<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Master Shifu is convinced that Po cannot be the Dragon Warrior who will fight TaiLung.\u00a0 There must have been some accident that allowed him to be chosen.\u00a0 It is impossible to train someone as uncoordinated and goofy as Po.\u00a0 One very important truth that Master Shifu must \u00a0come to grips with is that the problem with Po\u2019s training isn\u2019t so much the mentee but the mentor.\u00a0 Master Shifu has not prepared himself mentally and emotionally for a non-traditional mentee like Po; in fact, Master Shifu has failed to mentor him before he has even really begun.\u00a0 Master Shifu discovers that he must first to prepare himself<\/em> to mentor Po before he begins mentoring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps when you think of mentoring, you picture two people sitting across from each other at a table, one older than the other.\u00a0 The younger one is asking questions or drafting development plans; the older one is listening and offering sage advice.\u00a0 You are probably thinking of the mentor session which we will discuss in later lessons.\u00a0 However, there is more to mentoring than just that recognizable meeting.\u00a0 It is very important that the gospel-centered mentor first prepare him\/herself <\/em>to mentor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some mentors may view themselves as \u201cadvisors\u201d or \u201csounding boards\u201d for their mentees.\u00a0 While these are certainly roles that mentors play, gospel-centered mentors recognizes that they are much more than that.\u00a0 They are not merely walking training manuals or theological encyclopedias, dispensing knowledge to less experienced Christians.\u00a0 Gospel-centered mentors serve as the hands, ears, and voice of Christ for mentees.\u00a0 This is a deeply pastoral role.\u00a0 For that reason, gospel-centered mentors do much more than show up for mentor sessions with a notepad and pen.\u00a0 They actively prepare themselves spiritually for gospel-centered mentoring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How to Prepare Yourself for Gospel-Centered Mentoring<\/strong><\/p>\n

Become a Gospel-Centered Model<\/strong><\/p>\n

Find Your Own Mentor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Become a Gospel-Centered Model<\/h2>\n

For many of us growing up, father was the center of our world.\u00a0 His smile made us smile; his frown made us cry.\u00a0 This is perfectly illustrated by a particular photograph of my father and me when I was a four-year old boy.\u00a0 Dad and I are sitting together on the couch. \u00a0His legs are stretched out and his feet are resting on the coffee table. \u00a0I am desperately trying stretch myself out in the same way and rest my feet on the same table. \u00a0The problem is that I am not long enough. \u00a0So, I look like a rickety bridge spanning a yawning chasm, ready to collapse. I imagine that I was horribly uncomfortable, but I didn\u2019t care; I wanted to be just like him. \u00a0I wanted to imitate my dad every way I could.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Becoming a Gospel-centered model for mentees is a crucial aspect of preparing yourself to mentor.\u00a0\u00a0 The medical missionary Albert Schweitzer once said, \u201cExample is not the main thing in influencing others . . . it is the only thing.\u201d\u00a0 That may be a bit of an overstatement intended to emphasize a point, but it compels us to consider the importance of modeling, that is, setting an example of what it means to be Christ-centered.\u00a0 Consider Missionary Paul who encouraged the brothers and sisters to imitate him (1 Corinthians 4:16).\u00a0 In Philippians 4:8-9, he wrote, \u201cFinally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable\u2014if anything is excellent or praiseworthy\u2014think about such things.\u00a0 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me\u2014put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.\u201d \u00a0Even though Paul believed he still was \u201cthe worst of sinners,\u201d (1 Timothy 1:15,16) he also knew that God\u2019s grace had transformed him into a model the brothers and sisters could follow (1 Corinthians 15:10).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The reality is that you will certainly<\/em> influence your mentees through the model of your life and leadership; the question is:\u00a0 will you influence them positively or negatively?\u00a0 That\u2019s why James warned us, \u201cNot many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly\u201d (James 3:1).\u00a0 Your role as a mentor is to influence mentees in the development of wholehearted character first by showing<\/em> them how to rest in Christ and to reflect him with their lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You do that chiefly by filling up with the gospel yourself.\u00a0 When you are on a plane, preparing to take off, the flight attendant will tell you, \u201cIn the case of a loss in cabin pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the ceiling.\u00a0 If you are traveling with a child, please put your own mask on first, and then help them put on their mask.\u201d\u00a0 Why should you put on your own mask before helping others?\u00a0 It seems so selfish.\u00a0 But it is very difficult to help others when you are suffocating.\u00a0 First, you need to fill up with oxygen; then, you can help others breathe.\u00a0 The same is true with gospel-centered mentoring\u2014it is difficult to help mentees breathe deeply of the gospel if you are spiritually suffocating yourself.\u00a0 Look at it a few other ways.\u00a0 One drowning man cannot save another; he will only drag the other down.\u00a0 You cannot give away what you do not have yourself.\u00a0 Remember that spiritual maturity is defined by resting in Christ; if you are spiritually restless, it is difficult to encourage others to rest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To put it positively, when you are filled up with God\u2019s gospel power, it will overflow to fill others up.\u00a0 Consider these Bible passages:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Colossians 2:7 \u2026rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.<\/em><\/p>\n

