S3E7: Everyone Needs a Timothy – Investing in the Next Generation

Well, hey everyone, we're back at it in our final session about mentorship. The summer has been very busy but yet very fruitful. And in the midst of this busy season, we've been investing in our leadership in this cohort, talking about mentorship. And remember, a mentorship or a mentor is someone who knows the way, goes the way, and then shows the way. And we should be those type of leaders that know the way, go the way, and then show the way. to others. And I've really been enjoying this season of mentorship, this sort of ⁓ quarter of our leadership and our cohort, so much so that I'm having a leadership one day conference, September 20th, here in South Florida, ⁓ to talk about mentorship, ⁓ the importance of being mentored, having a Paul in our life, the importance of peer-to-peer relationships, ⁓ having a Barnabas in our life, and the importance of mentoring others, a Timothy in our life. It's gonna be really fun. We're gonna have ⁓ our very own Matt Messiano from this cohort be there, but also some guys from around the world, Esteban Valenzuela, a church planner we support in Madrid, Spain. He's coming out and sharing some leadership principles. I have my buddy Josh Black from California coming out, and ⁓ a few ⁓ church planners ⁓ that we actually support here in South Florida are gonna be sharing as well. And so ⁓ man, you're welcome. If you want to dig deeper into this subject to come on out to South Florida next month. It's going to be an amazing time. But I say all that because I really do ⁓ want you to know that I'm growing as a leader as well. As I'm digging in deeper, I want my team, my leaders to know this. And I want to remind you, you can pass all this, ⁓ these notes, ⁓ the videos to your team, to your leadership, and ⁓ and share. And I pray that the po how we are investing in you, you're able to pass that on to other people. And that's sort of what I want to talk to you about today. ⁓ investing in others, ⁓ Timothy. So today in today's leadership lesson, ⁓ I want to just discuss the idea of mentoring others, mentoring others. ⁓ as we grow in our leadership, we should be investing and pouring into other people. And it's such a privilege and joy to do this, adding people into our lives along our path, our journey, our leadership, and just as we receive, as Paul said, I give now to you. ⁓ we should be mentoring others, and it's an important Aspect of our leadership and in our growth. But the question I sort of want to tackle and examine today in this video is how? How do we actually pick the people we're going to mentor? Our mentore. Who should we be investing in? And what should we be looking for in someone we're going to mentor? Now I think the most practical and basic answer is this: whoever the Lord would call us to pour into, right? I mean, that's an easy answer. ⁓ you pray about it, and if God says this person. You do it. So that's simple. That's done. But I've found that sometimes it isn't always that simple, is it? ⁓ I I found that there's a lot of people that we can invest in, so many people that we can invest in, even in our own lives, our family, our churches, that we actually have to pick and choose and we have to be wise whom we choose. And so, yes, we need to pray just as Jesus went up to the mountain, Mark chapter three, and picked his disciples to We need to pray and ask God, but I found that there are some principles ⁓ that I sort of gone by of whom I will choose to invest in that I want to pass on to you and hope ⁓ they'll be helpful. Just some practical wisdom, things that I look for ⁓ when picking a a mentoree to help the process for me to choose. Again, these aren't like hardcore rules or sort of laws, but they're wisdom and principles that I've learned and I found helpful and In ⁓ the Word of God. Second Timothy chapter two verses one through seven. I want to read this text to you, and then I want to pull out ⁓ some principles, five to be exact, of sort of what I look for and how I choose a mentore and someone to pour into. And so, 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 1 through 7, it says, You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And who and what You have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also, share in sufferings as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier entangles in civil pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard working farmer who ought to have the first ⁓ share of crops. Think over. What I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. I want us to think over this passage as we sort of talk about and think about how do we pick or who do we pick for a mentor? What's the process? And the first thing I want you to see, or at least what I do, is I'm looking for a person with the evidence growth in the grace of Christ Jesus. What does that mean? I'm looking for someone ⁓ who's strong in the grace of God, who knows the grace of God. This text says, hey, Timothy, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. So I'm looking for a person of grace, someone that God has touched in their life that could be transformed by his grace. Because it is by God's grace that we actually are transformed, sanctified, and grow. Titus chapter two, verse 11 actually teaches this. Our response to Jesus matters, his gospel, his grace. And I want to look for someone who's already experienced this grace and will grow in the grace of God. And be responding so I could pour into them. Okay. Because if we build on any other foundation besides Christ, well, that's not a good foundation. So another way of sort of thinking about or looking or saying it is what I'm looking for is a person of character. I'm looking for someone with Christ like character, someone strong in grace. And oftentimes we took oftentimes look for charisma, but I'm looking for character. this is the first thing that comes to my mind. Because everything revolves around character. We know this. We've talked about this. Even ⁓ when we want to mentor others, we need to have character as a good leader in First Timothy chapter three or Titus chapter one, these qualifications. But I'm also looking just someone that's strong in the grace, that's that has the character of maturity or fruit of the spirit. ⁓ I would not recommend in ⁓ mentoring someone purely based on potential or talent, but you want to look for character. I wrote this down. It's because potential is always looking for opportunity. We don't promote potential. We look for faithfulness, and faithfulness is a product of good character. I love ⁓ for people to invest who are strong in the God's grace and want to respond in worship. ⁓ the next two things I look for ⁓ are found in verse two and verse three. It's faithfulness and fruitfulness. Let's start with faithfulness. This is one that is able to endure. Through suffering, like a good soldier, the text says, but they're able to complete the task. ⁓ Paul told Timothy to look for faithful men to invest in. ⁓ that is what we should do as well. Wouldn't you agree? ⁓ he or she that you're gonna mentor should be reliable. He should be faithful. Are they going to follow through on the commitments that they have made? ⁓ have they done what they have said they're going to do? Has their yes been yes, and their no been no? Another word or some words to sort of sum up this ⁓ second thing I'm looking for is consistency. ⁓ is it someone ⁓ someone's track record? Is it someone who's proven themselves? ⁓ because consistency reveals their passion and personal discipline, being able to use their gifts and their potential is not enough. They actually have to follow through on these things that God has given them and grace them in. And so ⁓ I'm looking for someone who's consistent. Or another way of saying it is I'm looking for someone who can make commitments and is faithful. I don't want to set people up for failure. Do they have the capacity to make the commitment? Can they be mentored by me? Right up front, I'm gonna look for people who are faithful and can commit to being faithful to be my mentoree. Because being mentored may require some homework. I may give this person some Books to read or say, Hey, can you come travel with me? Because I want to spend some time with you. I want to be very upfront about what they're committing to and this this ⁓ relationship that it's relational. So do they have the capacity? Can they commit to this? ⁓ do they have the time to be faithful? But I'm not also looking for faithfulness, I'm also looking for fruitfulness. And I think this text says it as well, because Paul told Timothy to look for faithful men who will then pass it on to other faithful people. Men, the people that can pour the information you want to give them into other people. They could be fruitful. A word that comes to mind in this subject is competence. Are they competent? You see, I'm looking for character, I'm looking for consistency or commitment, capacity, but I'm also looking for competency. ⁓ do they have the skills to do what I do? Will they be fruitful if I teach them how to pastor? Have they even been called to that work? ⁓ can they teach? Are they called? Now listen, they don't have to be perfect, but me as the mentor, I want to assess that because if they are called by God's grace, ⁓ and one be wanting to do this and the faithfulness of God and this call, I want them to be fruitful. So I want to know ⁓ what their strengths and their weaknesses are. I want to know their competency so I could train them, so I could teach them. Hey, you need to be a better Bible teacher or a greater listener. You know the way that you counsel people in your body language. I want to give them recommendations so they could be fruitful. and get better at a skill, ⁓ whatever I may do. It could be not even pastoring. I could be teaching them business principles. I was bi vocational for many years. I could be teaching them graphic design. I could teach them about video, podcasting. But I'm looking to assess as a mentor, are they able to be fruitful to be able to apply what I'm teaching them as their mentor? ⁓ they're they could are they gifted to do what I want them to do. I want people to succeed. And so ⁓ man, I want them to work at it, to take some time. ⁓ because people don't need to be perfect, but they do need to be trained. And so the three things I'm looking for so far is someone strong in the grace, ⁓ being strong in grace, ⁓ having a firm calling, being faithful to that call. They have a they have a past press ⁓ record of being com consistency or committed. ⁓ they're fruitful, able to pass things on to other people. ⁓ number four is what I'm looking for is someone who is humble. He or she must be submissive to those over them, evidencing biblical submission in Christ. Notice the language of Paul to Timothy. Like a soldier obeys the one who enlists him. The soldier is living for someone or obeying someone who's giving them instruction. An athlete obeys the rules of the sports, he says. There's an attitude of humility that I want when I work for someone and when I ⁓ mentor someone. One that can receive instruction, because if I want them to be fruitful, I gotta train them. Will they be humble enough to listen to the things I'm telling them to? Since I've not only know the way, but I've gone that way, I want them, ⁓ as I show them the the way to go, I want them to apply it and to be blessed and be fruitful, but they have to stay humble. You know, the attitude of humility is so important in all of our leadership. ⁓ there is no growth without humility. This is super key. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. So this person that I'm looking for must be submissive, ⁓ and not just submissive to me, but submissive to the Lord. The Bible talks a lot about humility and leadership. Proverbs 11:22, James 4:10, 1 Peter 5:6, Proverbs 18:12, and the list goes on. But the big idea is this: pride refuses to be taught, but humility refuses not to be taught. They're hungry. They want To learn. So they're they're humble, but they're hungry and they want to come to you and apply it. And for you to grow as a leader, you need to be teachable as well. And so Paul says, as a soldier needs to take orders. I think mentorees need to take some instruction. They need to receive and they need to respect you or respect me as a mentor. And this is why ⁓ another sort of C-word comes to mind is chemistry. See, I'm looking for character, I'm looking for commitment, consistency. ⁓ competency, but I'm also looking for chemistry between me and the mentore. Because personally the way I mentor people is through relationship. I want to be able to invest my life. So I need to be able to click with them because I'm gonna be spending time with them. It's often said that you can teach what you know, but you impart who you are. And so when I mentor someone, I want them to build ⁓ I want them to see my life and to build relationship and them to spend time with me. I want them to see ⁓ me and my wife get in disagreements and how I handle it, or my kids messing up and me responding. ⁓ I want them to see my life not just on stage, but offstage, my real life, so I can impart to them. ⁓ Paul would do this in Thessal Thesslanica, he said, hey, you you've seen the way that I was talked among you and lived among you, like a a mother loves their children. I want to be able to have a relationship with my mentor. And so I need chemistry to matter and for us to click. And so I want them learning from me. And that's going to be ⁓ take a humble and ⁓ and a teachable attitude and one of respect they can have for me and I for them. And so lastly, verse six, it says, it is a hardworking farmer who ought to have the first shares of the crops. He or she must be hardworking in the ministry. I'm looking for someone not just humble, not just hungry, but man, hardworking. Okay. I I want them to. ⁓ take the instruction that I give them and then apply it to their life. And it's gonna take time. So I'm not looking for anyone lazy. ⁓ I'm this is just me. I want them to take what I'm teaching them and to apply it. And I don't want to waste my time. ⁓ and so it's by continually working and growing, ⁓ man, it just it takes work. ⁓ better leaders, the but the more you want to become a better leader, the more work you're gonna have to do. ⁓ it it's by continually growing and making little decisions. You know, there's that rule of ten thousand hours, a million small decisions have a great reward. Oftentimes people want to do these big one time moments, but that's not leadership and that's not really maturity or how you build character, that thing that we're looking for in the first place, right? ⁓ we actually grow by the decisions and daily decisions that we make and obedience into the Lord. ⁓ I often say daily decisions that we make. Become the habits that we have, which form the character we possess, which is who we are. You see, decisions build your habits, habits become your character, and character is just who you are. And so many people want a one-time, just hard decision to make, ⁓ a big home run swing. But we know spiritual formation, leadership development, it's often found over time. So I want my mentor to work hard, to be faithful, to be committed, consistent, to work on character. And these type of things. And so those are the five things that I'm looking for. Okay, I'm looking for someone who has a firm calling that's strong in grace. I'm looking for someone for who's faithful, right? They they could say yes and they can follow through, they're consistent. ⁓ but I'm also looking for ⁓ someone who's fruitful, who can apply ⁓ what they're learning, ⁓ they're humble, and then also they work hard. And so ⁓ you know, I have five C words as well. Character, commitment, consistency, ⁓ competency, and chemistry. I want someone strong in the grace, faithful, fruitful, humble, and hardworking. And those are just important to me. I'm interested to know what's important to you. What do you look for? ⁓ because I do think it is important, no matter what you look for, to have a process, to have ⁓ your eyes open, to be able to mentor others. ⁓ it's so important, especially even in our growth as leaders, as we teach others, we actually grow and depend on God's grace and grow in our leadership. And it's just a blessing. And so as we close out this topic of mentorship, I want to finish just with a simple quote. It's by Bill Chrisom. ⁓ he says this we are privileged to allow a younger generation to stand on our shoulders, to see and go further than we have done. I pray that as we've talked about this subject intentionally, that we would go after people to mentor us. And to be under leadership, to seek out peers, Barnabas, people that we can ⁓ collaborate with and and celebrate with and just ⁓ man have relationship to encouragement, but also those that we can pour into. ⁓ man, it's not easy. It takes a lot of work and time and energy to mentor others and to apply these principles that we learned over the summer, but it is so worth it, isn't it? And so I'm just praying that ⁓ we find ⁓ our Paul. Barnabas and Timothy's as we continue to think about, process, and pray through these principles we learned over the summer over this subject of mentorship.