Regi Campbell has one of the most interesting approaches to mentoring I’ve heard about. Each year he chooses eight young men who agree to a covenant for a year-long mentoring program. The covenant is strict and serious, and it binds these men not only during the year of mentoring but for the future, when they agree to mentor eight young men themselves.
Mentor Like Jesus is Campbell’s guide to his program, which he calls Next Generation Mentoring.
In 1983, Campbell began mentoring young men at his church. These were one-on-one sessions over lunch or coffee. He was beginning to be stretched thin with the number of young men who wanted his advice. Then one day he heard author Tim Elmore speak. What Elmore said changed Campbell’s approach to mentoring:
More time spent with fewer people equals greater kingdom impact.
Campbell has spent nearly 10 years with his approach to mentoring. He writes about how he woke up one morning and realized his approach was nothing new. In fact, it was a model designed by Jesus.
Throughout Mentor Like Jesus, Campbell explores the key elements to building a mentoring program that can have lasting impact on the lives of other people. Each step of the way he relates these approaches to the teachings and life of Jesus Christ.
Campbell outlines 11 “key ingredients” to Next Generation Mentoring:
- Mentoring on purpose.
- Making it a selfless endeavor.
- Creating a group mentoring environment.
- Handpicking the participants.
- Mentoring for a defined period of time.
- Placing Scripture at the core of the program.
- Encouraging both public and private prayer.
- Modeling your faith in a transparent way.
- Teaching from experience.
- Ensuring a mutual commitment from mentor and mentorees.
- Requring mentorees to pay it forward.
While Campbell writes mainly from the mentor perspective in an effort train others to become effective mentors, even those who are seeking a mentoring relationship with someone can gain much from this book. Ensuring this is one of Campbell’s mentorees, Richard Chancy, who writes a “Mentoree Perspective” at the end of each chapter.
Mentoring programs are quite common in professional settings. Coming from smaller church families, I’ve never been involved in a Christian-based mentoring program such as this. The closest I’ve come is a men’s Bible study. Most of the “social” mentoring programs with which I’m familiar are for youths, and I’ve served as mentors in these before. Had only I read this book first, my mentorees would have likely been better served.
Past that, this book left me hungry for the bonds that can be forged with such a group. As a result, I started reaching out to a few friends who share similar interests and a passion for Christ to form a small group. It won’t be a mentoring group, or a Bible study, per se. Perhaps it will be more of a “support group” for life’s little challenges, or a mutually beneficial mentoring group. In the end, the idea will be the same: To forge meaningful, long-lasting relationships that offer opportunities for personal and spiritual growth.
Note: I received Mentor Like Jesus through a promotion from Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing. While Thomas Nelson did not publish Mentor Like Jesus, Hyatt was so impressed with the book he gave away 100 copies. I wholeheartedly recommend subscribing to Hyatt’s blog. It is one of my most-read.
