When the Lord first brought me into the pastorate, I was twenty-four years old and had a great desire to reach people in our community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s hard to believe that a few weeks ago, I celebrated my sixtieth birthday, and in a few more weeks, I’ll begin my thirty-seventh year at Lancaster Baptist Church. Sometimes I wonder where the time went!

Mentoring may be a corporate buzzword, but when you think about it, the whole idea of mentoring is a biblical process. From Jesus mentoring His disciples to Paul mentoring Timothy and Titus, we see these kinds of relationships throughout the Bible, including the New Testament.

One of the most direct instructions about mentoring is a verse we commonly think of in relation to discipleship:

And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:2)

Paul challenged Timothy to take the things he had learned from Paul and to commit them to faithful men to the point that they could train others also. This is a great pattern for mentoring relationships because it moves past just the word to a functioning definition. Mentoring takes place when we have so trained someone that they are able to train others.

Paul gave another description of the mentoring process in Philippians 4:9:

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. (Philippians 4:9)

A wholistic approach to mentoring is a process that involves more than just hearing or instruction. It includes observation, reception, and application.

In this month’s episode of the Spiritual Leadership Podcast, I share some principles God has blessed in my life as I have endeavored to mentor our ministry staff, men in our church, and various leaders in our community. I hope these are a blessing to you.