The Best Men’s Ministry Example

One of my favorite parts of my job is getting to say “I told you so” to a leader whose church has just wrapped up their first mentoring season. Not because I want to be right or prove a point, but because mentoring works and I get excited hearing about the impact it’s having in the lives of men. With that said, meet my friend Roger. He is a lay leader from Bridge Church in Wisconsin. This one is too good not to share . . .

I thought I’d let you know how Radical Mentoring is going for us. In a word . . . incredibly! We just finished our first 9-month program yesterday. Our Commencement Retreat was this past weekend and went really well.

The Letter from God exercise was the highlight, as each man, including me, heard from and was challenged by our Father! The guys appreciated the outline you provided for the activity. One man commented that it helped him to focus on the task, keeping his mind from wandering or simply not knowing where to start or what to write. I agree with him. It was an emotional experience, and one of our men even described it as “gut-wrenching,” in a positive way!

My co-mentor and I selected the communion option. We laid hands on and prayed with each man individually. It was a really special time and a great ending to our program. After praying, we also presented each man with a Radical Wisdom devotional in which we had written a personal inscription. Our Lead Pastor also inscribed them. The gift was well received! One man even wanted to read aloud yesterday’s devo for the group, believing it had an appropriate message for the day.

We have already begun to meet and plan for the next cycle of RM. Our Lead Pastor, Todd, is very excited about RM and has been fully engaged with us from the start. In fact, he even came to my home and made breakfast for our group on Saturday morning! He has invited our four mentors (we had two groups) to dinner in June to meet with him and review our first RM experience. Our overseeing staff pastor, Tyler, has also fully embraced RM. He has stated a couple of times that it is the best men’s ministry example he’s ever seen!

I’m on a post-retreat high right now so I could go on and on, but I’ll stop as I’m sure you have work to do! Thank you for all you do to help us and please thank Regi for me as well. I’ll never know the full impact of the RM experience in each man’s life, but I’m grateful to know that I may have played a part and maybe even helped to save some marriages going forward! What an awesome privilege!

And then in a follow-up email, Roger added this . . .

On another note, when we started in September, one of our guys started a group text to all the mentees and mentors. That has been a really good way for the guys to stay in touch with each other. Yesterday I got a prayer request from one of our guys whose grandmother passed away, and today one guy texted that a friend headed for divorce needed prayer. These guys would have had nobody to request something like that from in the past! They also are using it to set up a social BBQ with their families.

If you’ve led a mentoring group or have supported Radical Mentoring with your time, money, or prayers, I hope you’ll find this a powerful reminder of the impact that investment is having.

If you’re thinking about mentoring, whether on your own or at your church, I hope you’ll find this an encouragement of the impact mentoring can have in your community. If you’d like to talk next steps, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Scripture: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20, The Message)