I mentor because I love seeing people thrive. I mentor because I was mentored. I mentor because mentoring is at the core of the Christian life.
I was a college student who had a plan, some abilities, and was willing to work hard. And I was on track to carry out my plan to become a physical therapist. Until I encountered several mentors. Man, did they mess up my life! Or rather, they were voices for God to mess up my life…for the better.
I mentor because I was mentored.
I was young and just starting seminary. My first seminary professor in my first seminary class walked in slowly carrying a large stack of books and papers. He set them down on his desk, looked across the hundred or so students in the classroom and said, “Beloved, let’s begin.”
“Beloved?” I responded with a bit of sarcasm in my mind. He doesn’t even know me. Am I going to have to sit through King James lectures all semester?
But sit under his lectures I did, and I might have even learned some of the content as well. But the real lesson was always, “Beloved.”
Why I Mentor…
When I entered college at the University of Cincinnati, my goal was to get away from the calling that I knew God had on my life. I knew He had called me to ministry, but I wanted no part in it.
My mother sent an email to the Campus Pastor for the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at UC, Ken Dillard. He contacted me and invited me to a gathering of Christians on campus.
I reluctantly went — and things have never been the same since then.
Why I Mentor…
I love doing life and ministry with young adult women. More often than not, these young women teach me and pour into my life with their fresh perspectives. Here are three lesson’s I’ve learned from spending time with my “slightly” younger girlfriends that I mentor.
I didn’t grow up desiring to someday be a mentor. I “fell” into it when a colleague suggested I interview for a Resident Director (R.D.) position. I was looking for a new job and it seemed like an adventure — especially since the university was in Southern California!!!
After over 20 years of R.D. life and serving with over 170 Resident Assistants (R.A.s), I can truly say that I am a different person from interacting and walking with many wonderful college students.
A few years back we asked about 50 students to rank 1 through 17 in order of the value of our different ministries in their minds.
Our 50 students filling out the 1 to 17 list rated it (a one-on-one mentoring relationship) as the number one most helpful and needed thing we did!
I mentor because I’m convinced that being mentored was the single most impactful component for my spiritual growth in college.
Living in a world of helicopter parents who essentially make decisions for their children, collegians need mentors more than ever to grow spiritually and encounter life responsibly.
Helicopter parents tend to believe their child can do no wrong. This sentiment oftentimes positions adolescents for failure. In college, my mentor asked me the tough questions that no one wants to answer; these were questions that I intentionally avoided for the sake of spiritual sloth. However, without these questions, I would not have discovered the spiritual journey that I’m trekking today.
I’m excited to announce The 2013 Faith ON Campus FALL FORUM.
This two-day event will be held on the campus of Belmont University, in Nashville, TN on October 23rd & 24th, 2013.
This year’s event will feature extended conversations with author and leadership guru, Dr. Tim Elmore.
Those of us who work closely with today’s college students know that they are in the midst of some of the most formative years in life — and yet many are struggling to take advantage of the incredible opportunities that lay before them.
It’s that time of the year again…
We’re getting ready to say good-bye to our students — some for the summer, others for the foreseeable future.
And you’ve likely noticed over the course of the spring term a shift in conversations with your graduating seniors towards more future-oriented topics.
If your seniors are like most — they are struggling to know what’s next. Some are fearful. Some are anxiety-riddled. And some are down right paralyzed.
Why?
Because there is a lot up in the air regarding “what’s next.”
I met the Rev. Jack Fogleman when I was eighteen years old and a freshman in college.
In United Methodist organizational nomenclature, Jack was a district superintendent. That meant he had supervisory oversight for roughly sixty congregations in a particular section of the State (Kansas).
Another responsibility that district superintendents have is to keep track of young ministerial candidates. At the point of our first contact, I was not one of them, but Jack was paying attention.