In the first of our guest articles may we introduce Peter Nevland - an incredible poet and musician from Austin Texas whose infectious and thought provoking performances (not poetry but "spoken groove") are wowing audiences both here and across America. I remember well the feelings I had when I first heard him perform material on this theme. If you have a heart for Mentoring you cannot fail to be moved by this! You can find more of his work at www.spokengroove.com - hopefully we will soon have a video of him performing to accompany :-)
Joel
Three blond tufts of hair sprouting from his chin and both sides of his head shouted "ADVENTURE!" after a gig in small-town Canada...
Showing posts with label article. Show all posts
Showing posts with label article. Show all posts
A blog entry after a mentoring session
Tom Collins' Blog (one of Paul's Mentorees and a friend of TMN!). Do have a read!
http://thetomcollins.blogspot.com/2011/07/step-to.html?spref=fb
http://thetomcollins.blogspot.com/2011/07/step-to.html?spref=fb
In "Christian Love"
The Following is a mail from Carson Pue - a well respected voice on Mentoring. You can subscribe to his emails here on his blog...
Dear Paul,
A short time ago, I sat beside a leader who serves in an executive position with a Christian charity. We chatted about her role and I asked her about her career background.
This opened up a very interesting conversation for, prior to working for a Christian ministry, she had been a high performing executive in the corporate world. Because, at Arrow, I have recently been researching how we might help develop more women in their leadership roles, I asked, “As a leader, what has surprised you most about the move from the corporate world to the ministry world?”
Two things came to her mind immediately and her facial expression showed me that she thinks about these things. In my mind, I was surmising I may hear about the lack of metrics used to judge progress, the pleasant working environment compared to the cut throat business she was in, or perhaps the great sense of fulfillment she was receiving personally through her new role.
Instead she shared, “I was unprepared for how being a woman in leadership still draws some reticence from people. In the corporate world the gender barrier has largely been dealt with. There are competency barriers both men and women have trouble overcoming, but I never felt treated differently because I was a woman.”
She went on to say that the senior leadership team treated her very well and she was really enjoying her new job however the awkwardness came more frequently from support staff.
“I can handle this; it just surprised me. What hurts more is how other Christians speak to me when they are upset,” she mentioned as her second surprise. “During my first month on the job, I had to deal with a very difficult situation and everyone had an opinion on how it should be handled. Those who were not happy with our decision would call me and say horrible things. During the call they would tell me that this was all being said, ‘In Christian Love.’"
How sad to hear. Come on people - "In Christian Love" - seriously? I suspect that every time you hear this phrase it is meant to buffer some attack from a Christian brother or sister. What kind of love is this?
Jesus was once asked what was most important in life (Matthew 22: 36-40). In His response to the question, Jesus summarized the message of God's law: be loving.
"Love the Lord your God…love your neighbor."
The primary demand of the law is an all-out love relationship with the Lord. The secondary is an unselfish love toward every other person - including other Christians. We are to love others "as ourselves" and to give others the consideration and care that we have given to ourselves throughout our lives. Jesus later intensified this second command by saying, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you…" (John 13:34).
My leadership colleague had been spoken to so crudely that my immediate response was to get names and addresses – we could fix this in an Irish way. But this definition of the law applies to me too.
To the Point,
Carson Pue
Mike Breen Blog - Obituary of the church!
Mike Breen is always good value! Have a read of this article on his blog. He says from time to time he gets the people he is discipling to write their own obituary to see where they think the Devil would most likely try to take them out! He then tries this out on the church as a whole! Very interesting!
Link: Mentoring Young People Article
Check out this link to an article on mentoring that might be useful in getting your thoughts flowing as it did for me.
boys who are not physical become men who are not brave
"When boys play at war they are rehearsing their part in a much bigger drama. One day, you just might need that boy to defend you."
[physically and/or emotionally or spiritually]
"Those Union soldiers who charged the stone walls at Bloody Angle; the Allied troops that hit the beaches at Normandy or the sands of Iwo Jima-what would they have done without this deep part of their heart?"
[the aggressive bit]
"Life NEEDS a man to be fierce- and fiercly devoted. The wounds he will takethroughout his life will cause him to lose heart if all he has been trained to be is soft. This is especially true in the murky waters of relationships, where a man feels least prepared to advance. As Bly says, 'In every relationship something fierce is needed once in a while.' Now this longing may have been submerged from years of neglect, and a man may not feel that he is up to the battles he knows awaits him..."
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