Yesterday I talked to a group of people at North Way about LAMP. I shared several stories about kids from LAMP, and I also shared about the biblical founation for why Christians should become involved in mentoring. I thought the stories about kids might impact folks to want to get involved, or maybe the theological insight might encourage people to become mentors. At the end of the talk, I shared that I trust God and believe in the cause of LAMP so much that I moved my family into Homewood. I then opened the floor for people to ask questions.
Most of the questions were about what it was like living in Homewood. I shared honestly about some of the challenges, but mostly our move to Homewood has been a very positive experience for myself and also Julie and the girls. We love our home. We love the people that we meet in Homewood. We especially enjoy building relationships with the kids in the community. People asked so many questions about us living in Homewood that I was worried that the focus of my talk, which was LAMP, would somehow be missed. I really didn't want to miss an opportunity to inspire folks to get involved in LAMP. Afterwards, though, it was very interesting because lots of people came up to talk to me about getting involved in LAMP. One woman told me, "I've known about LAMP for years but I have chosen not to get involved because Homewood is always in the news with all kinds of violence. After hearing you speak today, I've decided to become a mentor because if you could move your family there then surely I can mentor I child there in the middle of the school day once a week." Several other people made similar comments.
At the end of the day, I guess it doesn't matter what I say that inspires people to become mentors. I am not really in the business of inspiring people, anyways. I think God inspires Christians to mentor at-risk kids. Sometimes he may inspire people through my words or my actions, and often God will work through other people's words and actions. I know one LAMP mentor who is mentoring today because their child heard about LAMP at church, and I know another mentor who is mentoring because a woman in his small group encouraged him to volunteer somewhere now that he is retired. Whatever the reason, I'm just glad that people are still inspired to mentor. That gives me hope.
2 comments:
Bryan, you should write a blog/thoughts on educators acting as mentors within the school. I know I do a lot of this naturally as part of my job but I also have other roles to play. Do you have any insights into how an educator (teacher, administrator, counselor) can mentor a child but still keep those boundaries as the educator?
Good topic, Jason. I'll try to cover that in a topic soon. Many teachers or youth workers end up in a mentoring role as part of what they do. And those boundaries can be tough.
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