The Power of a Mentor: Training the Next Generation of Leaders

It was the loss of my father. I believe, that helped me understand how much I needed mentorship. I lost a strong male influence. Without that anchor. You know, I ran to anger, I ran to rage, I lacked guidance.

I was playing at Laney junior college. And as I was playing, I broke my collarbone and a coach came to watch me play. A college coach came to watch me practice and his name was Sroka. This guy would bring me in his home consistently. He would teach me to lift weights. 

I remember he watched me play a game and then some practices, and he walked up to me and every time he saw me do something good, he just walked up to me and go, hey Sam, you can play pro, my man.

And what he did is he offered me guidance. He showed me how to show up every day. He showed me how to believe in myself. And that’s when I realized, man, that life. You can’t live life without mentorship. 

You know, in Deuteronomy 11, God tells us to fix his words in our hearts and teach them to our children. 

It’s about a constant passing on of faith. And I felt like that’s what Coach Sroka did for me. He passed on a belief. I think we’re supposed to do the same thing as Christians. We’re passing on a faith, a belief in God, a type of relationship with God, not a behavior. 

We see this modeled perfectly by Jesus when he said to Peter in Mark 1:17, come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people. 

You know, he was showing us how to mentor. He spent three years walking with his students, pushing past their comfort zone, challenging their thinking, and helping them get strong in their faith. When we walk with them, he does the same thing with us. 

You know, I’ve seen the effect of spiritual mentorship in my life. I consider Scott Colvin one of my best friends. He was a guy who was so different from me personally, and he took on the task of mentoring me, which was not easy. I needed him in my life. Qualities that he had were essential for me developing to become the man that I am right now. And I hated it at moments and we rubbed each other wrong. Because when you have differences like that, you know you can irritate each other if you’re not careful. He changed my life, and he did it because he was willing to constantly be involved, push past my comfort zone, teach me how to live a way that I wasn’t familiar with, didn’t understand, and I was able to grow. 

You know, there is an incredible absence, but also need for positive influence right now in the world, especially for Gen Z men. We see a rise in stats, rising loneliness, dropping educational attainment and a lack of direction. Young men are looking to social media for answers from people who don’t actually care about them. 

That’s why at the very Christian Church, I believe it’s so important that we practice heart transformation over character modification. God is always about people’s heart, you know. We teach relationship and devotion to God, coupled with spiritual discipline for the purpose of dealing with our hearts so that when we do things, we’re doing it from our heart, from God. And I think that’s an important part of mentorship is reaching the heart. 

For over fifteen years, we have been doing a summer leadership program where college students and young men and women get training in spiritual leadership and service. I believe a key component in mentorship is attachment. They have to know that you’re invested and that you’re deeply attached to them. 

I remember a young man in college was having a hard time with school, and I made a decision to attach to him. I didn’t even do my homework when I was in college, but for him, because I wanted to see him be successful, we would sit down and we would do homework and I would watch him practice. And when he when he sat in the car with me, I would walk him through what I thought he did good and what he didn’t do well. We built great trust. So, you know, he stayed at the Bible and he eventually wanted to seek a relationship with God and became a Christian. And it’s funny because he went on to play professional football for a number of years in the NFL, and we’re still close friends to this day. 

In Acts 13:36, you know, a scripture that talks about David and it talks about David making and fulfilling the purposes of God in his generation. 

Every generation has a purpose to fulfill. And that attachment that you make with people, if you help them learn how to fulfill their purpose, at some point you’ll realize your own gifts. When we invest in them, we aren’t just changing a life, we are securing the future of the faith. Let’s build something that lasts.