Last summer an organization called Christian Sports International held a free baseball clinic in Homewood. A friend of mine told me about it, and I rounded up as many kids as I could to take them to it. The whole experience at the baseball clinic was great! The kids had the opportunity to practice their athletic skills with a bunch of former major league players, and several of the kids responed to former major leaguer Sid Bream's invitation to ask Jesus into their hearts. The president of CSI, Scott Grinder, asked me if I would bring a couple of the kids who attended the baseball clinic to share about their experience with the people attending CSI's annual fundraising dinner which was held last night at a fancy hotel north of Pittsburgh.
The whole evening last night presented many opportunities for me to speak into the boys' lives having built strong mentoring relationships with them over the past five years. I worked with them on dressing up for attending a fundraising event. I coached them on the basics of public speaking (this was their first time doing that... it happened to be in front of an audience of hundreds of people that they had never met before). We talked about the fine art of mingling with new people... such things as shaking hands and asking good questions to get conversations started. After dinner, the boys went up in front of everyone and shared their testimonies. They were absolutely incredible! After several rounds of applause, they settled into their roles as celebrities for the rest of the evening. They actually spoke to the crowd right before Steelers Hall of Famer John Stallworth, and he opened his speech by commenting about the courage that the boys had for sharing their stories publicly at such a young age. The auction portion of the event went kind of late, so we tried to sneak out so that I could get the boys home at a reasonable hour. John Stallworth noticed, and he also slipped out to shake each of the boys' hands and congratulate them on their newly discovered communication skills. Many people went out of their way to encourage the boys. They both told me, "Mr. B, we could get used to this!"
Earlier in the evening, both of the boys had told me about some small financial needs that they had and they were wondering if they were going to be paid for speaking. I told them that they were speaking at this event for free, although they would get a really good steak dinner out of the deal. I told them, though, that God knows about every need they have and that they could trust God to take care of them. As we were leaving the event, a woman slipped out of the event, made her way directly over to the boys, and she handed them each a small amount of money because "they were so couragous for sharing their stories." Their faces lit up, and they gave her a big hug and said "Thank you!" She didn't know it, but the money she gave them was God's way of meeting their financial needs that they had discussed with me earlier in the evening. We had some great conversations on the car ride back to Homewood, even though we had to stop at McD's because apparently banquet food isn't quite enough to fill up the stomachs of growing kids.
I have had the opportunity to experience so many amazing things as a mentor. Mentoring is always an adventure! Mentoring has allowed me the opportunity to shake hands with NFL Hall of Famers, and enjoy Pittsburgh Penguins games in luxury box suites with CEOs of major companies. Mentoring has allowed me the opportunity to play street football in Homewood while dodging passing cars and pick up trash at community service events. I've raced go karts, and I've shared meals in my mentees' homes. Whether it's at high profile events or the streets of Homewood, mentoring is all about building consistent relationships over time. Special events are great, but what was most significant about the event last night to me was watching my young friends take a risk and come through the whole experience with a new sense of confidence. They weren't in their homes playing video games, or running the streets of Homewood throwing rocks at abandoned row homes. They were trying new experiences that will help to shape them into the kind of men that will do amazing things with their lives. That's the best mentoring experience that anyone could ever have. I really admire their courage and resilience. Sometimes I think I learn much more from my mentees than they do from me. I guess that's the magic of mentoring.
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