Welcome to back to the unSeminary podcast. Today I’m excited to have Kevin Harris with us today, the executive director from Radical Mentoring.

Radical Mentoring is an organization and a system designed to help your church develop leaders through intentional men’s small group mentoring. They coach and equip local church leaders with a process that encourages men to engage in these groups where an older leader, or two, meets with a group of younger men for 9-12 months to talk about life. The best part is, they provide all the tools, resources, and content that churches need to recruit, train and launch these men’s mentoring small groups for free.

Kevin talks with us today about keeping men engaged in the church and preparing them for life.

* Find a balance. // It can be that guys today have a hard time seeing the value of church. Some men believe it’s geared more toward women while others may be wrestling with trust and shame issues. Meanwhile the generation coming up says they don’t want to go to church for the show anymore; they want to go for authentic relationships and be involved on a deeper level. Whatever the beliefs are that men are struggling with, it can make it difficult for them to walk into a church building and feel like there is a place for them to belong. Finding that balance to attract men of all ages may be becoming more difficult in your church. The key is first finding mentors who are worth listening to.* Hidden mentors. // The mentors who are chosen to lead these men’s small groups may not always have the most to say or be the best teachers, but when they speak they should be seen as someone you would want your own son sitting with and learning from. If you can get the right types of men leaning in, not because they’re experts, but because they simply want other guys to avoid some of the mistakes they made (as well as having some of Jesus rub off on them) it can have a dynamic effect on the church.* Group mentoring. // Radical Mentoring teaches a small group mentoring model instead of one-of-one. The group of four to eight younger men meets together once a month for three hours with one or two mentors. The meeting starts with stories in which the mentor will share the real story about his journey toward Christ, both good and bad, and then the mentees share their stories.  After that, the group will read a book by a Christian author that focuses on principles of scripture and applying them around topics such as identity, grace, and marriage, and then talking about those books in their monthly meetings. This framework is loose enough that if there is something happening to one of the mentees, it can be pushed aside and the group can focus on those issues.* Hold men to the standard. // There are two things some churches are doing each year with this Radical Mentoring method. First, they make sure that they have the right profile person that can facilitate other people really well. The other thing is holding men to the standard. There is a covenant document recommended that all of the mentees sign before the process saying they will be on time, commit to confidentiality, do all the work, and will take feedback from the mentors.* Free program. // The program is free and when someone from a church registers on Radical Mentoring’s website, they will get contacted by the team and offered to talk with them about where it all fits in the context of their church. A church is offered three to five conversations with the Radical Mentoring team starting from when they first consider doing the process to the point that they completed it and graduate their group of guys.

Radical Mentoring is free and you can find out more at radicalmentorin...