Meet Dane Wolfgram, a certified coach who helps individuals find clarity, work through challenges, and move forward with confidence. Through faith-informed coaching, Dane creates a supportive space for clients to navigate decisions, recognize what is within their control, and identify meaningful next steps while seeking God’s wisdom along the way.

Location: Virtual coaching nationwide

Email: [email protected]

Office/Scheduling: 605-271-1081 |  lutheranfamilyservice.org/contact

Lutheran Family Service is excited to welcome Dane Wolfgram to the team as LFS expands its services to include professional coaching.

With a background in ministry and leadership and training in executive coaching, Dane has a heart for walking alongside people who feel stuck, are navigating decisions or transitions, or simply want greater clarity about where they are headed. His Christian approach to coaching helps clients recognize the choices and strengths God has given them, focus on what is within their control, and seek His wisdom as they move forward.

We sat down with Dane to learn more about his path to coaching, what coaching looks like, how faith shapes his work, and what he is looking forward to as part of Lutheran Family Service.

Tell us a little about your background and how you became interested in coaching.

I started becoming interested in coaching through my work in ministry. A pastor I worked with in Minnesota did coaching as part of his career, and he encouraged me to consider developing those skills. He saw in me some of the soft skills that are important in coaching, being able to listen, have conversations, and help people think more clearly.

My dad, who is also a pastor, told me about the Townsend program through Concordia University Irvine. It felt like several things were converging at the same time: I was interested in coaching, people around me were encouraging me to pursue it, and there was a program within the LCMS where I could receive training.

I pursued my graduate degree through Concordia Irvine and earned my executive coaching certificate through the Townsend Institute. Since completing the certificate program, I have been doing leadership and support coaching, particularly with people serving in ministry and ministry-adjacent roles.

For someone who has never worked with a coach, how would you describe coaching?

The goal of coaching is really to help someone get from point A to point B. Maybe they feel stuck, don’t know what they should do next, or know where they want to go but aren’t sure how to get there.

A coach isn’t there to do the work for someone or tell them what to do. We’re there to help people recognize that they can accomplish their goals themselves.

One word I really like is agency. Coaching helps people discover the agency they have in a situation. Even if you’ve been dealt a difficult hand or you’re in a challenging situation, there are still things within your control. We can process what’s happening and then ask, “Where do I go from here? What can I do next?”

Everybody I work with is the expert in their own situation and their own life. My role is to help them tap into that expertise and use it to work through the challenges they’re facing.

How does your Christian faith influence the way you coach?

Even at the most basic level, there is value in working with someone who shares your Christian worldview. A client can know, “This is somebody who shares my faith. I can bring my challenges and questions here, and this person understands that my faith, Scripture, and God’s will are part of how I approach those things.”

I want people to know that I take that seriously.

With clients who want faith to be an active part of coaching, we can begin and end our time in prayer. We acknowledge that God is part of the process and ask Him to bring wisdom to what we’re doing together.

At the same time, I meet clients where they are. Sometimes faith and Scripture are a significant part of the conversation, and sometimes they don’t come up very often. The important thing is that clients know coaching is a safe place where those conversations can happen.

What do you enjoy most about walking alongside people through coaching?

I love being able to give someone space to process and think through a challenge in a way they may not have been able to before.

Most people have mentors, family members, friends, or other people they can talk to, and those relationships are incredibly valuable. But the people closest to us naturally have their own hopes and ideas about what might be best for us.

As a coach, I can offer a different kind of space. Someone can come to me and say, “This is what I’m thinking. This is what I want,” even if it’s completely different from what everyone else in their life thinks they should do. My role isn’t to steer them toward what I want for them. It’s to say, “Let’s explore that.”

I also love the long-term aspect of coaching, seeing someone’s progression and growth over time. It’s rewarding to see someone move from feeling hopeless to finding hope, then making progress, and eventually beginning to operate within their potential.

You build trust over time, and it’s exciting to continue walking alongside someone and see what happens next in their life.

How did you first become connected with Lutheran Family Service?

There were several connections along the way, and looking back, I can see God’s work in how they came together.

Years ago, before I went to graduate school for coaching, I met someone connected with Lutheran Family Service at a youth retreat in St. Louis. We started talking about my interest in coaching, and she mentioned that coaching was something LFS hoped to develop in the future.

That planted a seed. It was an affirmation that if I pursued the training, there might someday be an opportunity to use those skills through LFS.

Years later, the opportunity came around. I had been praying that if I was equipped to do this work, God would provide an opportunity for me to use it within the church. It’s been exciting to see that come full circle.

What are you most looking forward to about serving through Lutheran Family Service?

I’m excited to be part of an organization that is already connected to our church body and has the network and infrastructure to support this work in a much bigger way than I could on my own.

Coaching can be difficult for people to access, so I’m excited about the opportunity LFS has to make these services available to more people. It’s also exciting to bring the skills I’ve developed into an organization that sees value in coaching and wants to grow this area of service.

It feels like a relationship where I can bring something valuable to Lutheran Family Service while LFS also provides a place where I can use these skills to serve others. I’m excited to see where it goes.

Is there a Bible passage that is especially meaningful to you?

My favorite passage is Hebrews 12:1–3.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” Hebrews 12:1–3 (ESV)

I love that it acknowledges that life isn’t always easy. There are things that slow us down and weigh us down.

But we’re also surrounded by this “great cloud of witnesses.” There are people around us—and generations of Christians who have gone before us—who encourage and support us. And together, we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and continue moving forward.

Not every step is going to be easy, but we get to support one another as we take those next steps and keep going.

When you’re not working, what do you enjoy doing?

I really enjoy being creative. Music is a big part of that. I play guitar and drums at church, and I also help lead a student praise band at our school. I enjoy photography and going out to take pictures, and I like cooking too. I just enjoy having different creative outlets.

Whether someone is navigating a transition, facing an important decision, or simply feeling stuck about what comes next, coaching can provide a supportive space to reflect, identify a path forward, and take meaningful next steps. We are excited to welcome Dane to Lutheran Family Service and to expand the ways LFS can walk alongside individuals, families, and church workers.