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R Jones Mentor Interviews Report
Biblical Foundation of Christian Leadership (Liberty
University)
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LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF
DIVINITY
Mentor Interviews Report
Submitted to Dr. Daniel L. Austin
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
LEAD – 510
Biblical Foundations of Christian Leadership
by
Richard B. Jones
July 26th, 2020
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Introduction
Nearly twenty years ago, my pastor at the time gave a stirring sermon on the importance
of mentoring in the Church. “Every Timothy should have a Paul” was how he framed the
characteristics and benefits of a mentoring relationship. He went on to describe how we should
not only strive to be mentored (as a “Timothy) but also grow in our faith to the point we mentor
others as a “Paul”. This sermon stuck with me hard and to this day provides the foundation for
how I see Christian mentoring.
Everyone wants to be included on a team. Everyone wants to be valued and engaged
within a group. Mentoring is such an incredible part of disciple-making within the Church
initially for this reason. We mentor because we care. We seek mentoring because we care. It is
a two-way relationship but the overall goal for both ways should always be the same, to honor
God.
Professionally, a member of a (secular) organization who is mentored early on and
consistently throughout their career, will always fair better than their peers who are not
consistently mentored. The mentoring relationship advises on risk, provides insight into how to
progress, and probably most importantly, provides support from a senior to a subordinate in
order to foster confidence and capacity in the subordinate. Ideally, the person mentored will in-
turn, grow into a mentoring relationship with one of their own subordinates. The relationship
helps both those involved and the organization as a whole becomes stronger.
From a Christian point of view, the process and relationships are almost exactly the
same as in the secular business world with the exception that Christians are all equally
subordinate to God, and glorifying Him is the purpose of the relationship. My favorite example
from Christ is His direction to both make and train disciples in His “Great Commission” found
in Matt. 28:19-
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20. Christ spent His ministry doing this very thing, spending much of this time directly with His
disciples, and often in very special “mentoring” times with just John, Peter, and James.
Mentor Backgrounds
The first interview I completed was with a close personal friend and current elder at the
church my family attended while we were stationed in Nebraska, named Clay. Clay has been
formally mentoring men from his church for the past twelve years. He began mentoring his first
two men before he and his fellow elders created the formal mentoring program within the
church. Clay had a long background of effective mentoring from his very successful business
career and states that many of the techniques he uses to mentor men at his church come from his
professional experiences as a mentor.
He has mentored about a dozen men in the last twelve years, usually directly mentoring
three or four at a time on a weekly basis and keeping in contact with another four to six on a
monthly basis. He has initiated all of the mentoring relationships after meeting men through
either new membership interviews or from marriage counseling meetings, both part of his
normal role as an elder within the church.
The second interview was with a very close friend who was my small group leader in
Virginia named Dennis. Dennis is an amazing Christian man who has a gift of putting everyone
at ease while he is teaching or mentoring them. He has been involved in a local ministry in
Fairfax County for the past fifteen years which pairs Christian men up with inmates in the
county jail for weekly, one on one, mentoring sessions. Throughout this ministry time, Dennis
has only had one man to mentor at one time, and the relationships were assigned by the
correctional
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faculty staff. He would begin a new mentoring relationship usually after the new inmate was at
the jail for a month or so and would conclude the mentoring relationship when the man was
released from jail or sentenced to another facility. Dennis has had twenty-two mentoring
relationships and says the longest he has gone in the last fifteen years without having someone
assigned to mentor has been four months. He has mentored one young man twice after he had
returned to jail for a parole violation.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Clay was very proud of how he described the Holy Spirit guided him to the younger men
he has mentored. He says that his prayer life is essential to these relationships and that he prays
for new opportunities to mentor other men every day. Clay adds that he feels a great deal of his
success stems from being consistent with each of the young men he mentors. Knowing their
schedules and knowing what they have going on in each of their lives helps him to stay
consistent with contact. He always speaks with some on a specific time, for instance when they
are driving home from work, while others he speaks with at different times during the week but
consistently each week nonetheless.
Dennis does not have the problem of being consistent with his mentoring sessions as they
are always Wednesday mornings from 7 to 8: a.m. as directed by the jail he serves. He does his
best to not miss any sessions and will always prep his assigned inmates if he has to be out of
town for work or personal reasons. Dennis says that having the meetings at the same time and
the same place each week make the mentoring sessions easier for him. He says that he becomes
extremely focused on the situation each week as he drives to the jail for the session and is
escorted to the visiting room. He uses this time to pray hard for the younger man he is
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mentoring. The weekly schedule also allows Dennis to provide guidance and homework for his
men in a weekly format and follow-up on that at the start of the next week’s session.
