I feel a new initiative coming on to be done in and around Annapolis. Check out the video and start thinking of a sign you can make for your community. So simple, yet so much potential.
Leadership is essentially influencing people to do what is right and/or needed to be done.
Mentorship relies heavily on a person’s leadership skills. However, it requires something that leadership does not – a deep and personal relationship. This relationship is one where there is daily or near-daily contact so that the mentee can see that the mentor lives out what he says he believes. This moves a mentor from being a leader to also being a teacher.
In John 13, Jesus washes his students’ feet. Apparently nobody had done it, and Jesus capitalized on the opportunity to teach a priceless lesson. In verses 13-15 he says, “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” For about three years they had Jesus as their Mentor, living with him, going nearly everywhere he went, and observing both his teaching and his living.
Still in the same setting in chapter 14 Jesus pronounces that his students would do greater works than he himself did. He says in verse 12, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to he Father.” In the preceding chapters of John’s gospel we’ve already seen how he had given sight to the blind, healed crippled hands and legs, and even brought a person back to life after being dead for four days; and now he’s saying that the students would do greater things than he did! That’s just the mark of effective mentorship – equipping the mentee with such power and tools that he is able to achieve greater success than the mentor!
But does mentorship have its place in our country? Leadership is certainly in abundance. Our nation seems to thrive on leadership positions, as though being in one is what defines a person or gives them some level of greatness that is unattainable by the lowly “followers.” The truth is that it’s easy to be a leader – just do what is right and since somebody’s always watching you, you’re bound to influence someone to do what you are doing.
The true test of a person’s ability to lead, however, is found within their heart and demonstrated through their love for those who they are leading. Leadership is important, but mentorship is far more. All you have to do is put your arm around someone who is struggling in an area and make yourself available as much as possible. If you can’t humble yourself to give your time away then you’re not a mentor. You’re probably leading someone, but are you really caring for anyone through your leadership?
We all can be mentors – just open up your heart and share life with someone who does not have the knowledge, skills or abilities that you possess. Who in your life can learn from you? Be their leader and their teacher. Be their mentor.
My nephew, Ron, got to take his ASVAB last night. Soon after getting to the hotel he called me with such excitement and energy. He immediately began listing his scores and wanted me to look up what options he was going to have in selecting a job.
As it turns out he is going to have his choice of anything that he would want to do in the Army.
This is a huge win for him and a giant step toward starting a new life for himself. I know there have been plenty of men at Centerpoint Church who have been praying for him.
Prayers are still needed as he goes to take his physical today, followed by talking with a career counselor. (Those career counselors are tricky: when I had signed up in 2003 my counselor told me my job was to be a hacker, and boy was that wrong.) I told him to call me while he’s talking with the counselor if he has any questions or feels like they’re trying to get over on him.
He should be back in just a few hours. Hopefully he’ll be back with a signed contract and a date for when he’s going to basic training.
Keep those prayers coming.
Ryan V McKinnon 