1-to-1 Mentoring Blog

Around 5:00pm on a Monday it is very easy to catch mentors and mentees coming in and out of the main mentoring room. As people are walking in and out I see the familiar face of one mentor that I haven’t yet had the opportunity to meet. I introduce myself and ask the question that is so curious to me of each mentor: “How did you become involved with this program?” Everyone’s story is certainly unique and always intriguing.

Mark came in contact with the Mentoring Program three different times. The idea of being a mentor was interesting, but that’s all it was to Mark: an idea. Mark’s wife helped to move him along toward actually getting involved. Her involvement in the Puppet Ministry at the Rock Church was her opportunity to serve in our community. Mark’s opportunity would be Mentoring.

The Mentoring Program had already been presented to Mark twice, and the third time, he applied to get involved. Once Mark received news of the program successfully finding a mentee to match Mark with, conflict arose. The parent of the mentee no longer wanted their child participating and requested they no longer participate in the program. Mark felt the heavy weight of rejection, feeling as if he personally wasn’t good enough to be a mentor for this child.

Presented with an easy way to drop the program, Mark decided not to concentrate on his own feelings of rejection, but to focus on what he could give to someone else. Casting aside his pride, and going through the matching process again could potentially end in the same way as the first. Willing to expose himself to rejection, Mark saw the journey worth the risk. “It would have been easy to quit right there. I had a really good excuse, but I stayed with it, and I’m glad I did.”

Mark was matched with "Ben" shortly thereafter and has been serving as a Mentor for the past two years now, spending time with his mentee every week. While Mark has a deep desire to see his mentee grow in faith in maturity, he knows that oftentimes what Ben needs the most is a male role model with whom he can play catch and share his artwork, and Mark makes himself available to serve his mentee at his point of need.

Mark is one example of the shared attitude mentors express towards their mentees. Sharing the love of Jesus Christ is evident through the compassion, service, and sacrifice mentors demonstrate to the young people with whom they are sharing life.