tylerramsbey Christian Life, Ministry, Uncategorized

How to Read: Acts of the Apostles

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This is part of a series of posts based on the book How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. To see the previous posts in this series, click below:
Are You Reading the Bible Wrong?
How to Read: New Testament Letters
How to Read: Old Testament Narratives 

The Book of Acts is unique in the Bible. It is the story of the early church; its birth, conflicts, and expansions. The Book of Acts is a very readable book and seemingly easy to understand. While this is true for most of the book, there are still principles you must keep in mind.

First, the guidelines I shared on reading the Old Testament Narratives also hold true for the book of Acts:
1. You are not the hero of the story, God is.
2. The narratives to not explicitly teach moral truth.
3. The narratives to do not directly teach doctrine.

Keeping those three guidelines in mind, let’s see how they uniquely apply to the book of Acts.

1. Keep in mind Luke’s purpose for writing Acts.

Luke, the author of the book of Acts, was a highly educated Gentile who had a keen interest in recording history. For those specifically interested in history, the book of Acts is an excellent Hellenistic historiography. For those of you who are terrified of words with more than three syllables, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Luke wrote the book of Acts in order to
– encourage Christians in their faith
– be entertaining
– inform readers about the early church
– offer an apologetic for this new ‘sect’ of Judaism

In other words, Acts is not a theological treatise that addresses baptism, tongues, or other theological disputes that tend to divide Christians today. Although Luke speaks into these issues through narrative, they are not the main goal of his book.

2. Understand the ‘movement’ of the Book of Acts.

Through Acts, Luke shows the abundant power of the Holy Spirit in the early church. Specifically, he shows the expansion of Christianity from a religious sect to a movement that encompasses multiple continents and people groups.

One of the best ways to understand specific passages in Acts is to note where it is in the overall movement of the book. There are six different parts to this movement contained in Acts:

1. The primitive church in Jerusalem: Acts 1:1-6:7
2. Movement carried out by Greek speaking Jews: Acts 6:8-9:31
3. Movement that includes the Gentile people: Acts 9:32-12:24
4. Movement into the Gentile world led by Paul: Acts 12:24-16:5
5. Movement into Europe led by Paul: Acts 16:6-19:20
6. Movement into Rome via trials in Paul’s life: Acts 19:21-28:30

3. The narratives in Acts do not bind us to a certain form of ‘doing’ church. 

Many people have read about the “house churches” in the book of Acts and wrongly concluded that house churches should be the norm of the 21st century. Many zealous Christians have built entire organizations on a restoration mentality based on the book of Acts (oddly enough, these same people use microphones and sound systems in their gatherings..).

The principles illustrated, rather than the specific church models, are normative for us.

  • Today the Church is to be a movement that cannot be crushed by persecution, racism, death, or martyrdom.
  • The Church is to encompass multiple people groups by tearing down the dividing wall of hostility between them.
  • The Church is to be a fellowship of people devoted to the teachings of the Bible and to one another.

Rather than trying to restore specific models from the early church (such as house churches and feeding programs), we need to keep in mind the timeless principles of Scripture. The narratives written in Acts are to encourage and inform God’s people; not lay unrealistic burdens on us from the 1st century.

I am only able to cover these principles very briefly in a blog post. For further reading and greater explanation, I highly recommend purchasing the book!

 

tylerramsbey Christian Life, Ministry, Uncategorized

How to Read: Old Testament Narrative

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This is part of a series of posts based on the book How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. To see the previous posts in this series, click below:
Are You Reading the Bible Wrong?
How to Read: New Testament Letters

Narrative is the most popular literary style in the Old Testament. Roughly 40% of the entire Old Testament is narrative. Below are some narratives that you may be familiar with (and ones we often interpret wrongly):

  • Noah and the Flood
  • Abraham’s Migration
  • Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
  • The Exodus of Israel out of Egypt
  • Joshua conquering Jericho
  • Samson deceived by Delilah
  • David defeating Goliath
  • Daniel in the Lion’s Den

A narrative is simply a story. There are characters, plots, conflicts, and resolutions. The narratives of the Old Testament are about real people that lived real lives. As you are brought from scene to scene in the different narratives, there are three important concepts to keep in mind.

