I could be writing about the president of Mexico. Almost. Miguel Castillo was 22, about to graduate university in Monterrey, Mexico, when a friend changed his direction entirely.
The plan had been politics: one friend would become president, Miguel secretary of foreign affairs, another secretary of defense. They had it mapped out. Then he ran into a friend he hadn’t seen in years, a friend who had been radically transformed by an encounter with Jesus. They sat together and the friend opened his Bible to Philippians 3.
Paul’s resume. Hebrew of Hebrews. Blameless under the law. Could have been president. But he counted it all as rubbish compared to knowing Christ.
“He explained what that word meant,” Miguel says. “‘You know that word – it means scuba.’ And I said: I don’t remember understanding the scriptures this clearly. He said: that’s because the Holy Spirit is helping you understand.”
That afternoon, Miguel decided he wanted to follow this Jesus that Paul talked about. It’s now been more than 30 years. He’s planted churches on three continents, nearly burned out once, and come out the other side with something more durable than strategy or enthusiasm: a deep conviction that healthy leaders, patiently discipled, are how the Kingdom multiplies.
Day Three, Already Serving
From the moment of his conversion, Miguel was in motion. Day three: a Bible study. Day five: praying for the terminally ill in hospitals. Day ten: evangelism in the squares of Monterrey. Weekends: visiting the areas of the city where drug addicts gathered, bringing hot chocolate, showing up with love.
“I was discipled from day one,” he says. Every Friday, every Monday, a Bible teacher would open the scriptures and they’d come alive. “And I was serving from day one.”
Looking back, he realizes he was part of a church plant without knowing it – a gathering of young professionals and doctors who’d all had radical encounters with Jesus and were serving together with contagious energy. Something caught fire in Miguel watching it happen.
“I came from a church that was very strong on Bible stories, but not on passion – passion in worship, passion in sharing your faith. And here I was a few years later on the other side. There was depth but also passion. I thought: I want to do this for the rest of my life.”
From Monterrey he went to Texas for seminary, then Arkansas to join a church planting residency program, and eventually to Spain as a missionary – carrying with him the question that has followed him everywhere: Lord, where are the young men you want me to pour into?
The Project That Nearly Broke Them
The story Miguel tells with the most honesty is also the most important one.
After years of ministry in multiple countries, he and his wife Ilaria launched a church planting project in Madrid called OOS (Oikos en Oikos) – house churches scattered across the neighborhoods of the city. It ran for four and a half years. They saw people come to Christ. There were baptisms. And then, quietly, the team dissolved.
The Lehman Brothers crash rippled through Spain. One couple moved to Germany for work. Another chose to join an established church. Miguel and Ilaria were left alone.
“My wife said: if we continue forward, we’re going to burn out.”
They folded the project. And then they didn’t put church planting on the shelf. They buried it.
What happened next was a mentor who wouldn’t let them stay buried. He came to them and walked them through three questions, each one peeling back a layer.
“You’re done with church planting.”
“Yes.”
“But you’re not done with Jesus.”
“No – absolutely not.”
“And you’re not done with ministry.”
“No, we want to serve him for the rest of our lives.”
“Then,” the mentor said, “find a passion that’s really close to your heart and ask the Lord to use it.”
Ilaria had a passion for textile art and fashion. She trained in pattern-making. God is still using her in that.
Miguel said: “Wine.”
The mentor said: “Miguel, we’re talking ministry.”
Miguel tried again: “People development. I love to see people move from point A to point B – in their walk with Christ, in their leadership capacity, especially young people.”
“Have you ever considered coaching?”
It was the question that opened a new chapter entirely.
Coaching Changes the Equation
Thirteen years ago, coaching was not a word Miguel associated with ministry. He got formally trained, became certified through the International Coaching Federation, and set up a part-time coaching practice at a digital marketing agency in Madrid.
Then Theo Bunescu walked through the door with a friend and said: M4 is about to start in Spain, and we’re looking for coaches.
He asked what they needed. They said: someone with basic coaching training. He said: I have that. They said: and experience in church planting. He said: “Well, there I’m a failure.” They said: “Even better – that way you can bring what not to do, not just the to-do list.”
Miguel has been coaching within the M4 ecosystem ever since, working with church planting teams across Spain and Europe, and training others to coach. He describes it as discipleship multiplied.
“Discipleship and coaching are two sides of the same coin – people development and leader development. Coaching comes in and just multiplies the impact. Not just my own discipleship but how to empower others to make disciples.”
The trips stay with him. He flew into Bucharest, drove with Romanian and Spanish colleagues through to Ukraine, and ran a day and a half of coaching skills training with 12-14 church planting leaders in Vinnytsia – during the war, not as tourists. “Nations serving nations: Romania and Spain pouring into what God is doing in Ukraine, and also training the trainers.”
Then South Africa: a full training day, and a pastor named Monami calling across the parking lot at the end.
“Miguel – thank you for the training on coaching. Where were you 25 years ago when I was starting my ministry?”
“I raised my hand and said: Glory to God.”
ELAN Church: Heartbeats in the North
The church plant Miguel is now part of in Madrid is called ELAN – from the French word for impulse or propulsion. The name is intentional: it sparks conversation. What’s ELAN?
“Our mission is to propel people into a transforming relationship with Christ.”
The church is five and a half years old, growing out of an M4 Team Process. Miguel came in as the coach for the founding team – and then, after the team process ended, found himself being gently (and then less gently) invited to join the executive team alongside his wife Ilaria.
“We had said: we will never lead a church planting project again unless we get specifically invited, and the Holy Spirit confirms it. And then the invitation came.”
The church has grown from a core group of six or seven to a vibrant community of around 65-70 people. They’ve seen people come to Christ. Their small groups are called “latitudes heartbeats” – communities scattered through the city meant to be beating centers of life.
Their geographic calling is clear: Madrid is a city of 7 million, and about 80-85% of evangelical churches are concentrated south of the Calle Gran Via. North of that line, there are fewer and fewer. ELAN’s vision is to fill the north with Christian witness and multiply into the neighborhoods.
“We want to be a church that is scattered – a light in every sector of society. We have artists and creatives, teachers, professors, business people, people working in social justice, housing for the homeless, supporting women out of difficult situations. We want to be an intentional presence in every one of those sectors.”
The Thing About Getting Older
At 57, with over 30 years of ministry behind him, Miguel has stopped trying to operate on seven fronts simultaneously. He’s narrowed to four or five, with most of his energy channeled into coaching: church planters in Spain, teammates at ELAN, and training coordinators across Europe.
“You’re not 25 anymore,” he says – and laughs, because it’s true. “When you grow older, it’s less about time and more about energy. You learn to focus.”
That focus has come through deliberate prayer and conversation with Ilaria, who is both his partner in ministry and his honest mirror. She recognized the burnout coming before he did. She’s the one who helped him bury the old project and find the courage to start again. And she’s the one whose passion for fashion and textile art has shaped their whole understanding of marketplace ministry.
He is, by his own description, more Barnabas than Paul – a shepherd through and through, someone who comes alongside rather than leads the charge. But he can’t thrive except in an apostolic ecosystem, somewhere where things are being initiated and activated.
“I have to be in something that is starting and moving. But when it comes to leading a church planting effort, I’ve come to embrace that I come alongside in a better place. That’s more who I am.”
Stay Healthy, Finish Strong
At the end of the conversation, asked to speak directly to whoever might be watching, Miguel doesn’t offer a strategy or a framework. He offers the thing he’s most obsessed about.
“I’m 57 years old. I’ve been in ministry for over 30 years. And the one thing I would pass on to you is: stay healthy.”
Not just physically. Healthy in your soul. In your mental health. In your spiritual health.
“May the Lord allow you to not only finish well, but finish strong. I have an obsession for spiritual health and for seeing and cheering on healthy leaders.”
It’s the advice of someone who has been to the edge – who folded a project, buried a calling, and came back. Who knows the difference between going through the motions and actually thriving. Who has spent decades watching what happens when leaders ignore the signs.
Stay healthy. Finish strong.
Everything else, he says, follows from that.
Follow Miguel: @miguel_idcoach