Mentoring Matters

This coming weekend, I will be preaching a sermon on investing in key relationships. Of course, this includes family. Anyone that knows me knows how important family is to me. But the main focus of the message will be about mentoring. I truly believe that mentoring relationships are of vital importance. I guess that's because I know this from personal experience. More on that in a moment.

When I talk about investing in a general sense, it means putting something in with an expectation of some kind of return. If you invest in the stock market, you put money into it in hopes that you will get more money out of it. When you invest in relationships, you put in money (especially with kids!), time, knowledge, and most of all love. What do you get in return? Hopefully love, companionship, encouragement, and more. But mentoring is different. Mentoring requires a great investment of time, knowledge, encouragement, and more. The return? This is where it is different. The return isn't primarily back to the mentor. The return is, in many ways, a pay it forward. The mentor invests to benefit others. Let me share a personal example.

Outside of my wife, there is no question about who has been the most influential person to me in ministry: the Rev. Geoff Posegate. Geoff came to our home church during a time of conflict and turmoil. Oh yeah, and a time I was wrestling with my call. Two weeks after Geoff I arrived, I walked into his office ready to share my news that I believed I was being called to ministry. I fully expected to catch him off guard and leave him stumbling for a way to respond. Only Geoff wasn't the one who ended stumbling for words. After sharing my news, Geoff looked at me with a little smile and said, "I wondered that about you." Really? How? I can say now, that was ( and still is) Geoff.

From that moment on, Geoff invested in me. He had me writing credo before I ever attended a class at seminary. He had me attending committee meetings with him (thanks a lot!). When attending those meetings, the chair would ask Geoff to open with a word of prayer. Geoff's response? No, but Chris will. As he explained, I needed to get used to it. I could go on and on. Geoff was my biggest cheerleader and teacher. Even more, he was, and continues to be, my friend. I learned more from Geoff about being a pastor than I could have ever imagined.

So what is the return? For Geoff, it wasn't about personal gain. It was about personal and corporate growth. My growth as a pastor and growth in the kingdom of God through the ministry he was preparing me for. It was a way for Geoff to invest with a pay it forward kind of return. I can never thank him enough for what he has meant to me. Correction, continues to mean to me. I can only aspire to be a fraction of the pastor Geoff is and I hope that I have the opportunity to mentor at least one person as Geoff mentored me.

I could ramble on and on, but I leave you with this: what relationships are you investing in? Are you mentoring anyone? Whether you realize it or not, it can make all the difference in the world to that person. Maybe, just maybe, it will make a difference to many more.

Chris