You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast

If you feel like you're not good enough to mentor, you're in good company.  So many of the Bible's characters had serious character flaws.  Peter denied Jesus three times, even after adamantly telling the Lord that he would never do so.  Moses was a murderer.  David, a man after God's own heart, was a murderer and an adulterer.  At the end of the day, we're all broken people; and yet God still can...

Distraction is all around us.  Our phones, social media, television, news outlets....the list goes on and on.  Our work productivity suffers and we don't invest our emotional capital into the relationships around us.  Our society is centered around instant gratification, and the notifications from our phones constantly pull our attention away from the task at hand.  These distractions can, and oft...

According to the US Department of Homeland Security, human trafficking generated an estimated $150 billion in profits globally.  An estimated 25 million people are victimized by traffickers; 20% of whom are trafficked into the commercial sex industry.  Law enforcement does a lot to find and prosecute these traffickers, but what happens to the victims?  Trafficking results in an intense trauma for...

“With is greater than for.”  That’s a quote that has a lot of meanings, but in this case, it carries the idea that doing life WITH God is greater than doing life FOR God.  Our most meaningful interactions with God, whether a quiet time, fasting, silence, prayer, or any other spiritual discipline, tend to occur when we’re doing them with God instead of for God.  So what does this have to do with me...

Omniscience, Omnipresent, Omnipotence. These are big words that describe three characteristics of God.  He is omniscient.  He is omnipresent.  He is omnipotent.  But do we actually know what these words mean?  Moreover, where do we find these specific words in the Bible?  Truth is, the terms "omniscient", "omnipresent", and "omnipotent" don't actually occur anywhere in the Bible, yet we know that...

It's the middle of January, which means we've had a chance to make (and fail at) some New Year's Resolutions.  But the reality of life is that we make time for the things that are truly important to us.  So how does that play into mentoring relationships?  Well, maybe we've recognized towards the end of last year that our relationship with our mentee isn't going as well as we hoped or thought is w...

The life of a mentoring organization involves implementing programs.  Maybe it’s as simple as a mentoring program where individual mentors are connected with individual mentees.  Maybe it’s an after school program where a group of mentees show up and work through a curriculum.  Maybe it’s getting a sweet old muscle car and working with the students to restore it to its former glory.  Whatever the...

More and more, Americans are stating that they feel burned out.  With the holiday season in full swing, and Christmas right around the corner, those feelings of burnout are even more prevalent.  There's traveling, gift purchasing and wrapping, parties, school concerts, and any number of other commitments in each week.  But that burnout can negatively impact your relationship with your mentee.  Aft...

When a bone breaks, the recovery process goes through three stages: reactive, reparative, and remodeling.  It takes a while for each of these stages to occur, but the bone ultimately heals back stronger than it was before.  Interestingly, the healing of a bone after a break is the perfect metaphor for when a mistake is made in the mentoring relationship.  The relationship experiences the same stag...

The crucial differences which distinguish human societies and human beings are not biological. They are cultural.  This quote by Ruth Benedict proves to be true time and time again.  Society is determined by how that group of people operate.  Each person belongs to at least one culture, and often belong to several subcultures at the same time.  And yet, with all of these different cultures out the...

One of the core values at Forerunner Mentoring is "trust the process".  It's this idea that as a mentor, you're not always going to see the fruit of your mentoring relationship.  You may be sowing seeds that won't blossom until years after your official mentoring relationship with your mentee ends, and that can be discouraging.  But what you can do is operate in faith, knowing that God's in contro...

Growing old is a fact of life.  It’s inevitable and unavoidable.  Most people hate growing old and do everything in their power to avoid it.  But what if growing old isn’t a curse?  What if it’s a blessing? Zach and John Barnard from Middleman Ministries are hosting this week to talk through the benefits of growing old and how that can benefit your mentoring relationship.  Tune in to also hear wha...

