How it all started....
I was attending "Out of the Park" that my church, The Church at LifePark, was hosting about a hundred miles from Charleston. It was a weekend church retreat. The year was 2013.
A Godly woman, Mary Causey, told me I should read a book she discovered, "Mentor Like Jesus." When I got home that Sunday night, I started reading online.
I'm a voracious consumer of books of all kinds and read quickly. This was one of those "small" books I enjoy, because it's written in parable form like "The One Minute Manager."
Well, dear readers, it took me two solid hours to read this tiny book because I sat WEEPING in my chair (we've all got our chair!) I'm not an overly emotional guy, but the Holy Spirit grabbed my heart in HIS grips and would not let go.
As a 58 year old man, I'd been praying about my legacy. I didn't want my life to pass by as insignificant to generations to come.
God told with perfect clarity..... "Ray, you do not get a legacy. The legacy is MINE, and I want you to work on it with Me."
Wow. I was "called" to be a Radical Mentor for the rest of my life. I committed to Him that as long as I am able, I will lead a group of men every year. I'm leading my eighth RM group of men at my dining room table. God has placed 62 men in the trajectory of my life so that they can learn to make DIFFERENT mistakes than I made, and to follow Jesus Christ as not only their Savior, but as their LORD.
So, as long as I can, you will find me at the RM Summit being a RM Evangelist to anyone who will listen. We older guys are INVESTING with Kingdom Significance into the lives and families of younger men.
My son-in-law Paul Flowers is an artist and a steelworker. Here's the picture he drew as a demonstration of RM at graduation. Look closely. You see a mentor anchored to God reaching into the darkness helping another man reach toward living water with TRUST as his foundation.
Amen.
Comments
Ray Snyder
Author
Tim Murray on 3/24/2020 10:21:36 AM
Great story Ray. Thanks for sharing.