Men and mentors

Three cheers for Mentors  an excerpt from “Authentic Manhood” by Robert Lewis.

The power of mentoring is one of the biggest untapped powers of manhood, mentoring provides encouragement, vision, instruction and blessing of a life lived and experience examined.

To recognize, announce and inspire hope in younger men, the blessings to future knights in armor, it is in mentoring and spending time that opens the power within men.

Dads can only take a son so far in life, male mentors are specialists developing skills that their dads do not possess by filling in the gaps.

Mentors are:

1. To support rather than compete with you.
2. They are the one who is a cheerleader and not a critic.
3. a mentor is one who seeks to encourage and the development of your gifts while seeking to protect you from costly mistakes.
4. A mentor is one who admires and delights in you because he instinctively recognizes your value and untapped potential, it is a “gut feeling” for you.
5. a mentor maybe may not become your closest friend but they will become a close confidant; safe to say everything to them.

 

Is mentoring the same as discipleship? Yes and No.  Both seek to establish and unleash wisdom and the best in a man; they both call them to come up and out in life. Discipleship is wholly spiritual and Biblical while mentoring is the betterment of life skills such as fishing, work, or civic servanthood.

 

What does a mentor bring to the table?

1. Wisdom through experience, been there done that.
2. Warning against tragedy and harm.
3. I believe in you recognizing your healthy potential.
4. Choose for your achievements building people up.
5. In some instances shows and proves to be the hero.
6. Someone to fill in the father gaps without bringing the father baggage.

 

10 marks of a good mentor

1. This man clearly has what you need personally.
2. He chooses to cultivate a relationship with you.
3. Willing to take a chance on you.
4. Respected by other men.
5. Has a network of resources.
6. He is consulted by others.
7. He both talks and listens.
8. He is consistent in his lifestyle.
9. He is able to diagnose your real needs.
10. He is concerned with your interests.

 

Impacts of mentoring for the mentor

1. Closes the loop on a man’s life cycle give him a reason to live.
2. Connects older and younger men in symbiotic relationship.
3. Allows older man to teach from experience.
4. Gives older man a significant purpose in the second half of his life.
5. Add the missing satisfaction to the older man’s life.

For the one being mentor or protégé

1. Give him hope that he can do it.
2. Wisdom of experience having already walked the minefield.
3. A bigger personal vision for life.
4. Much needed encouragement.

 

How do I become a mentor?

1. Make a list of your strengths and experiences that you can bless a younger man’s life with the important things.
2. Determine how much time you have to give.
3. Pray for and choose a young man or men you want to be with and reach out to him.
4. If you connect initiate some regular time together until the protégé has what he needs then let him go.

What to do if you need a mentor

1. Pray for wisdom and guidance.
2. Go and ask him to be a mentor to you.
3. Don’t get discouraged if you get turned down.
4. Get a group together and go ask as a group.

“It is a poor man that goes through life without any men on his inside”