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.  These words, found in Matthew 6 are the start of the most famous prayer in history: the Lord’s prayer.  It was a response to Jesus’ disciples asking him to teach them how to pray.  Many people use it as the basis for their own prayer life, and it can be a helpful tool to teach y...

What does a shepherd do?  They protect and guide their sheep.  They show their sheep the way.  In a way, they love their sheep.  Jesus is known as the Good Shepherd, and models all of these things for us.  Zach is flying solo today to bring a short, but encouraging word to all you mentors out there about how Jesus is our Good Shepherd, how he calls us to be shepherds for our mentees, and how we ca...

How are people experiencing me as a mentor?  What do people feel when I walk into the room?  Every person has a presence.  It's that thing people notice about them when they walk into a room, either positive or negative.  It's the experience people have in interacting with you.  So what is your presence as a mentor?  How is your mentee impacted when you show up?  Stephen "Murr-dawg" Murray is fina...

It takes a village to raise a child.  We’ve all heard this old saying, but it’s absolutely true; community is vital in every person’s life.  We were never meant to do life alone.  But how do you include your mentee in your community?  What does it look like to help them develop their own community?  In the final installment of our Pillars of Mentoring series, Zach and John Barnard talk about these...

Why are you here?  What are you supposed to be doing with your life?  What is the reason for your existence?  These questions seem aggressive in how they're phrased, but the fact of the matter is we all ask ourselves these questions.  As they grow, your mentee is asking themself these questions too.  So how do we help them discover their purpose in life?  Zach is back with John Barnard from Middle...

Who are you?  Are you what you do? Are you where you're from? Are you your parents?  Are you your neighborhood?  Are you your talents?  Who does God say you are?  All of these questions target the same thing: identity.  Who we are is the one of the most critical questions we try to answer as we navigate our lives, and the foundation for how we see the world.  And the world is quick to answer it. ...

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn."  Benjamin Franklin said these words about what it takes to actually impart knowledge on someone.  In mentoring, these words prove true.  These words also point to each of the three levels involved in teaching something to another person: the head, the heart, and the hands.  But what does it mean to teach something at each...

Did you know that a mentor wears three hats?  Sometimes it's one at a time.  Sometimes it's all three in the same mentoring encounter.  But at some point in the relationship, every mentor will fill the role of the farmer, the miner, and the tour guide.  So what do each of these roles do?  John Barnard is back with Zach this week for the second episode of our Pillars of Mentoring series to define h...

There are several pillars to an effective mentoring relationship.  After all, if there isn't trust, love, or respect, then the relationship can't thrive.  But trust, love, and respect aren't necessarily pillars.  They're important, but they stem from three key elements that all relationships possess.  Zach is back this week with special guest John Barnard from Middleman Ministries to start a new s...

There's an old saying: "It takes a village."  Of course, this has many different connotations and interpretations, but the point is that community is a necessity to accomplish any goal.  That community is built through collaboration.  Zach is on this week with Jon Passavant from Start Up Waco to talk through how to collaborate with other members of your community to accomplish everyone's goals.  H...

One of the most unique challenges for mentoring ministries in America is the idea of separation of Church and State.  It's this idea that prevents most mentors from actively sharing the gospel with their mentee while at school and can prove to be a hurdle for the organizations they volunteer with.  Kids Hope USA, however, has found a solution to that challenge.  Zach is joined by Dr. Karen Pearson...

Not every mentor gets to see the fruit of their labors.  Often, a mentee will move away or seem like they're not responding to the mentoring in the moment.  But the truth is that as you engage in the mentoring relationship, those seeds are getting planted.  Retired Lt. Cubit is back hosting this week with his Kendrick Littleton, who was once Lt. Cubit's mentee.  Today, they share a number of stori...

Mentoring relationships are complicated enough as it is.  Being easily offended only adds more complication to that relationship.  In this week's episode, Stephen and Zach tackle the topic of taking offense, why it's dangerous in a mentoring relationship, and some practical ways you can work towards practicing thankfulness rather than pessimism in your mentoring relationship. Purchase the You Can...