Best Practices for Mentoring – Part 3
Progress You Can Measure
It is important to encourage your potential leaders to review their goals and progress frequently. Ben Franklin set aside time every day to review two questions. In the morning he asked himself, “What good shall I do today?” In the evening he asked, “What good have I done today?”
How do you overcome discouragement so you can move ahead?
- Take time to grow.
I minister better when I take time to relax, read, recreate, spend time with family and friends, and grow professionally. Read more
Best Practices for Mentoring – Part 2
Guidelines For Mentoring Relationships
from “Developing The Leaders Around You, by John C. Maxwell
When you find someone who can personally mentor you, use these guidelines to help develop a positive mentoring relationship with that person.
- Ask the right questions: Give thought to questions you will ask before you meet with your mentor. Make them strategic for your own growth.
- Clarify your level of expectations: Generally, the goal of mentoring is improvement, not perfection. Perhaps only a few people can be truly excellent – but all of us can become better. Read more
Best Practices for Mentoring – Part 1
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
Here are some simple ways to keep the little things from taking over your life:
1. Ask yourself the question, “Will this matter a year from now?”
Is what you are worked up over going to matter a year from now? If not, don’t let it destroy you today.
2. Practice Humility.
The less compelled you are to try to prove yourself to others, the easier it is to feel peace inside. Read more
The Heavenly Vision
“…I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” Acts 26:19
God’s Vision for Paul
God’s vision for Paul was revealed to a disciple named Ananias in Acts 9:15, “…for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles…”
Paul explained to King Agrippa what Jesus had said to him on the road to Damascus: “But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose…and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God…” (Acts 26:16-18) Read more
Unbreakable, Unshakable, Unity
“And all that believed were together…” (Acts 2:44).
“Now Peter and John went up together…” (Acts 3:1).
An old Arab proverb teaching the importance of unity says,“One hand alone does not clap.” No one is a whole chain. Each one is a link on the chain. No one is a whole team but each one is a player. We need each other. It has been rightfully said, “No man is an island unto himself.” We must have each other in order to survive. An Akan proverb says, “Hands go! Hands come!” We must have each other! Another proverb says, “It is the right arm that scratches the left arm.” Both of these proverbs expose our need of one another. Read more
Working Together on the King’s Team
“And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common” (Acts 4:32).
Teamwork means many people become one. They come together to work toward a common goal.
When David wanted to face the giant, he proclaimed, “Is there not a cause?” (1 Samuel 17:29). A team working together will accomplish more than if each person was working on his own (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12). When a group of people come together to form a team, each person brings his strengths and weaknesses. As we work together our strengths complement someone else’s weaknesses. We use our skills to compliment the overall effort of the team. Read more
Mentoring: The Ministry of Multiplication
“And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus” (Acts 9:26-27).
Mentoring is a relationship between two people, the mentor and the one being mentored.
Long ago when the Greek warrior Odysseus went off to battle in the Trojan War, he left his young son in the hands of a man named Mentor. The father was away from his son for twenty years and when he returned home his son had grown into a man. He had been trained by Mentor. Read more
Dreaming Dreams, Seeing Visions
“And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams” (Acts 2:17).
Helen Keller was a woman suffering from being both blind and deaf. She overcame these handicaps and raised money for the blind through the sale of her books and lectures. She was once asked, “What is worse than being blind?” She quickly responded, “Having sight but not being able to see.”
As Peter, on the Day of Pentecost repeated the Old Testament prophecy concerning the visitation of God’s Spirit upon all flesh, he reiterated that young men shall see visions, and old men shall dream dreams. The Wise Man in the Book of Proverbs 29:18 wrote, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Read more
Reproducing Leadership
Key Scripture: “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so” (Genesis 1:24). Also see Genesis 1:11-12; 25.
In Genesis God initiated a principle of life: everything reproduces after its kind. Whatever talents, skills, and abilities God has graced you with, you should endeavor to pass them on to someone else. This does not have to be your children. As a pastor, church leader, or organizational official, you should pass the wisdom, knowledge, commitment, and character that have made you successful, on to someone else. This is not a choice. It is ordained by God. Read more
My C-Wish List
C-Wish List? Hope it caught your attention and dispatched you into the land of Wonder. I’m not talking about my birthday wish list. I’ve been too busy to even jot down my Christmas wish list. My thoughts have been captivated with the C-Wish List; the list of characteristics I look for in a team member.
What is it that I expect from a team member? Each characteristic, as you will notice, begins with the letter “c” so I have penned it my C-Wish List. I have not placed them in order of importance.
- Character: indispensable in any team effort. Much has been written on the subject. Sufficient to say, members of the Global Missions team need to be men and women of integrity and can be counted upon always to do what is right in God’s sight. Read more
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