I remember the first time Matt asked a question in my class. I do not

remember the question. But I remember the way he asked it, and something

more.

I remember the look in his eyes. You know, the look someone has when

they want something so badly, almost to the point of desperation. Matt had the

look of someone who just HAD to know Jesus more, how to love people more,

and how to serve God more effectively.

I remember that look.

Years later, Matt still has it.

He took every class with me he could. He hung out with me at every

opportunity. And, in the Providence of God, a young lady in our college named

Laura had started hanging out with our Hannah, a middle schooler at the time.

Matt and Laura started dating. You guessed it, they are now married, and

parents, and Matt is one of the most effective young ministers I have ever known.

In fact, right as Matt was about to graduate, I got a call from a friend

named Allan Taylor, the Minister of Education at the great First Baptist Church

of Woodstock, Georgia. “We need a high school minister, and we need a great

one,” he said. Matt’s name came to mind. He really did not have a lot of

experience, and none for a ministry the size of Woodstock. His resume had no

“wow” factor (if all you have is a cool resume, you don’t have much). But he had

IT, whatever you want to call it. He had that amazing capacity to learn, and I

believed deeply he could do the job.

I called Allan and told him I had a name. I said I believed Matt could do it,

but he would need Allan to mentor him some early on. Matt and Laura went to

Woodstock.

FBC Woodstock pastor Johnny Hunt, a great leader and recent president

of the Southern Baptist Convention, has told me more than once he has never

seen a student pastor more effective than Matt.

I do not claim credit for Matt’s effectiveness; that belongs to God. But I do

give Matt credit for his tenacious desire to be mentored. I am still mentoring him

in fact, and in some ways, he now mentors me. Matt needed the education

Southeastern gave him. But even more, he needed to be with someone, in this

case with me.

Jesus came to be with us. His name Immanuel means that. The

Incarnation declares this fact. As soon as His public ministry inaugurated He

called men to be with Him in ministry. These men did not attend a weekly class,

though Jesus taught them much. They did not enlist; He chose them. They did

not pass some external test to qualify, but it cost them everything to follow, even

their own lives.

You cannot read the Gospels without seeing how much Jesus valued time

with His disciples.

We read of the earliest days of Jesus’ ministry in John’s Gospel. In chapter

one Jesus invites some fishermen to spend the day with Him. But all four Gospels

record much of our Lord’s time with the twelve.

In Matthew 4 we read how Jesus called these same men from John 1 to be

with Him at a much deeper level. Perhaps there are people in your life you see as

potential mentees. Before you know for sure you need to spend a little time with

them, as Jesus did. You cannot mentor well people you hardly know. Note the

following from the Be With Factor:

“Jesus selected twelve, and we know that there were a few others in this

inner circle, including at least three women (Luke 8:1-3).”2

“We know from history that it was common for a Jewish teacher (called a

rabbi) to gather around himself a small cluster of people who would

become his disciples (the word means “learners”). Jesus used a similar

technique of close association in daily life to teach his young disciples. He

knew the power of modeling. He knew it would take more than a

classroom, book, or conferences—more than thirty minutes of training a

week—to transform his followers into his image and set into motion a new

world movement.”3

What can we learn from the informal mentoring of Jesus? A whole book

could be written on that. In fact, one has. Robert Coleman penned The Master

Plan of Evangelism to detail our Lord’s investment in the 12. He observed eight

features of Jesus’ work with the disciples:

1. Selection. Men were His method: “His concern was not with programs

to reach the multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would

follow.”

2. Association. He stayed with them: “His disciples were distinguished, not

by outward conformity to certain rituals, but by being with Him, and

thereby participating in His doctrine.”

3. Consecration. He required obedience: “[The disciples] were not

required to be smart, but they had to be loyal. This became the

distinguishing mark by which they were known.”

4. Impartation. He gave Himself away: “His was a life of giving—giving

away what the Father had given Him.”

5. Demonstration. He showed them how to live: “Surely it was no accident

that Jesus often let His disciples see Him conversing with the Father. . . .

Jesus did not force that lesson on them, but rather He kept praying until

at last the disciples got so hungry that they asked Him to teach them

what He was doing.”

6. Delegation. He assigned them work: “Jesus was always building His

ministry for the time when His disciples would have to take over His

work, and go out into the world with the redeeming Gospel.”

7. Supervision. He kept check on them: “Jesus made it a point to meet

with His disciples following their tours of service to hear their reports

and to share with them the blessedness of His ministry in doing the

same thing.”

8. Reproduction. He expected them to reproduce: “Jesus intended for the

disciples to produce His likeness in and through the church being

gathered out of the world.”

We have for a generation tried to make disciples primarily through classes and curriculum. Perhaps we should spend a little more time on living life together, with less people and more focus. We may influence smaller numbers, but the long-term impact could be remarkable.

NOTE: This was excerpted from my new, free ebook With. Download it for free here.