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.<\/em><\/p>\n

2 Corinthians 1:3\u20135 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.\u00a0 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.<\/em><\/p>\n

John 4:13\u201314 Jesus answered, \u201cEveryone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/a>Photo by Santiago Lacarta<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/div>\n

All these passages contain the idea of \u201coverflowing.\u201d\u00a0 As we fill up with the gospel for ourselves through regular time with God\u2019s Word privately, with a few brothers or sisters, and with the whole church, the gospel always overflows.\u00a0 Of course, this does not imply that you will become a perfect model to your mentee like Christ is\u2014not even close.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need to be a Christian superhero; but as you are filled up with the gospel, it spills over into your life, even amid sin, failure, sorrow, and oppression.\u00a0 You naturally overflow<\/em> with the gospel to comfort and empower your mentees.\u00a0 And, as you overflow with the gospel, you will also naturally model<\/em> for your mentees what it looks like to rest in Christ and reflect him in the different realms of life.\u00a0 Through that process, your mentees will learn much about wholeheartedness even outside of formal mentoring sessions because they have seen it modeled in your life.<\/p>\n

A full study of the devotional life of the mentor is beyond the scope of this book; however, this is a good time to evaluate the nature and quality of your regular time with God in meditation and prayer individually and together with your brothers and sisters.\u00a0 For the sake of your mentees, you want to be regularly filled up with the gospel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More Training on a Gospel-Centered Devotional Life<\/strong><\/p>\n

An excellent resource for nurturing a gospel centered devotional life is the series entitled, \u201cReclaiming Our Christ-Centered Lutheran Devotional Heritage,\u201d by Professor Richard Gurgel.\u00a0 According to the website where these tools are hosted, \u201cProfessor Gurgel has prepared these four essays for his continuing education classes on a called worker’s devotional life. The essays include Part 1: Drawing Our Devotional Life from the Gospel, Part 2: Growing in the Gift of Meditating on the Word, Part 3: Growing in the Gift of Word-Focused Prayer, and Part 4: Growing in the Gift of Testing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

These are available at the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Essay File Website or at this link:\u00a0 http:\/\/essays.wisluthsem.org:8080\/handle\/123456789\/4298<\/a><\/p>\n

Share<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Leave a comment<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Set the stage for gospel-centered mentoring by becoming a gospel-centered model and finding your own mentor. In the movie Kung Fu Panda, the wicked snow leopard Tai Lung has escaped prison and threatens to destroy a peaceful civilization.\u00a0 The lazy, clumsy, chubby panda Po is chosen by Master Oogway as the Dragon Warrior to fight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gospel-centered-mentoring"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewdoebler.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewdoebler.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewdoebler.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewdoebler.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewdoebler.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=372"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/matthewdoebler.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":378,"href":"https:\/\/matthewdoebler.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372\/revisions\/378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewdoebler.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewdoebler.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewdoebler.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}