Meditations at Children Desiring God 2011

So I am at the Children Desiring God conference, sitting here in a row of seats, observing people, eavesdropping on conversations, and restfully processing the experience of this weekend in a few moments of stillness. One thing that has stood out to me in this barrage of God-glorifying and others-focused teaching, and that is that we as Bible believing adults have the moral obligation to serve the young men and women that are growing up in the body through mentorship, discipleship, and voluntary acts of service. I’ve been becoming increasingly aware of the plight that the younger generations are faced with, as it seems as though there are more and more young men that are being mentored by their peers, not godly leaders. At CDG, I am one of the youngest men in attendance, and have met incredibly humble and godly men that have talked and prayed with me; and through these interaction, I have realized how vital the need is for the church to have those kinds of men to lead and help guide younger men like me, but especially through the middle/high school years. Looking back, one of the things I did not have as a junior higher was an older man in the church who was willing to model a sincere love for God and an equally sincere love for people. While this was God’s will in my life, I know that I would probably have been different given the presence of a mentor like that. As I compare my earlier life experiences with the things that I am learning and observing now, I can see that there are many cases where having a role model other than my father could have been very helpful to reinforce Biblical truth and encourage a totally surrendering love for God.

In applying this to my life as a green college student, I can see that I have not done very well at all when leading, or attempting to lead the younger men that God has placed in my life. Through these sessions and times of prayer at CDG, I have been encouraged to both seek out godly mentoring from men that can pour years of wisdom into my life through prayer and encouragement, and the opportunity to speak into the lives of younger men that also need direction as they experience many of the same things that I experienced at their age. The Biblical model of discipleship seems to point to the selfless discipling of the younger generation for the building up of the kingdom; and this is the reason I believe that (at any age) the mentoring of younger men, by more mature older men, is absolutely essential to the vibrancy and growth of any body of believers. While it may seem obvious, the only growth in any mentor/mentee relationship can only be harvested by the Creator. That reality should shape the approach to discipleship in a way that will leave the discipler completely reliant on the work of the cross in the life of the disciple through prayer and power of the Holy Spirit.