Ten Key Moves – Mentors

I have a two-fold purpose behind this post.  First of all, it has been awhile since I have listed one of my ten key moves, and now seems like the right time for this one.  The key move is stated this way:  “I will make it a point to find mentors and learn from them.  I will pass on this knowledge by mentoring others.”  Secondly, I want to honor my own mentors.

Let me begin by saying that even those who had great dads (or parents for that matter) will benefit from learning from mentors.  We dads don’t know everything, and can only take our children so far in life.  My stepdad was great in teaching me discipline, was very intelligent academically, and was among the best in his field as a music teacher.  His choirs sang at St. Patrick’s Cathedral among many other places.  However, that’s just it.  He was a music major and I went into the field of agriculture in college.  He could only take me so far.  The same goes for my Grandpa and Uncle, whom I have spoken of before.  God uses many people to help shape us, if we will only stop and learn from them.

The Bible gives us many examples of mentoring relationships:  Jethro to Moses / Moses to Joshua / Elijah to Elisha / Paul to Timothy / and Jesus to his disciples to name a few.  Dr. Howard Hendricks, in his book As Iron Sharpens Iron, lists ten marks of a good mentor.  I am going to list those for you here:

1. This man clearly has what you personally need.
2. He chooses to cultivate a relationship with you.
3. He is willing to take a chance on you.
4. He is respected by other men.
5. He 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.

I would like to tell you about a mentor who fit this description perfectly – yes, all 10 points and more.  We all called (and still call) him “Doc,” and the impact he has made on my life is incredible.  When I was a Junior in high school, I took an animal science class.  Through that, I joined the FFA Meat Judging Team.  Honestly, when I first started, I didn’t have a clue.  I saw a picture of a cubed steak and called it ground beef.  Anyway, I judged for two years and ended up placing second at the Texas State Meat Judging Contest as a Senior.  When I went to college at West Texas A&M University, I went as a pre-vet major.  However, after taking the animal science class under Doc, I decided to change my major to animal / meat science.  I was assigned to an adviser, and guess who it was?  You got it - Doc.  I remember the first ”formal” meeting we had.  Fortunately, I had done really well in his class.  In this meeting, he basically asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up.  I asked him if he thought I would ever be able to be a USDA meat grader.  He looked at me with his characteristic grin and said, “You could be the boss of the graders.”  In another conversation we had on down the road, we were talking about salaries.  I wandered if I would ever be able to make $50,000 a year (which sounded like a huge amount to me as a college student).  His response was this, “Someday, you’ll make $150,000 a year.”  Little did he know I would leave the meat industry and go into ministry.   This man spoke life into me.  Since I had such high regard and respect for him in the meat science field, his encouragement meant the world to me.  He was my “coach” who would stand on the sidelines and root me on.  He was the one who would tell me I could do it, no matter what “it” was. 

Ironically, my stepdad and I had a falling out the summer after my Sophomore year, so I didn’t go home for the summer.  I lived with my grandparents, and found a “job” selling Cutco knives.  That lasted 3 weeks, and I made a whopping $136, which was barely enough to cover the cost of my sales kit.  The only reason I made that much was because Grandma felt sorry for me and bought the super deluxe set with all the bells and whistles for somewhere in the neighborhood of $800!  I remember going over to one family’s house, and working really hard to sell a set of knives.  I ended up selling them one measely spoon.  That’s when I decided I better find another line of work.  On top of that, I had just made a really stupid decision to sell my ‘84 Escort that was paid for to buy a sporty ‘89 Olds Cutlass Calais.  Needless to say, I needed a job fast!  I went “crawling” into Doc’s office and asked if he had any work for me at the research center.  Just a side note – he later shared with me that when he saw my car he thought I was a spoiled rich kid.  He only told me that after he found out it was far from the truth. :-)  Anyway, he put me to work 40 hours per week right away.  I got more experience working for Doc than I could have ever received in a classroom.  He believed in me, and gave me a lot of responsibility as a college student.  I received both my B.S. and M.Ag under him.  While doing so, I oversaw data collection crews, and ended up going to over 20 different meat packing plants in 3 countries and collecting data on tens of thousands of cattle.  Doc would often go out of the country on consulting work, and leave me in charge.  I was also the student manager of the meat lab and coach of the meat judging team.   As a Graduate Assistant, I would often teach his meat science class in his absence, and was eventually given the title of Assistant Director of the Cattlemen’s Carcass Data Service.  Please don’t take any of this as boasting – this is the power of having an incredible mentor who believed in me and gave me opportunities.  At least once per week, he would take me to lunch so we could talk “business.”  He would work it so I could go on most of the out of state trips with him, and even a few out of country trips.  He would always check to see how I was doing and if he was overworking me.  He cared about me as a person.  We went to his house many times.  My wife and I traveled with him and his wife to Pennsylvania to a conference, where I received an award from the American Meat Science Association that he nominated me for.  He made sure and took us up to Niagara Falls on that trip, just for fun.  He would never let me pay for anything.  This man taught me way more than meat science.  He taught me about life.  He is such a wise man, and I thank God that Doc didn’t keep all that wisdom to himself, but emparted some to me.  

Stay with me, this is the cool part.  At one point, Doc gave me a mission.  That mission was to find and train my replacement.  There was a young man (we’ll call him T.L.) taking our meat science class, and was acing the tests.  He was also very gung-ho in doing the labs.  I told Doc that this guy would be my replacement.  T.L. wanted to be a rodeo cowboy and a welder, if my memory serves me correctly.  Well, I convinced T.L. to join the first meat judging team that I coached and to join us in collecting data at the research center.  Soon, he became my right hand man at the research center, and was eventually my co-leader and co-coach.  Not to mention, we became very close friends.  He took over when I left and went on to get his Masters and Ph.D.  Here’s the part of the story that I love though – Doc retired a few years ago and T.L. moved back to Texas to assume Doc’s position as professor of meat science at the university!!  Is that not cool or what?  I joked with Doc that little did we know when I found my replacement, I had also found his!! 

I probably went into more detail than most of you wanted to read, but I couldn’t help it.  I hope that everyone at some point has a Doc in their life.  He taught me so much and my life is richer because of it.  I have other mentors who have helped me in my spiritual walk and in being a husband and father.  These men have set a high bar for me, and I still look to them for wisdom.  I am always on the lookout for other mentors who are willing to teach me.  Along with that, I want to mentor others and give them what has been given to me.  I want to speak life into the boys and girls of our ministry to single parent families.  I want to speak life into young fathers and encourage them in a world that makes it very difficult to be godly.  I want to encourage single parents and young families.  Goodness, I want to encourage anyone I can.  Not because I think I’m qualified, but because others have helped me, and it is my heart to return that favor by serving others.  I am on this earth to serve and be as much like Jesus (the ultimate teacher and mentor) as I can be.  Thank you to all those who have mentored me. 

May God bring mentors into your life and may He use you to speak truth and life into someone else’s life!