1. You are not the hero of the story, God is.

Unfortunately, many people read the Old Testament narratives from a man-centered perspective. What I mean is people try to place themselves into the story as the hero. One example of this is concluding that you are David and the problems you face are Goliath.

Let’s be real – You are not a hero. If you want to place yourself in the story, you would probably be the Israelite army who cowered behind the shepherd boy.

As you read the different narratives, keep in mind that the stories are meant to highlight the greatness of God – not the greatness of man. This is also true for the actual characters in the story.

Moses is not the hero of the Exodus, God is.
Joshua is not the hero in his conquest, God is.
Daniel is not the hero in the lion’s den, God is.
You are not the hero in your own story, God is.

2. Narratives simply record what happened – not what should have happened. In other words, they do not explicitly teach moral truths.

One of the reasons I treasure the Old Testament is how realistic each of the stories are. Rather than showing a highlight reel of each person’s life, God has inspired people to record all of it- especially the bad. From rape to murder, all of it is included throughout the narratives. This shows that we live in the same fallen world that David and Noah inhabited; one in which people do what is right in their own eyes and thus disregard God’s commands.

The problem is when people read a certain narrative in the Old Testament and conclude that is what God is calling them to do. There are some cases where a moral principal is explicitly taught but the majority of the narratives require you to have an understanding of the Law (the first five books of the Bible) in order to decide whether or not a certain action is moral.

One narrative that is often taken out of context in this regard is Gideon and his fleece. If you do not know the story, Gideon lays out a fleece in order to test God to see if God is really calling him. Many well-meaning Christians have concluded from this narrative that is is morally right to set out a “fleece” of our own and test God. When the narrative is read in its proper context and compared to the explicit moral teachings in the rest of Scripture, you will be able to understand that God honored Gideon’s fleece not because Gideon was righteous by doing so but because God is gracious.

This does NOT mean God will honor your “fleece” because you lack the faith to trust Him when He calls you.

3. Old Testament narratives do not directly teach doctrine.

The narratives in the Old Testament DO teach truths about God. Yet we need to keep in mind that these truths are illustrated rather than explicitly stated.

One example is regarding God’s faithfulness. As you study the rebellion of Israel in the Old Testament, many of the stories illustrate the doctrine that God is faithful. This is shown through the way he raises up Judges to deliver His people and the pattern of restoration given throughout the narratives.

On the other hand, if you are using a single Old Testament narrative in order to dogmatically believe in a certain truth, you are on extremely shaky ground.

I am only able to cover these principles very briefly in a blog post. For further reading and greater explanation, I highly recommend purchasing the book!

 

 

tylerramsbey Christian Life, Ministry, Uncategorized

How to Read: New Testament Letters

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This is the second post on a series based on the book “How To Read the Bible for All Its Worth“. Click below to read the first post. 
Are You Reading the Bible Wrong?

The majority of the New Testament is made up of Epistles or letters. These letters were sent from a church leader(s) to a specific church (or churches) in the first century (with the exception of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon which were sent to individuals). While keeping this in mind, the challenge is to put each letter in its context in order to understand the broader meaning for our lives today.

Think for a minute about listening to a phone conversation. As you listen to another person’s conversation, you can only hear what they are saying and how they are responding to the person on the phone. By using some critical thinking, you can get a pretty good idea of what the conversation is about from the one side. This is the same goal when we read the Epistles. You are hearing one side of a conversation so the challenge is to reconstruct the situation to the best of our ability.

Below are a list of the Epistles (or letters) in the Bible:

  • Romans
  • 1 Corinthians
  • 2 Corinthians
  • Galatians
  • Ephesians
  • Philippians
  • Colossians
  • 1 Thessalonians
  • 2 Thessalonians
  • 1 Timothy
  • 2 Timothy
  • Titus
  • Philemon
  • Hebrews
  • James (could have also been a sermon)
  • 1 Peter
  • 2 Peter
  • 1 John
  • 2 John
  • 3 John
  • Jude

As you can see, most of the books you are probably familiar with are Epistles. Although many of the passages are relatively simple to understand, there are also numerous verses people have taken out of context and built dogmatic beliefs around.

In order to properly understand each Epistle, you will need ask three specific questions. These same three questions apply to the rest of the Scriptures but in varying ways:

1. What is the historical context of the letter?

As stated in the previous post, each section of the Bible was written to a specific people (or person) at a specific time in history. Although the Bible itself is timeless, one needs to understand the historical nature in order to understand the timeless nature of Scripture.

