is, each of us was made uniquely by God from within an unrepeatable act of love. God did not make us because he needed to; he did not make us because in some way we made him any better. He made us out of his sheer good pleasure, because he wanted us to exist. He literally loved us into being.”
“He spent much of his time in prayer, made sure to have periods of rest, and was able to spend time alone. If we are going to stretch ourselves through demanding, challenging activity, we need to take the time to be centered and healthy.”
“This is because, in fact, leadership is only half about a leader’s vision and ability. The other half of leadership is about how effectively a leader can forge a bond with those who follow them. Trust, it turns out, is just as important for reaching our goals as vision and passion.
“Coaches need to inspire the members of their team to play their best as much as they need to know how to recruit the talent for their team. Managers need to earn the respect of those whom they manage as much as they need to understand their company’s operations.”
“But St. Paul shows us his secret: we don’t live for their opinions; we live for God. He could not live based on the opinions others had about him. He had to walk the narrow, higher path—he had to follow the same Christ who finished his life naked upon the Cross. And he did.”
“Just like a Christian who meets the strength of Christ in the very place where they experience their own unique blend of human weakness, a sword has two sides, strong and flat, that are forever inseparable. And, like Christians whose courageous faith allows them to boast of their weaknesses, who lift up their heads before the intimidating fears that could otherwise dull the impact of their lives, the two sides of the sword come to an edge in a fine point. Christianity requires courage in the same way that a sword requires an edge. And a Christian soul is made to be used by Christ in the same way that a sword is wielded in the hand of a warrior—to set free a world bound by the effects of sin.”
“What would our world look like if we Christians decided to live our lives more on the edge of courage? What would our marriages look like if we overlooked the bruises and hurts of the past and braved the mercy of forgiveness? How would our friendships be transformed if we lived them in the pursuit of something greater than ourselves? How would our society be transformed if people decided to build new things in hope instead of destroy old things in fear? It would look . . . wonderful.”
I hope those quotes give you a feel for this volume. It is a good read in a great series. The material is clearly presented. It is easily accessible and could be used by a high school student up to a retiree. The writing is crisp and clean. When I started reading this, I planned on a chapter a day, and I stuck to that pace.
Having read so much about Saint Paul over the years I was intrigued by the concept of this volume even before I began it. Some of the lessons I found better and more applicable than others.
This is a good volume that I can easily recommend. And I look forward to reading others in the series.
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2026 Catholic Reading Plan! For all reviews about Saint Paul and Pauline Theology click here.
Books in the Scepter Coached by Series:
Coached by Catherine of Siena - Joan Watson
Coached By Joan of Arc - Alexandre Havard
Coached by Josemaría Escrivá - Henry Hanson, O. Praem.
Coached by Paul the Apostle - Fr. Nathan Cromly
Coached by Philip Neri - Rob Marco
Coached by the Curé - Kevin Wells
…
