The Best Mentoring Book Ever
If you’re reading this blog, there’s a good chance you’ve read or at least heard of Regi Campbell’s second book, Mentor Like Jesus. But did you know we revised and re-released the book at the beginning of this year?
Originally out in 2009, Mentor Like Jesus explains the genesis of and the formula behind the small group mentoring process Regi began using in 2001. With this new edition, we simplified it, updated some of the references and language, refreshed the interior design, and added some important ideas about mentoring at church and how mentors embody Jesus to their mentees. And Radical Mentoring President Kevin Harris contributed a brand-new Afterword on his experience leading a group and helping churches get mentoring off the ground.
Since Jesus was the world’s greatest mentor, we can learn how to mentor from how He mentored the disciples. Mentor Like Jesus breaks this down in more detail, but here is an overview of Jesus’ eleven mentoring practices that provide the foundation for Radical Mentoring…
- It’s on purpose. It’s all about the Father and Kingdom-building. Jesus was on a mission, and mentoring was the key strategy to fulfill His mission.
- It’s a selfless Jesus mentored out of obedience to the Father. He got nothing out of it personally. He simply responded to God’s call on His life and did what the Father led Him to do.
- It starts in a group context, not one-on-one. Jesus knew the value of interaction between group members. The group became a community, inextricable from one another. Yes, there was powerful one-on-one interaction, but it started in the context of the group.
- Jesus handpicked those He mentored after prayer. The group was made up of laypeople, not “church people,” anything but a holy huddle. It was not a peer-to-peer group; it was a mentor-mentee construct, clear and unapologetic.
- It was for a short, defined period of time. Jesus’ mentoring program began on time and ended on time. There was a graduation day when His mentees were commissioned and launched.
- At the core of Jesus’ teaching was Scripture. Jesus and His mentees knew the Scriptures by heart. The Word guided their decision-making. Jesus helped His guys understand and apply God’s Word.
- Prayer was a huge part of it, public and private. Jesus modeled a prayerful life; He taught the disciples how to pray and prayed with them and for them.
- Jesus modeled His faith in a transparent way. He lived out His life in front of His mentees. They saw how He applied His faith, how He struggled, how He handled stress, and how He handled dying.
- Jesus taught along the way of life. He helped His guys with practical situations, from taxes to workplace issues, from goal-setting to family relations. Jesus was far more practical than hypothetical. He shared from His knowledge and experience.
- There was a mutual commitment. They left their businesses, families, and homes, all to follow and learn. Jesus never gave up on them, even when they failed and ran away. And ultimately they never gave up on Him, giving their lives for His Kingdom.
- It had a required multiplication. Multiplication was part of what everyone signed up for, and no one was excluded from it. He didn’t invest to make them better men; He invested to make them “fishers of men.”
Remember, these aren’t just abstract ideas, they’re time-tested principles based on how Jesus mentored the disciples…His mentees. And those mentees took what they learned and built the church from 12 to the 2 billion who profess belief in Jesus today. If that doesn’t get you fired up about the potential of mentoring like Jesus, I’m not sure what will.
With that in mind, I want to issue a challenge to all of the churches and mentors who have been tracking with us but have yet to launch a group. This year, in 2017, will you launch one group? Just one group…1-2 mentors, 4-8 guys. We really believe getting one group going can be the catalyst to get mentoring started in your church. If you’ve struggled to get your church to co-sponsor mentoring, just start one group and then go back to them with the results. If you or your church are intimidated by the logistics of starting a program, simplify and start one group for now. If you’ve been wanting to start a group but feel ill-equipped, find a co-mentor and make it happen together.
What do you say? Will you consider it? If so, let us know, we want to help. We exist to encourage and equip churches to make disciples and disciple-makers through small group mentoring . . . mentoring like Jesus. You can even email kevin@radicalmentoring.com to let us know you’re ready to start one group and we’ll walk with you to help make it happen.
Scripture: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19-20b)
Mentor Tip: When we do what Jesus did, we can relax, trust His process and trust Him for the increase. Mentoring like Jesus has proven to be an amazingly-impactful deal. Read the book, create a free account on our website, get started and trust the process.
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Small group mentoring can help you engage your people, build your core group of leaders, and transform your church. Our free resources equip you with all the tools you need to launch a sustainable mentoring program.