You can learn the vast majority of the historical context by reading through the entire letter and taking note of what the author is addressing. As you are taking notes, I recommend trying to answer the following questions regarding the historical context:

1. Who is the author? What is their relationship to the church in question?

2. Where is the church located and what is its background (it would be best to consult a commentary or Bible Dictionary for this information)

3. What is the attitude of the author? Are they happy? Angry? Frustrated?

4. What do you notice about the church itself? Are there specific areas being addressed?

2. What is the literary context of the letter?

When it comes to understanding how to read the Epistles, I cannot emphasize enough that you need to THINK PARAGRAPHS!!! In other words, you need to consider the overall passage that each verse is located in. As a letter, the individual verses were not meant to be thought of outside of the sections they are in.

The best way to ‘think paragraphs’ is to read a section of Scripture and then ask yourself, “What is the big idea”? Once you figure out what the main point of the paragraph/section is, look for the supporting points. This will enable you to understand each verse as it was meant to be understood; as a logical part of a greater whole.

3. What did the passage mean to the original hearers of the letter?

Once you have a basic understanding of both the historical and literary context of the passage you are studying, you can start to figure out what the passage meant to the original hearers. Even if it is a passage that is relatively clear (such as Romans 1:16), understanding the context of the church in Rome will give you a greater appreciation of the text.

A rule of thumb is that the passage CANNOT mean something entirely different than what the author meant for it to mean.For example, the purpose of the Epistles is not to encourage your insane conspiracy theories about the government as the United States did not exist (this is a pet peeve of mine – rather than trying to justify your wacky beliefs with the Bible, go collect some canned food for the apocalypse).

Once you understand what it meant to the original hearers, you are able to accurately ascertain what the application is for today. For most passages it is easy; other passages are incredibly difficult (see 1 Corinthians 11:2-16).

Once again, I am only able to cover these concepts very briefly. For a more in-depth understanding that includes example from the Epistles themselves, go order How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth!

 

 

tylerramsbey Christian Life, Ministry

Are You Reading the Bible Wrong?

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There’s a good chance you are reading much of the Bible incorrectly.

The Bible is the most powerful book we have access to. Rather than just being a beautiful work of literature, it is God’s very Word. It is primarily through the Scriptures that the Living God speaks to His people.

While keeping that in mind, we also need to understand that the Bible IS a book. Actually, it is a collection of books, letters, prophecies, and various other types of literature composed over a vast period of time. Every part of the Bible is originally from an ancient manuscript. This displays the tremendous power and uniqueness of the Biblical text as it still has direct relevance for Christians today.

Unfortunately, many Christians are content to allow their Bible to collect dust rather than to study it. OR, they are content with some guy in a suit telling them what they should think about the Bible.

Yes,  I know all Christians CLAIM reading the Bible is important but the evidence proves otherwise. The church today is biblically illiterate even through we live in a time when solid resources are literally a click away.

As part of my study at Sioux Falls Seminary, I just finished reading How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart.

This is an excellent book accurately explains how to build a bridge from the 21st century to the ancient text in order to understand the relevance and power of the Bible for today. Sadly, many Christians misread and misapply the Bible to their own ruin.

Over the next 10 blog posts we will discuss the basics of reading the following types of literature in the Bible (click the links to be directed to the finished posts):

I will be writing very briefly on each of these topics. For a much better understanding, I highly recommend purchasing the book. I pray that these posts encourage you to pursue God with all your mind, heart, and soul.

What do YOU think is the most difficult part of the Bible? Let me know by leaving a comment!

 

tylerramsbey Christian Life

Seeing the Invisible God

The Western world – Christians included – are incredibly blind to the presence of God. We have our being in the midst of a noise-polluted and emotionally chaotic world. From the constant buzzing of smart phones to the continual anxiety about material things, we have become blind to the God who reveals Himself moment-by-moment.

I want to share with you an ancient practice that will allow you to see the invisible God. He is working and revealing himself in the midst of our lives but we are too busy and distracted to notice. This means of grace is known as the Examen of Consciousness.

