We host a VantagePoint3 Gathering every couple of years and invite our dispersed community of developmentally minded leaders to join us. Last week, 77 of us gathered in Scottsdale, AZ.
A group of men and women, ages 17 to 84, came together, sharing a deep concern for “growing up in every way into Christ” and helping others grow up into Christ. Most of us also wanted to find a little warmth amidst winter’s cold. Read More
We are a culture that values the immediate, the fast, and the rapid. I want my coffee within a minute, my burger in two, and my customer service call to be answered stat. A friend of mine, Ben, used a phrase as he told me the story of his spiritual journey. The earliest stage he called “trust and obey,” which mostly meant trying to stay out of trouble and do as he was told (by his parents, the church, and the pastor). A second stage had to do with “knowing more,” which, for him, meant more informational knowledge—cognitive knowing where “being right” was more important than being righteous. But he used a phrase that captivated my imagination: “faithful repetition,” which, in his experience, meant mostly rote memorization or surface-level intellectual learning. I’d like to reclaim that phrase in a more positive view. Read More
Keith’s “Little Explorer on Board” blog last week caused me to think more about the connection between spiritual mentoring, leaving a legacy, and committing to our growth. This led me to recall one such person in my family whose influence has spread across several generations. My Uncle Tom was my dad’s uncle, one of my grandmother’s four brothers.
Uncle Tom was quite a humorous character. In our family, the stories abound. He was the sort of person who, when told not to touch the chocolate fudge cooling in the kitchen, was known not just to brush aside such cautions by taking a finger full, but he was known to take the whole tray with him to work. As a butcher, he was known to cause a couple of unsuspecting women to all but pass out by his sharp chop of the cleaver, followed by yelling and writhing as if he had just chopped off a finger or two.
My dad tells a story of Uncle Tom taking him and his sister fishing when they were still young at a creek a short walk from their house. Now, this creek was lucky to have a couple of frogs, some worms, and a stray snake or two. It majored mostly on mosquitoes. There were no fish to be found in that creek. But my dad and Aunt Harriet were very young, and they didn’t know better. So off they went with Uncle Tom and two fishing rods. He generated the enthusiasm of a serious fisherman at a raging Montana stream. Once they got to the creek, he set them up, and they started fishing. He didn’t place them right next to each other but spread them out a bit “so that we can find out where the fish are really biting.” As Dad tells it, Uncle Tom moved back and forth between the two of them for a bit. Read More
The silver-gray VW SUV stopped at the light on Highway 20 just in front of me. On the back of the car was a sticker with the words “Little explorer on board ” in cursive letters. As the father-in-law and grandfather of two firefighters, I know the sticker intends to alert first responders that a child is more than likely in the vehicle.
I mused about that idea for the rest of my drive home. What if we had a sticker like that on our Bibles?
Spiritual mentoring is too often understood as only something between one person and an older, wise mentor—end of sentence.
The driver of this SUV wants others to know they have a little explorer on board. Would they consider that their spiritual maturity, discipline, and growth have similar implications for their children or grandchildren? Read More
I remember when I heard Eugene Peterson tell the story of Reuben Lance, a surprising candidate for mentoring. Eugene decided he was headed to seminary. I think the elders in the small-town Montana church were a bit worried about what might happen to the hometown boy off at Biblical Seminary in NYC. “We better have someone get him ready,” they said. “Who could do it?”
And this is the part of the story I love most. They asked a local handyman, Reuben Lance, to become Eugene’s mentor. The two met every week for the summer in a Sunday School classroom.
They talked about life and God. Eugene said, “We got on very well. Neither of us had a name for what we were doing, but I learned a lot, and Reuben never took over. He was my first and one of the best spiritual directors I’ve ever had.” Read More
If you’re a Puritan, this picture might not scare you. If you lived in the 1650s, you might recognize this man whose name is Richard Baxter. He has a bad hat and a good heart and wrote an important book.
It is not about a Reformed theology but about formation, primarily how people in a congregation become spiritually formed. The book is older than the United States, is still in print, and is centuries deep. It’s had that kind of impact. I’m not sure he still gets royalties, but his words still need to be heard, especially by mentors, leaders, and pastors. I’m really not cool with his hat.
He wrote to his congregation, “See that the work of saving grace be thoroughly wrought in your own souls.” Then, four riveting words: “Take heed to yourselves, lest you be void of that saving grace of God which you offer to others.”[i] Read More
If a resume is necessary to be involved in the mentoring ministry, the most essential guideline should be that perfect people need not apply. Mentors are not superheroes or champions. They are those who stand alongside one another with unending curiosity, inexplicable faith, and patience. You might be considering a mentoring relationship yourself and wonder if special qualities, such as a highly successful spiritual life, are required.
What kind of person is best for this ministry? The more time we spend on scripture, the more we realize that there aren’t really heroes of faith or perfect people. Read More
Mentoring the next generation of followers of Jesus is not an elective; it is a required course in the curriculum of faith. Here’s why:
I sat in the back of remarkable architecture in a cathedral in Scotland. It was no longer a vibrant congregation of the faithful; instead, it was a museum of the past. Only a very few saw this as a place for the formation of faith, and this narrative is repeated across Europe.
Mentoring, discipleship, and spiritual formation for the next generation is not an elective for us; it is a required course in the curriculum of faith. Again, here’s why: Read More
When it comes to mentoring or spiritual direction, blessing is waiting. But why bother? What’s the point of it anyway?
Those are fair enough questions, but let’s be honest: We have other questions that might be quietly paused within your spirit. Let’s try two:
My favorite Bible character is Mary, the mother of Jesus. Though she has many admirable qualities, the one I find myself drawn to the most is the way this ordinary, Jewish young woman responded to the angel Gabriel’s news that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah.
She was initially confused and disturbed and asked some good questions about how this was all going to work out for her, which I appreciate. However, without knowing all the answers, she said, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
It’s worth noting that within just a few days of receiving the news from the angel Gabriel, Mary left to go find her relative and friend, Elizabeth, who was also pregnant. She did not work out her situation alone. She found support and seemed to gain strength for her call. Rather quickly, Scripture reveals (Luke 1:46–55) that she began to earnestly praise God for what he was doing in and through her. Read More
"Practical. Insightful. In my 50 years as a pastor, I’ve read many of these. This is THE best. I ordered 12 to give as gifts.”
