Mentoring Forest

By Doug Franklin November 7, 2011

 I spent this last weekend at the wedding of my friend Paul. What is so amazing about a wedding is the people you meet who were influenced by the people getting married. They come because they want to honor the people who have invested so much in them. This wedding had many of these people because my friend Paul has made the focus of his life mentoring men. Paul is in his early 30’s and has spend the last 10 years pouring his life into the lives of high school guys. Today many of those guys are married and have children of their own. They have a deep love and respect for Paul because he gave so much of himself for them. Paul decided that he wanted to grow of forest of great men. So he has committed to plant a tree for every guy he mentors. If you as a mentee start a new mentoring relationship you can plant a tree for the people you mentor. The idea here is that one day a mighty forest will grow of young men who have been mentored in Christ and they will continue the commitment to mentoring other young men. I realized this weekend that it takes one leader to start something and others will follow. As I talked with many of the guys Paul has mentored I was surprised by how many are now mentoring themselves. Paul is one guy who stepped out and made a difference and now many more are stepping out as well. By investing in others we see great things happen. Congrats Paul, not just on getting married but for your way of serving others!