Pamela Mertz was mid-session, leading her first group coaching demo, when she realized she was drenched in sweat.

Her heart raced. Her hands trembled. She was so focused on impressing everyone in the room that she’d completely lost track of what actually mattered: the people in front of her.

She stopped. Right there in the middle of the session.

“I need to confess something,” she told the group. “I’m trying to perform instead of paying attention to the process. Can we reset?”

That moment – ten years ago – became the hinge point in Pamela’s journey from burned-out tech sales executive to PCC credentialed coach who now oversees 43 coaches and teaches hundreds more.

Today, as President of Blue Print Life Coaching and faculty member at PCCI, Pamela has logged over 1,000 coaching hours with 70+ clients. But none of it would have happened if her best friend hadn’t said five words that redirected her entire life:

“You’re a coach. Take this course.”

By 2015, Pamela was what she now calls “crispy, crunchy burned out.”

Nearly four decades in competitive electronics sales had taken their toll. Principles who wanted her expertise and connections would pull back on commitments the moment success arrived. She’d been burned repeatedly. Her hope in humanity was waning.

At the same time, spiritual wounds from church leadership had left her weary and disillusioned. She was serving on the church council, witnessing conflict and disruption that felt completely counter to everything she believed the Body of Christ should be.

“I just wanted to help people,” she remembers. “My hope is always in Jesus, but it had waned considerably in humanity.”

When her best friend gifted her the course fee to study with Cheryl Scanlan, MCC, Pamela wasn’t even sure what professional coaching meant. But she felt God’s clear direction.

She was hooked within weeks.

Pamela dove headlong into every course PCCI offered. She pursued her ACC through ICF, then her PCC (just renewed in May 2025). She added credentials: CPCC with Christian Coaches Network International, Strengths Finders certification, Discipleship coaching with Promised Land Living, healthcare quality improvement training at Dartmouth.

But the real education came in the trenches.

She learned to measure her words. To embrace silence as “golden” – the space where God gets her clients’ full attention. To trust her inner voice, knowing it was Holy Spirit guiding her for her client’s benefit.

The transformation wasn’t just professional.

“I am a much better listener than I used to be. I’m more aware of what is not being said. My faith has grown tremendously as I’ve witnessed how God uses coaching in me and through me.”

One coaching moment stands out above the rest.

Pamela was working with a CEO navigating significant growth – a woman doubting her abilities, drowning in the “shoulds” that echo in every leader’s mind. Should do this differently. Should be more like that person. Should have figured this out by now.

In the session, something shifted. The CEO paused. Really paused. And in that silence, she heard something different: she was being obedient.

“She was able to stop all of the chatter and the ‘shoulds,’” Pamela recalls. “She became certain of her role and how to move forward. It was powerful to witness as she shed some of the world and was able to stand above the fray to clearly see forward.”

Tears. Breakthrough. Clarity.

This is what keeps Pamela showing up after a decade: witnessing transformation that only happens when someone is truly heard, truly seen, and given space to listen for God’s voice themselves.

These days, Pamela’s practice looks nothing like those early sweaty demos.

She coaches private clients three days a week. She oversees 43 discipleship coaches for Promised Land Living. She teaches The Essentials of Coaching at PCCI twice yearly. She trains healthcare professionals for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in the “coach approach” to patient partnerships. She serves as Director of Education for CCNI, equipping Christian coaches globally. She’s written two books in her “God-help” series.

Her sessions have a cadence now – peaceful, spacious, unhurried. She follows more than she leads. Her clients do 90% of the talking. They leave feeling calm, reassured, and clear about what God is saying to them.

She still jokes that marketing is her biggest challenge. She’s hired a VA for the things she’s not good at. She tells God He had her write books, so He can market them.

But the coaching itself? She’s completely at ease now. She looks for His little hints and nudges as she listens. Those powerful questions come from powerful listening.

After ten years of coaching, here’s what Pamela wishes she’d known at the beginning:

“I wish I would have known how to tap into hearing God for myself earlier than I did. When I connected those dots into coaching, the ‘recipe’ for every client encounter was solidified.”

The biggest lesson?

Her advice for aspiring coaches wondering if they’re “qualified enough”?

“God equips the called. Calling comes first.”

And what does it take to actually build a practice that sustains you?

“Tenacity. Faith in what God has called you into. And a peer coach to help remind you of your identity, your calling, and His provision.”

Pamela still uses that sweaty first demo as a teaching example. The moment she stopped performing and started trusting the process became the template for everything that followed.

Ten years. Seventy clients. Over 1,000 hours. Multiple credentials. Books published. Coaches trained.

And she’s never been more certain: Stay in the game. Trust Him.

The journey from burned out to fully alive is available. But it requires commitment, training, and a willingness to stop performing and start partnering with the One who’s been coaching all along.