The Examen of Consciousness could be accurately described as a daily review. It is a time that you set apart  and ask God to show you the variety of ways He was present to you throughout your day (or week). This is a form of prayer that has much more to do with listening rather than being heard. Through regular practice of the Examen of Consciousness, you will gradually become more aware of God’s presence in the ordinariness of your life.

Here’s my challenge for you: Spend seven days practicing the Examen of Consciousness. As the warm glow of the evening sun hides behind the horizon and you prepare for sleep, spend a few moments journeying with God through the events of your day. In what ways did you see “coincidences” that reminded you of God’s love and grace? In what ways did you respond to God’s prompting to speak to a stranger or show comfort to someone who was hurting? Allow the loving Spirit of God to make known the variety of ways He was working in your life throughout the day.

In the morning, remind yourself of the beautiful truth recorded in Psalm 139:16 – “All my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.” God wants to reveal himself to you. Pray that He would awake you from your spiritual slumber and open your eyes to the reality of His presence.

tylerramsbey Christian Life, Spiritual Warfare

Is All Religion Created Equal?

Many people, including Christians, have been deceived into thinking that all religion is generally the same.

In other words, God is a mountain and the various religions are simply different pathways to the top of the mountain as long as the religion promotes good will and sincere belief. Although there are hundreds of Scripture references from both the Old and New Testaments that directly refute this understanding of God, the story of the Exodus is a surprisingly powerful place to begin.

In summary, the people of Israel are forced into cruel slave labor by Egypt. At this time, Egypt wielded incredible political and military might which no one could withstand. Egypt was so powerful at this time that the king of Egypt – the Pharaoh – was viewed as the divine god Horus who had the ability to give and take away life.

Into this scene steps an unlikely deliverer named Moses who proclaims the famous statement, “Let my people go” repeatedly to Pharaoh in an attempt to deliver Israel from their bondage of slavery. Pharaoh, in his ignorance, declares he knows nothing of the God of Israel and refuses to let the people leave to worship in the wilderness. This sets the scene for the God of Israel and the gods of Egypt to spar with one another for dominance through the ten plagues God unleashes on Egypt.

Each one of the plagues is a direct assault on the gods and comforts of the Egyptians and the attacks culminate in a spectacular display of God’s sovereignty over all of creation.

1. Nile turning into blood.
This was an assault on the “Mother of Egypt” (the Nile river) which provided life to Egypt.

2. Frogs invade Egypt.
This was an assault on Heka – the Frog god of Egypt.

3. Lice/Gnats form from the dust of the earth to attack Egypt.
This was an assault on Geb – the Earth god of Egypt.

4. Flies/Beetles invade Egypt in unbelievable numbers.
This was an assault on Kephra, the Egyptian god whose head resembled the scarab beetle.

5. Cattle all becoming sick and dying.
This was an assault on the Egyptian fertility symbol.

6. Ashes landing on the bodies of Egyptians causing extreme boils.
Ashes were a sign of blessing in Egypt. God uses ashes to curse those who opposed Him.

7. Thunder, lightening, and large hail destroys and kills many Egyptians and their property.
This was an assault on Isis and Serapis who were the gods of fire and water. This was done to show that the false gods could not protect Egypt from the Living God.

8. Locusts destroying all the crops in Egypt.
This was not a direct assault on any specific pagan god but rather to show that the God of Israel is sovereign over all creation – even the supply of food.

9. Darkness covers all of the land and the people of Egypt cannot even see directly in front of themselves.
The was a direct assault on Re, the sun god of Egypt. Re was one of the most important deities of Egypt.

10. Killing of all the firstborn whose homes were not marked by the blood of the Passover Lamb.
All of the plagues culminated in this attack against Pharaoh to refute his claim that was a god and could give and take away life as he pleased.

Almost immediately after delivering Israel from the yoke of slavery, God proclaims the famous Ten Commandments which begin by declaring He is the only God and the ONLY one to be worshiped. The story of the Exodus is in direction contradiction to the popular belief that all religion and all gods are the same. Repeatedly through narrative, poetry, law, and teaching, the Scriptures proclaim the truth that there is only ONE God and the only way to have access to Him is through Jesus Christ.

tylerramsbey Christian Life, Finances

Immediate Obedience

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As I was meditating upon the Gospel of Matthew this morning, I was struck by the reaction of two disciples to Jesus when he called for them. Jesus, who at this time did not have any disciples, was taking a stroll beside the Sea of Galilee. This body of water is a popular and busy workplace for commercial fishermen. All around him, Jesus can hear the rough talk of men and the distinct sound of fishing nets crashing into the water.

