Dave Havir - Attributes Of A Mentor

Dave Havir, focusing on the attributes of a mentor, asks us whether we have been mentored, or if we have mentored other people. As parents, we are assigned as mentors to our children. Barnabas served as Paul’s mentor after his conversion. Paul served as a mentor to Judas, Silas, Titus, and Timothy. The books of I and II Timothy and Titus serve as instructions from an older apostle to younger disciples. We have the freedom in our culture to choose our mentors. A mentor must learn to exercise tender toughness, cushioning his disciple for failure, realizing that it is better to fail in a cause that will succeed than succeed in a cause which will fail. A mentor must have integrity—demonstrating the ability to walk his talk. A mentor must instill wisdom, motivation and perseverance, making his disciple impervious to slights and negative criticism. Ron Lee Davis contends that we must have a combination of steel and velvet, being honest and direct, specific and demonstrating empathy, affirming in public, but correcting in private, building allegiances to relationships, not causes, and pouring our lives into our protégés, preparing them for future generations.

Acts 15 * Anointing * Attributes of a mentor * Barnabas * C. S. Lewis * Christ-like mentors * Circumcision * Dietrich Bonhoeffer * Elders * Failure * Judas and Silas * Laying on of hands * Mentoring: The Strategy of a Mentor * Mentor * Peter Marshall * Philippians 2:19-24 * Recognizing what God is doing * Ron Lee Davis * Saul * II Corinthians 8:16 * Screwtape Letters * Seven traits of a mentor * Steel and Velvet Teaching * “to fail”