By Darrell Johns
The word mentor comes from the name of a character in Homer’s Odyssey. In this ancient greek tale, King Odysseus of Ithaca entrusted his only son, Telemachus, to the care and training of his wise friend, Mentor, while he himself went off to the Trojan war. A dictionary definition of a mentor is “a wise and trusted guide and advisor.” A number of words can characterize the one being menored including protégé, mentoree, disciple, and learner.
In the book The Fine Art Of Mentoring, Ted W. Engstrom defines a …

Excerpted from John Maxwell’s “Talent is Never Enough”
The following steps will help you become a talent-plus person when it comes to responsibility:
1. Start wherever you are. If being responsible has not been one of your strengths, then start small.
2. Choose your friends wisely. If you have started your journey on the road to responsibility, make sure you have the right traveling companions.
3. Stop blaming others. If you want to be successful and maximize your talent as a talent-plus person, take responsibility for your own life.
4. Learn responsibility’s major lessons. There …

By Norm Paslay II
This is not a discourse on mentoring. I am attempting to share from my heart and life experience an incredible model of mentoring that proved to be very powerful. In fact, at the core of my thesis is the intent to honor my father, Norman R. Paslay I. His life and vision are the basis of this information, and he was the compelling example that impacted my life as well as the lives of several other young men who were navigating a call to ministry.
The year was …

By Dave Smith
I. Sincerity
II. Capacity For Work
Edison stated, “Success is 98% perspiration and 2% inspiration”
III. Ability To Press On In Adversity
A leader will have much discouragement and opposition
IV. Must Exhibit A Love For His Co-laborers
V. Ability To Organize
VI. Must Develop A Vision For His Ministry
VII. Must Communicate To His Followers
His followers must catch the vision God has given him
VIII. Be A Self-starter
Procrastination has no place in a leader’s life
IX. Must Possess An Ability To Make Decisions
Many decisions will have to be made
X. A Leader That Follows The Lord Will …

By Dave Smith
I. Dare To Dream
A. Have a desire to do something in your ministry bigger than yourself
B. As God shows you what He wants you to accomplish for His glory, put your faith
in the Lord to do it for you
II. Prepare To Dream
A. Do your homework
B. Ask yourself, as the leader, how can you, with the Lord’s help, accomplish seeing
your vision come to pass
C. Example (to get your ministry to grow)
1. Regular prayer meetings
2. Challenge your workers to knock on new doors for some period of time each
week …

http://jackcheng.com/time-on-your-side
Jack Cheng writes an excellent article on how to evaluate the time necessary to complete a task, thus taking the “mass worry” out of managing both your projects and your time.
We all have nagging to-dos—the ones we put off for weeks or months (or even years). When we finally get around to taking action, we realize that we spent more time dreading them or worrying about them than it actually took to do them.
For the past couple months, I’ve been attaching a time estimate to the end of each item …

By John Carroll, pastor of Calvary Apostolic Church in Salina, KS.
The following is a plan of Bible reading and study that I have developed for my own personal use.
I hope it is a blessing to you, should you choose to implement it in your own life.
I begin my study each day by reading a chapter of Proverbs. If you start at the beginning of the month and read a chapter each day, you will read through the book every month. On the few months that have 30 days, and in …

All leaders would do well to have certain items in their possession to remind them of the meaning of ministry. Here’s what I have in my Leadership Kit…
erasers
To forget people’s mistakes, failures and complaints
Bendy straw
Flexible but still functional
Rubberband
Willingness to stretch
Knowing your limitations
Balloon
Shows what the size/growth (spiritual & maturity) of our group can grow to depending on how much we put in
Little bag of M&M’s
Mentoring (always share your M&M’s)
Paperclip
So that everyone is attached to the group
Don’t work well when they’re bent out of shape
Rain coat
Let things roll of your back
“Reserved …

1.  Relational leaders are the care givers and sales people of the world. They influence through their superior people skills. Relational leaders gain followers by genuinely caring for them. They are both introverts and extroverts, but they excel in making people feel good about themselves.
2.  Teaching leaders have the power of communicating information that helps people gain knowledge. Many pastors are teaching leaders, as they enjoy investing 20-25 hours weekly in sermon prep and presenting. They are wearied by other ministry aspects, but love the task of preparing to feed …

If you want to change the world, focus on leaders. If you want to change leaders, focus on them when they’re young.