When asked about mentoring topics, both Dennis and Clay said that their younger men
are usually struggling with anger and anxiety. Dennis usually has either newer believers or
“seekers” of the Word as initial mentoring assignments, so much of his mentoring time involves
covering essential Christian doctrine and trying to relate how living a Christian life can help with
problems faced both in jail and back with their families. Clay on the other hand usually has
younger men from their late twenties to early forties who have been baptized and are at least
progressing as obedient believers on some level. He relates that although most men have many
of the same issues in their life, each mentoring relationship that he has is tailored specifically
toward that individuals needs and abilities.
Dennis has only had two mentoring relationships which have not resulted in his
assigned young men accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. He said that he always feels
regret and prays that God would reveal to him how to mentor his young men in a better way. He
finds comfort sating in contact with other men in his jail ministry who support each other and
help provide each other with new lessons and techniques they have found success with.
Clay brought up an important point about his initial mentoring sessions. He said that he
always brought his own bible but would always use the man he was mentoring at the time’s
bible during their meetings. It allowed him to see inside their bibles, to see what notes and
highlights had been made. Was it being used? Was it being shared and carried around often?
He could also gauge progress with the mentoring relationships when the young men started to
provide their own bible verses back to him when referencing situations. He felt so much pride to
see
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them growing in the Word, saying that God was always doing all of the work, he was just there
to help keep them focused.
Dennis always provide a bible for each of the men he was assigned to mentor. A few
times he said that they would ask for additional bibles to share with others in jail with them. A
few times, there were educational limits with a few young men who he mentored, where their
reading skills were not great. Dennis would write (shorter) bible verses on notecards and give
them to these men to help build their confidence and to build their knowledge of the bible at the
same time. As the inmates had nearly unlimited time to study the bible if they chose to, these
tailored assignments could provide massive spiritual gains in one month or even a week.
Both mentoring programs also demonstrated some limitations and weaknesses. Clay was
always worried about guidance on marriage conflicts and avoiding divorce. He wishes that he
had additional training on Christian marriage counseling even though he has been married for
thirty-five years and has counseled over twenty younger couples from his church over the years.
He knows that God will always guide him to do the right thing at the right time. He also sees it
challenging for him to “grow out of” the mentoring relationship because he wants to keep things
going how he is used to the relationship during the begging of the mentoring. I feel that this is a
common and shows his heart is in the right place for mentoring goals.
Dennis expressed his own weakness directly in that he has no contact with his assigned
inmates after they are moved or released from jail, He often wonders what is going on with his
former mentoring relationships but says that he “keeps in touch with them” by continuing to pray
for them. He also says that beginning over with a new mentioning relationship several times in a
year or so is both challenging and motivating. While he covers the same basic doctrinal topics
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with most young men, he says that the diversity in each of the conversations helps keep him
motivated.
Conclusion
I learned many things about my two friends from these interviews, and have definitely
learned more about what it means to be a mentor to others as a Christian man. It is humbling
and comforting to know these two godly men and hear their mentoring stories. I am so thankful
that God has placed them in my life in order to instruct and motivate me to mentor others as
well. It is also such a blessing to have access to them for any questions I may have in the future
while mentoring others as well.
The first takeaway I will bring to my own mentoring ministry is to be consistent,
especially with follow-through when interacting with the person you are mentoring. Life gets
busy and it is not always easy to be consistent, but being consistent with your mentoring
relationship is the best way to show that you care about the person you are mentoring and that
you care about your calling as a mentor. Being consistent is also a safeguard from backsliding
and allowing a sin characteristic to grow in the person being mentored.
Another very important lesson from this assignment which I will carry with me in my
future mentoring is to always pair each mentoring session’s conversation with bible verses. This
keeps the focus of the meetings on God, it shows the mentor’s intent is godly and not just his or
her opinion at the time, and it helps to grow both parties as mature Christians through the reading
of scripture together. Lessons anchored with the Word are much more likely to be successful and
have long-term meaning to those being mentored.
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The third takeaway I will keep in my mentoring toolbox is to celebrate successes with
the person being mentored. When they have Christian life breakthrough, it glorifies God and
should be celebrated. Make a big deal out of spiritual progress and added Christian
responsibilities.
Acknowledging growth is also an excellent time for review and setting new Christian goals
to work towards.
Mentoring consistently, using the Bible as the focus and providing positive
reinforcement during life events definitely strengthen Christian mentoring relationships. It is
such a blessing to have the ability to mentor others and to receive mentoring from great men in
my life. I will pray that every Christian has the opportunity for both in their lives.
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