Does the Book Format Matter?
We already debunked the idea that men aren’t readers, or won’t read the required books for a Radical Mentoring group. Along the same lines, mentors often ask if the format of the book matters. Can my men listen to their books via Audible? Are e-readers ok? Do I need to hand them a physical copy of the book?
Before we talk about format, I want to encourage with you two stories I recently heard . . .
- After speaking at an event, a mentee approached to tell me about his mentoring group experience. Suffering from dyslexia, he uses Audible to listen to their required books. After first listening, he reviews the physical book and takes notes on what he heard.
- I received an email from a pastor leading a group at his church: “In my group, we have a member who is nearly completely blind, so, he listens to audiobooks when he can. We are currently in the book Identity, which does not have an audiobook. So, he has a fellow mentoring group member read the book to him.”
Remember these stories when you feel like you are asking too much of your men or when you have someone who wants to be a part of the group but doesn’t think he can commit to the workload.
Back to the original question . . . does the format of the book really matter? Is it ok to give your mentees the option of choosing what they prefer? Let’s look at the three common reading options today . . .
What about audiobooks? Research shows little cognitive difference between listening to a book and reading one. The downside is, for some, the mind may wander more when using your ears only versus holding the book in your hand.
How about your e-reader? I read on my Kindle . . . almost exclusively. It is easier to travel with one device containing multiple books instead of carrying two or three in my briefcase. I love being able to highlight essential texts in the book and then log in to Amazon, grab my notes, and create my net-out.
Or the real thing? For many, the only way to read is with the book in hand. The accomplishment of flipping a page and seeing progress can be an important motivator. Plus, it can be cool to see all the books from a mentoring season collected together on the shelf.
When we read in Radical Mentoring groups, our purpose is practical, actionable takeaways. So to me, the format doesn’t matter, as long as the expectations are clear and your mentees understand they need to have to way to take notes and a system to turn those notes into a net-out.
Mentor Tip: No matter what format your mentees choose, it is critical that you make the last item on your meeting agenda to have each one of them order the book . . . right there on their phones from the table. You want to know that they are all-in and committed to the process.
Breathe New Life Into Your Discipleship
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.
Responses (3)
I’ve been doing this so long that in the beginning, Next Generation Mentoring charged us $200 per mentee, and then sent me the books to hand out at a meeting. We still do it this way and the reason is simple: I don’t want to give the guys ANY reason to not be at a meeting. We don’t give them assignments or books in advance so the only way they get them is to be there in person. (Yes, if someone is absent — which almost never happens — we get the materials to them.) We still ask them for $200 to defray costs, but I know many mentors do not. I want them to have some skin in the game, but always tell prospects if that’s an obstacle, we’ll cover it. I’ve only had a request once out of 125 guys in our program, but we do have an affluent pool of mentees. Once I had a guy ask if he could have a discount because he wanted to get e-books. I said no (and he didn’t complain), but many guys get them for the reasons you mention. I personally like the physical book with pages. The only information we give them in advance is the meeting schedule. Similarly, we do not allow them to email or text netouts. They need to bring it with them on paper to pass them around. Each one of these things is very minor, but collectively they are very important. As you said Kevin, most guys haven’t read much of anything since school, but we set the bar high, we have high expectations, and I’ll be danged, but they all rise to the occasion.
Reading before gathering together is important – but the reason is so that men can process and share and encourage and exhort and pray and hold oner another accountable. It’s the process more than the content. Most men already know what they should do and should not do but they have never processed that with another man in a menaingful way.
I listen to all the books I can. When you listed that “the downside is, for some, the mind may wander more when using your ears only versus holding the book in your hand.” I found this to be exactly the opposite of my experience. Before I found Audible I read about one book every 2-3 years. Now I listen to about 1 book per week (56 last year). I also listen to every post from Radical Mentoring using an app called pocket (getpocket.com). Question for Regi Campbell: what can be done to make your books available on Audible? I don’t know how the process works for having a book published on Audible, but many people find this to be the easiest way to access material.