Mentors are models, coaches, encouragers, supporters, advisers, listeners, examples of integrity. They are mature individuals to whom you can turn in bad times and in good times to help you grow personally and professionally. Mentors ask probing questions: "What are your dreams? What are you doing to attain those dreams? How is your marriage? How is your walk with the Lord?" Bob Biehl explains that "Mentoring is a lifelong relationship, in which a mentor helps a protege reach her or his God-given potential."6 Howard Hendricks said, "Mentors look inside us and find the man [or woman] we long to be."7

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Proverbs 27:17 points out, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." Are we sharpening ourselves against the whetstone of another's wisdom and character? Howard Hendricks said, "Show me a man's closest companions and I can make a fairly accurate guess as to what sort of man he is, as well as what sort of man he is likely to become. You see, people tend to rub off on each other."8 What kind of people surround you? Do they lift you up or pull you down?

As we have seen, we have number of biblical examples of mentoring, but the word for mentor comes from Greek culture. In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus left his newly born son Telemachus under the watch care of a trusted guardian by the name of Mentor. When Odysseus returned from the Trojan War and his adventures with cyclops and witches, he discovered that his son had matured under the care of Mentor. Homer later revealed that the person of Mentor was none other than the goddess Athena, who became incarnate in an ordinary man. That was pagan mythology.

In Christian theology, we have the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches us, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). Jesus Christ is our ultimate mentor and the model of godliness after whom we should pattern our lives. Unlike earthly mentors, Christ is a mentor who cannot let us down. When we imitate Christ, we follow the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith.

Let me tell you about some of my mentors who embody admirable virtues. My father is a mentor. I admire his courage and conviction fighting during the Vietnam War. It was an unpopular war, but he gave it his all and won many medals of valor. I admire my mother in rearing three boys while her husband was away at war. I admire my grandparents, who cared for us when my parents needed a break from three energetic boys. I admire my wife and her steadfast support. I admire my mother-in-law, who gives me insight and cautions me to slow down and have patience. I admire my old seminary professors who modeled for me excellence in my ministry. Dr. Tom Graves and Dr. John Carlton and Dr. Randall Lolley, to name only a few, epitomize for me integrity in the pulpit and pastorate. These are the folks I want to be like when I grow up. What about you? Are you helping to raise up another generation of the kind of people whom you admire because you are a mentor?