Mentoring Manifesto

Purpose

To help young men live a life of Christ-centered purpose, and to do so with passion

By the grace of God, I am laboring to put together a mentoring group aimed at creating Authentic Brotherhood.  During my time in the church and the military, I've been really blessed to experience some wonderful camaraderie and deep friendships.  Unfortunately, our busy schedules seldom allow us to experience that community in everyday life; we have to be intentional about it.  My prayer is that the men involved in this group would experience it and then go on to share it with others!

The Plan

I specifically recruit 6-8 men every year who meet the following criteria:

• Men who have a passionate commitment to Jesus Christ. They may be struggling in their relationship with God, but, fundamentally, they want to grow.
• Men who are willing to look themselves in the mirror and make changes to improve.
• Men who are teachable and willing to take direct feedback—about anything—without being defensive. (Prov 27.17)
• Men who are willing to replicate the process at least once with another group of guys sometime in the future.

Commitments

The men and their wives (if applicable) sign a written covenant to do the following:

• Be on time to every session.
• Attend two scheduled retreats, one at the beginning of the year and one at the end. These start on a Friday evening and end late Saturday afternoon.
• Meet with the group at my home once a month for three-hours (7:00–10:00 pm). This is the formal session.
• Read one book a month. I assign these, and the mentees are responsible for purchasing them themselves.
• Prepare a one-page written book summary for each book and bring eight copies to each meeting. These are prepared in a bullet-format. We’re not trying to impress our HS grammar teacher.
• Memorize two assigned Bible verses per month.
• Meet with me one-on-one for lunch every eight weeks (four- five meetings through the year).
• Meet with their assigned growth partner (one of the other mentees) in person or by phone once a month. These meetings can be as short or as long as the partners desire.

 

Opportunities

In addition, I invite my mentees to participate in these optional activities:

• Come to dinner with my wife, Hannah, and me at our house once during the year—just the four of us. This is purely social.
• Contact me as necessary to process any specific issues they need to work through.

 

Schedule & Topics

This is the program I have planned for this year:

Month	Theme	Book	Approximate Cost
Sep	Community	Samson and the Pirate Monks: Calling Men to Authentic Brotherhood, by Nate Larkin	$11
Oct	Launch Retreat	Creating Your Personal Life Plan by Michael Hyatt	$100
Nov	Identity	Not a Fan, by Kyle Idleman	$10
Dec	Priorities	Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working, by Craig Groeschel	$12
Jan	Eternity	When the Game is Over, it all Goes Back in the Box, by John Ortberg	$10
Feb	Stewardship	Fields of Gold, by Andy Stanley	$7
Mar	Authenticity	The Christian Atheist, by Craig Groeschel	$10
Apr	Spiritual Warfare	Lord Foulgrin’s Letters, by Randy Alcorn	$13
May	Going the Distance	No More Excuses, by Tony Evans (part 1)	$11
Jun	Graduation Retreat	No More Excuses, by Tony Evans (part 2	$100

Monthly Agenda

The agenda for the formal, three-hour session looks like this:

1. Prayer: We begin with me praying for the meeting.
2. Catch-up: Each guy shares the high point and low point of the prior month. I encourage the guys to take notes. They will need these at the end of the meeting.
3. Scripture Memory: Each guy says his two assigned verses from memory. I then randomly ask guys for previously assigned verses.
4. Break: We take a ten-minute break.
5. Discussion: This is the bulk of our time. Each guy passes out copies of his book summary. I then lead a discussion around the content of the book. (I use questions I have prepared before the meeting. I also do a written book summary.)
6. Assignments: I make the assignments for the next session. This includes the next book, next two Scripture verses, and any exercises I expect them to complete. (Every session will have one practical exercise that they will do daily before the next session.)
7. Prayer: We pray for one another, based on what was expressed in the Catch Up section.

Joining the Group

I ask the guys to make a serious commitment of time, effort, and money. I commit to do the same. This insures we all have “skin in the game” and maximize our learning.  However, if you're serious about growing AND you're ready to make the time sacrifices, but you just can't afford the material, I'll be glad to hook you up with a sponsor.

If you (or someone you know) may be interested in joining the group, please go here, download the “Letter to All Expressing Interest,” complete the two short questions, and return it to me no later than Aug 19^th.

---

[1] NOTE: Much of this material draws from concepts developed by Regi Campbell in his book Mentor Like Jesus, and on his website Radical Mentoring, as well as by Michael Hyatt on his personal website.
[2] I encourage you to purchase the books from the Amazon store hosted on my website. We will receive a small kickback from the sale, and the full amount will go directly to reducing the cost of our retreats.