Into this scene, Jesus sets his eyes upon two brothers – Simon and Andrew. Similar to any other day, Simon and Andrew are laboring to catch fish. This is not a vacation for them, this is their livelihood which they have trained many hours for.

Boldly, this itinerant preacher calls to them from the shore: “Follow Me,” He told them, “and I will make you fish for people!” (Matt. 4:19)

In essence, Jesus is calling them to sacrifice their comfort and financial security to follow an unknown rabbi. What would you have done? I would have ignored this preacher in order to provide for myself and my family. I have a tendency to worship security rather than God. Instead of stepping into the unknown, I would have held onto my current condition of life and disregarded the Son of God.

How do Simon and Andrew react?

Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. (Matt. 4:20)

They left their sense of comfort. They left their financial security. They left their friends and family. They did all of this to attain a greater prize – following Jesus. Instead of hesitating and worrying themselves out of obedience, they listened immediately.

God wants to use you and I today to accomplish his purposes but we often rationalize our disobedience.

My challenge for YOU today is to obey immediately as soon as you hear the whisper of the Holy Spirit prompting you for action.

 

 

tylerramsbey Christian Life, Temptation

Three Tips for College Students

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As the Summer season breathes its last warm breath, many students are heading back to school. This is a unique time of the year filled with uncertainty and nervous excitement in the lives of these college students. In order to thrive in your first (or fourth!) year of college, I want to offer some helpful counsel.

1. You are NOT a student first.
I do not care what you parents, academic advisers, guidance counselors, or professors say. Your primary identity is NOT being a student. Although you may spend hours laboring over the dusty pages of ancient books in your campus library, your number one priority is to make much of Jesus Christ – not your studies.

I once heard of a wise professor at a seminary telling his students, “For some of you, it would be sinful not to get an A in this class; for others of you, it WOULD BE sinful for you get an A in this class.”

Your relationship with God comes before your studies.
Your relationship with your family comes before your studies.
Your relationship with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ comes before your studies.

You are a Christian before you are a student so prioritize your time accordingly. What does it profit you to gain incredible grades, prestigious awards, and published articles if you only lose your soul in the process?

2. Root yourself in a local church.
Every college campus, even Christian ones, are notorious for shattering the faith of zealous believers who have spent the last four years drinking soda out of a sock at youth group. In college, as in the rest of your life, it is going to take more than emotional highs and silly games to sustain your faith.

There is an invisible enemy that lurks around your college campus with the desire to kill, steal, and destroy you. Peter provides us with helpful advice: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” – 1 Peter 5:8

We need to remember that one of Satan’s most effective tactics of devouring believers is by isolating them from a local church. He does this primarily through busyness. If you allow your commitment to a local church to drift during your time at school, you WILL lose this battle against Satan and his demons and your faith will be ruined.

Therefore, root yourself in a local church. Join a small group, serve on a morning team, commit to attending worship services; do NOT unplug from the church as a result of your studies.

3. Do not be taken captive by deception.
All of us are aware of the moral dangers of a college campus. Unfortunately, we are far less aware of the deception that wreaks havoc in the minds of believers being challenged in their faith. It is easy for us to lack discernment and simply received all material we learn in school as truth.

Paul warns us of this danger in Colossians 2:8 – “Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.”

Paul describes this teaching as “empty philosophy” that sounds extremely intelligent. Ultimately, the teaching finds its source solely in human reason which has been marred as a result of sin. This is what you will encounter in your secular religious and philosophy classes.

Nothing is new under the sun.

I would encourage you to be as noble as the Bereans who “searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.” (Acts 17:11) Even when you are confused by a certain teaching, I can promise you there are solid resources by evangelical scholars who have encountered the issues far before you did.

Below is an incredible video by The Gospel Coalition on this subject:

What would you add to this list? Let me know by leaving a comment!

tylerramsbey Christian Life, Spiritual Warfare

The Battle for Your Mind

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This is the second part on a series about spiritual warfare. To read the first post, click below:
The Invisible War

The effects of spiritual warfare are often experienced in our minds. The enemy uses his vast power to distort our view of God and remove our identity in Christ. In order to be successful in this unseen war, we need to form tactics to reign victoriously in the battlefield of our minds.

