Thankful for the opportunity to spend our morning with some wonderful leaders within the Sioux Falls area
at the God as CEO breakfast. GOD AS CEO is a movement to inspire and equip people to make Christ the cornerstone of their business.
By way of summary, I thought I would include some of my notes from yesterday’s breakfast talk on mentorship…
GOD AS CEO: Mentorship, December 11, 2019
About VP3 — gripped by the work of helping adults discover more deeply who God is, who they are, and what God wants to do through them. Our deep conviction is that God wants people to grow up into maturity in Christ. VP3 partners with leaders in the church, marketplace, seminaries, and neighborhoods who are looking for a proven integrated process, like VP3’s The Journey, to help them deepen and develop adults in Jesus’ name.
Focusing Question: What sort of transition do you find yourself in currently?
- The greatest gift you will give your family, you workplace, your community, your world… is “the gift of you being a growing person yourself.” (Henri Nouwen, Fall 1996)
- “Why are so many Christian leaders not finishing well?” -Dr. J. Robert Clinton
- Hebrews 13:6-7 – Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you, consider the outcome of their way of life, imitate their faith. Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever.
- Clinton studied thousands upon thousands of leaders lives (biblical, historical, contemporary) harvesting lessons from their life stories –The Making of a Leader (NavPress, 1989)
- A critical lesson… He found that those leaders who finished well prioritized mentoring relationships for themselves and in developing others; Isolation as a way of life is a chief predictor of not finishing well.
- We have a tremendous need to be seen.
- Not trophy ceremonies or top 100 lists… to be recognized or seen or noticed uniquely as a person. (imago dei)
- This is important at different life stages all along our journey…
- Jesus does this all the time (Mark 5: 24-34; Luke 19)… he notices others uniquely, picks them out of the crowd.
- Amidst the great variety of mentor-like relationships the central defining feature of a mentor is they notice others well. “a first-class noticer”
- Mentoring is not a ministry for specialists or experts; it belongs to all believers. Spiritual companions are not gurus or “advice dispensers” or “answer people.” They are ordinary, though rich in love. They ask questions. They listen. They pray with us.
- So many people across North America get blocked from finding a mentor or being a mentor because they think they need to find “yoda” or be “yoda.”
- 3 essential mentoring skills (listening, question-asking, prayerfulness) … see great detail about these three in A Mentoring Guide: Christ. Conversation. Companionship. VantagePoint3, 2019.
- Increasingly I am coming to think more of a mentor as simply someone we feel drawn to who seems to know things about life that we need to learn.
- Mentoring and seasons of transition or disorientation are intricately tied together…
- Research tells us that 83% of adult learning develops around an adult coping with a transition of some sort…we need to learn something if we are to grow through the changes.
- Mentors are those folks who become comfortable and adept at walking with people amidst their transitions or disorientations because they recognize that such times can be heightened times of learning and growth…
- How do we make space/time in our lives for such mentor-like relationships?
- Less a question of calendar than of urgency or need…
- It is the energy of needing to learn something that causes us to reach out and find space to meet with someone we are drawn to. A question of need first…
- “the greatest privilege we have in the Christian life is to have a sense of need.”
Some concluding questions
What sort of transition do you currently find yourself in?
And who are you walking with?
Who are you inviting into your life to notice and pay attention?
Who might the Spirit be inviting you to notice?
“We got maps and mapmakers ad nauseum; what we need are a few more mountain guides, people who have been there before us on the journey.” (James Houston)
