January 2, 2014

What are you becoming?

I wrote to you on Monday – hours before the end of another year – and challenged you to assess your progress in 2013 on three fronts: believing, being and becoming. A year without movement on those issues means a year of possibility, now squandered.

If your relationship with the Heavenly Father – given to you as a gift by His Son, the Lord Jesus – is foundational, everything else in life flows out of those three action verbs: believing, being and becoming.

How do we make that three-part agenda come into prominence? There are three specialists we all need to get there: teachers, who help us know what to believe; disciplers (in the world outside the faith, they call them “coaches”), who help us figure out how to take what we believe and to be; and, mentors, who help us become – in the future – the full-grown version of the person God designed.

Most people are pretty familiar with the Teacher role; they experience it on Sunday morning, when their pastor – or, his designate, for the week – delivers the goods: they open the Bible and make truth clear to the congregation. That teaching experience isn't like a college classroom: the Bible Teacher measures success by beliefs established – or, confirmed – through his teaching. It's essential…

Discipling happens in a smaller venue, with a much more intimate audience. The Discipler takes what you believe, and helps you see how to put it into action in the nitty-gritty assignments of life, both at home and beyond. Because most of us spend the largest share of our “beyond” time pursuing our profession, Disciplers help us figure out how to build career activities on the foundation of our beliefs.

Mentoring is the ultimate. The Mentor affirms your beliefs, and will probably spot-check your being… but his/her ultimate contribution is to see beyond the demands and distractions of today, into the immense potential of tomorrow. Most people applaud their Teachers (and they've had a few); they revere their Discipler (their contribution was incredible)… but they struggle to identify a Mentor, because they're still nebulous about the question of their future potential, by God's design.

The confusion is so extensive that, in the world of 2014, people confuse the specialties. Coaches are often called Mentors, because people don't understand the distinction between the rich – but not redundant – contribution of each of these specialties, to a life lived to the fullest extent possible.

Isn't it about time for you to understand how to open the horizon of your life, to consider all God is prepared to do in, for and through you? Are you content to just be the best you can be today, or are you ready to think in terms of that plus setting your sights on all He has prepared for you, this side of Heaven? You've been – and, continue to be – well taught; you've even been disciple/coached in your Christian life. But, have you ever been mentored? And, is it is possible that God wants you to become a Mentor – as a part of your best-life future – even if you lacked having that service provided to you?

You owe it to yourself – and, your Father in Heaven – to explore the rich power of Mentoring as a part of your Christian faith journey. What would it mean to start a new year with a new understanding of what could be over the horizon/around the corner, as you add becoming to your believing and being?

Friday evening and Saturday daytime, January 24/25; the Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton; a stellar line-up of presenters and workshops who will pull back the drapes on Mentoring, and make the contribution of that specialty come alive, for you. Whether you're looking for a Mentor – or destined to become a Mentor – this is an experience that is unlike any past experience.

Stop thinking about what's next… and come face it with anticipation! Register here:
    www.thementorconference.com
and plan to join me in Fullerton, just three short weeks from now!    

Bob Shank