You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast

Mentoring is Baseball Did you know that the average of every baseball player in the hall of fame is a combined .303. That means if you hit the ball 303 out of 1,000 times, you are considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. That’s 697 misses! 3 out of every 10 makes a great baseball player. And I could say the same is true for mentoring.  When I first became a mentor, I wanted a h...

Logic Model   A logic model is a tool used by nonprofits to illustrate their impact. It is a one-page explanation of the connections between what you plan to put into a program and what you expect to deliver. It can serve as a powerful tool for focusing and articulating vision. It also serves as a built-in monitoring system to check in on programs, compare to goals, and make adjustments when neede...

Identity-Based vs. Skill-Based Mentoring “Just like a good tool doesn’t make you a handy man. Knowing skills alone doesn’t fulfill your mentee’s potential”  Skill-based mentoring usually goes like this:  Think of things you think your mentee should know Shake a hand, tie a tie, resume, etc… Teach them these things Hope they use them to reach their full-potential -- Skill-based mentoring is good, b...

Connection over Content - Let's keep it simple: Pursue Kids: Are you going after them? Pursue Jesus: Are you staying filled up so you can pour out? - What does it mean to connect? Are you reaching out consistently? Are you interested in what they are interested in? Are you remembering important issues in their life? Are you showing up? Games, events, etc… Are you speaking life? When they leave you...

Check out Story Connect: https://www.storyconnect.love Check out Mentoring Partnership: https://www.mentoringpartnership.org Purchase John's Book: Mephibosheth! The Search for Identity, Purpose, and Community Purchase the You Can Mentor book: You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses youcanmentor.com  

Please give us a 5 star rating wherever you consume podcasts, visit our website, and join our mentoring network. Also, please share our information with anyone who you’d think would benefit from it.    If you’d like to share any ways we can best serve you, or if you’d like to join our podcast, please reach out to us at zach@youcanmentor.com . We’re here for any ideas, suggestions, or comments that...

Dr Dee Dee Mayer is the RelateStrong Director for the Boone Center for the Family at Pepperdine University . She also continues to serve families and couples as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) through both in-person counseling and telehealth at Restoring Hope Therapy in Westlake Village, CA. She spent over 12 years at Oaks Christian School serving in various roles including Associate Head...

Check out KICKO: https://www.kicko.org/ michael@kicko.org Purchase John's Book: Mephibosheth! The Search for Identity, Purpose, and Community Purchase the You Can Mentor book: You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses youcanmentor.com  

One of the best things about art is how it represents the human condition.  Movies in particular have a unique ability to comment on hot topic issues in a way that can be thought provoking and challenging.  Interestingly, there are plenty of movies in existence that contain some aspect of mentorship; an older figure guiding the next generation into adulthood.  This week John and Zach drop a new ep...

The greatest gift you can give your mentee is your time.  Mentoring isn't about coming in, teaching somebody some life skills, and moving on.  Mentees are not "projects".  Mentoring is about relationships.  It's about coming in, pouring your wisdom and knowledge into somebody, and continuing to guide them through the next stage of their life.  While often that relationship is for a season, the imp...

Michelle Watson Canfield, PhD, LPC, is a national speaker, author, licensed professional counselor of 28 years, and founder of The Abba Project, a nine-month group forum for dads whose daughters are in their teens and 20’s. She writes guest articles regularly for journals and magazines (online and print), as well as her own bi-monthly Dad- Daughter Friday Blog, and has been interviewed on numerous...

Mentoring can come in all shapes and sizes.  It can come when it's least expected or it can be intentionally sought out by either the mentor or the mentee.  It can be as simple as meeting intentionally with a student in your neighborhood on a regular basis, or partnering with a local non-profit mentoring organization to pour into one or more students at the same time.  Each mentoring relationship...

Everybody has a unique personality.  Their life experiences, worldview, and socioeconomic status influence how they interact with other people and relate to one another.  That personality in turn affects how a mentor interacts with their mentee: their "style" of mentoring.  Some are encouragers.  Some are challengers.  Some are networkers.  There's many different styles of mentoring, and they each...

Every mentor has a different story.  They come from different backgrounds, experience different things in life, and can bring unique elements to the table in a mentoring relationship.  The organization they get plugged into for support also affects the ways in which they mentor through different trainings, mentoring philosophies, and equipping.  That's why asking a mentor their why is so important...

Effective mentoring means being in it for the long haul.  It means continuing to show up and pour into the mentee, even through the hard times, offense, and dry spells.  It means doing whatever it takes to meet the needs of the mentee.  Mentoring well means showing constant, sacrificial, self-less love for the mentee.  But effective mentoring is also draining.  Continually showing up like that can...

Offense, or taking things personally, is one of the most common tactics the Enemy uses to tear down relationships.  When somebody feels hurt in a relationship, their tendency is to pull away and isolate, which then leads to an even greater rift between the two parties.  This is true for all relationships, but mentoring relationships have the tendency to experience this on a much more frequent scal...

Most mentoring relationships come to an end at some point.  Life circumstances change, you or your mentee move away, or some other event occurs that makes it impossible to continue the formal mentoring relationship in the same way.  In doing so, however, ending a mentoring relationship can be a challenge, especially when the mentee has a history of struggling with feelings of abandonment.  You, as...

Everybody has a story to tell.  They have a past, a present, and a future.  They have significant elements to their story that shapes them into who they are today.  Telling that story, however, isn't always easy.  Sometimes those elements include trauma or suppressed memories.  Even so, your testimony is a powerful tool.  Through it, healing can come to others who have gone through similar experie...

As relationships evolve, the roles can change frequently.  Parenting a toddler looks much differently than parenting a teen.  Children oftentimes become the primary caregiver of their aging parents.  The same holds true for mentoring relationships.  What started as a mentor match can evolve into a discipleship relationship for the mentee.  As the mentee is led towards the cross, the mentor is bett...

If you look in the Bible, there isn't one mention of the word "mentor".  However, you can find the word "discipleship" all over the place.  As Christians, we're called to "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 28:19-20)  But, if you look at mentorship...

One of the best things about art is how it represents the human condition.  Movies in particular have a unique ability to comment on hot topic issues in a way that can be thought provoking and challenging.  Interestingly, there are plenty of movies in existence that contain some aspect of mentorship; an older figure guiding the next generation into adulthood.  This week John and Zach kick off a ne...

Every mentor has a different story.  They come from different backgrounds, experience different things in life, and can bring unique elements to the table in a mentoring relationship.  The organization they get plugged into for support also affects the ways in which they mentor through different trainings, mentoring philosophies, and equipping.  That's why asking a mentor their why is so important...

Humans relate to each other primarily through the sharing of stories.  And since that’s true, it means that anybody can write a book.  After all, a book is just sharing a collection of thoughts through the story-telling process.  While anybody can write a book, however, the publication process can be daunting and confusing.  So much goes into publishing a book, whether it’s type-setting, editing,...

You Can Mentor is turning 200!  That’s right, this week is our 200th episode, and we couldn’t have done it without all of you.  From the bottom of everybody’s heart here at You Can Mentor, THANK YOU!  With our 200th episode, we wanted to announce some major changes coming up at You Can Mentor and how we operate.  Don’t worry, we’re still outputting content to encourage and equip mentors throughout...

Donnovan began working with youth through Youth Horizons in Wichita, Kansas in 1995, first in a group home and then as the manager of their mentoring program. Donnovan attended one of CAYM’s first training events. He started helping train other ministries through CAYM in 2007 and joined CAYM’s team in 2008. Purchase the You Can Mentor book: You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the...