Two Sides to Every "Coin"

"Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray." (Proverbs 22:6)

"Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens the wits of another." (Proverbs 27:17)

     There are two sides to every coin.  There are always two perspectives.  In much the same way there are two sides to a mentor/mentee relationship.  There is the side of a mentor (usually the older of the two) and of the mentee.  The perspectives of both individuals are are valuable.  Neither of them is better than the other.

Perspective 1: The Mentee (words from former AUMC youth Michael Horn)

     Although ministry can come in all forms such as being a teacher, a coach, or even just helping someone out, I chose Youth Ministry. With much prayer and consideration I made the choice to go into the church to do ministry. There are many reasons why I chose to become a Youth Pastor, for instance, the church is where I feel most at home and the calmest. God has given me many spiritual gifts such as leadership, public speaking, a loving and kind personality, the will to serve, and the want to listen and talk to others with my undivided attention (also I want to be a kid forever).  Kevin Anderson, I would call him my mentor. He gave me many leadership roles within the youth group. As I took on those roles I began to realize that God was showing me his calling for my life, I could not even imagine doing any other job now. My mission is to show that we are good enough for God just how we are, but God loves us to much to keep us that way and he will continue to change and mold us for the better. There is no need to try and be the biggest and the best. We are who we are and when we mess up or get torn down God loves us anyway. We are enough for God and do not have to prove our worth. As of now I am attending Oklahoma City University studying Youth Ministry with a minor in Sociology to become the best Youth Minister that I can be. Youth Ministry was and is what God has called me to do. I challenge you to let God help you find your calling.

Perspective 2: The Mentor (words from my pseudo big brother/father figure/mentor: Boyd Goodloe)

     It gave me a sense of pride and satisfaction to mentor Kevin.  It also felt good to know that I made a difference in someone else's life.  It was great to see how I was able to help and see God work in someone else's life.  And God using me to influence/impact someone else who God had placed in my life.  God builds those types of relationships to share His glory.
     From perspective one, I was the mentor.  From perspective two, I was the mentee.  Two sides of a Mentor/Student relationship.  I gained from both.  I learned from both.  No matter what role we are in, we can learn from the other person.  The mentee learns from the mentor and the mentor learns from the mentee.
     We have a great opportunity to do that.  One opportunity is you, the youth, can be paired up with a mentor if you choose to do so.  Adults who are willing to give of their time to help you.  And they will gain from the experience as well.  Another opportunity you have for that mentor/mentee relationship is to participate in the Reading Cube book study.  I asked the participants on Sunday night two questions: What do you want to gain out of the study?  What do you want others to get out of the study?  One of the adults wrote that he wanted to get fellowship with the youth out of the study and he wanted others to get deeper Christian fellowship out of the study.  Two sides of the same coin.  His two responses go hand in hand.  Young people and adults need each other.  Your youth council came up with the idea of this book study so we could study with other church members.  We encouraged church members to show up for the study and they did.  Let's learn from one another.  To paraphrase the two proverbs above: we can train one another and we can learn from one another.  Let's do that!!

Grace & Peace
Kevin