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

1. We wage war differently.
Our battles are not fought with assault rifles and grenades. We do not outmaneuver our opponent by clever political strategies. Our war is fought in an unseen realm which is populated by beings far more powerful than any of us. Our enemy does not falter at the thought of bulletins and explosions – if anything, that delights him.

Instead, the weapons we fight with are empowered by God Himself. Our two primary offensive weapons in this grueling battlefield are prayer and the Word of God. We wage war successfully when we allow our minds to be renewed by daily meditation on the Scriptures. As our minds are renewed, we are led to pray for holiness in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

2. Our objective is to demolish strongholds in our minds.
The enemy gains ground when he is able to assault our minds and establish strongholds of false belief. These beliefs may present themselves in the form of false religion (or lack of religion). This onslaught can also be experienced in condemning, judgmental thoughts that SEEM to come from God. Ultimately, if you are a Christian, the enemy wants to twist your view of God and of your standing before God.

If you do not tear down these strongholds with the truth of God’s Word and the power of prayer, they will utterly destroy your faith. The enemy has already gained ground in the minds of every person reading this. It takes careful discernment to discover which area of your thought life is being infected by the enemy. I would encourage you to pray Psalm 139:23-24 to discover strongholds in your mind:

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

3. For victory, we must capture EVERY thought.
Although the old nature of sin is dead and we are alive in Christ, our depravity is still active in trampling our thought life. The enemy’s primary weapon is to confuse our thoughts and use them to debilitate our faith.

In order to capture every thought, you need to run them through the filter of Philippians 4:8 –

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”

As thoughts come to your mind, capture them so they are obedient to this standard:

  • Is it true?
  • Is it noble?
  • Is it right (or just)?
  • Is it pure?
  • Is it lovely?
  • Is it worthy to be admired by others?
  • Is it excellent?
  • Does it cause my heart to praise God?

When you first do this, it will feel mechanical. It will also be an incredible challenge to take every thought through this rubric. As you begin to make this a regular process of your thought life, it will become a habit that reaps incredible rewards. Ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to shatter the demonic and worldly thoughts that assault your mind.

What are some strategies you have found helpful in the battle for your mind? Let me know by sharing a comment, I would love to hear from you!

tylerramsbey Christian Life, Leadership

The Importance of Mentors

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In order to be successful in any area of life – family, business, religion, education, etc. – you NEED mentors. Mentors are men and women who are further along than you are in your respective field, and are willing to teach, encourage, and train you.

The Apostle Paul understood this powerful concept. He wrote about this exact subject to a young pastor that he personally mentored:

You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. – 2 Timothy 2:2

The use of mentors, especially in church leadership, causes exponential growth. As each person faithfully mentors a handful of people, each one of those students can then become mentors to another small group of people. Mentoring done right is an incredible cycle of growth and teaching. It is through this intentional, life-on-life process that disciples of Jesus Christ are formed and nurtured.

I am beginning a new season in my life that will be largely influenced by mentors. I have been accepted into the Kairos Project at Sioux Falls Seminary. This project will structure my education around three mentors: a faculty mentor, a ministry mentor, and a personal mentor.

Before even beginning this process, I have been meeting with a pastor on a monthly basis for growth and encouragement.

As I have been thinking through the benefits of mentors, I have two questions for you:

1. Who is your mentor?
Whether you desire to grow in business, family, religion, or a different area, you NEED to make it a TOP PRIORITY to meet on a regular basis with a mentor. As you meet with the mentor, come with a teachable attitude. Mentoring fails when the student is arrogant and refuses to learn from the experience and knowledge of the mentor.

2. Who are YOU mentoring?
We see that Paul’s instruction to Timothy includes teaching other people. Mentoring should be a cycle – you are taught so that you can teach others. Is there someone in your respective field that is inexperienced? Offer to buy them lunch and form a mentoring relationship with them.

If you are on staff at a church – Who can replace you? Good leadership is shown through the ability of being replaced easily. Being irreplaceable is simply a sign of failing leadership (Pastor, I am looking at YOU because we have an unhealthy tendency to rarely delegate which results in burnout and depression!)

What are some of the benefits you have experienced from mentors? Let me know by leaving a comment!