Most Important Investment.

It was interesting to watch Wall Street with the coming out of the latest IPhone series. I know that many investors truly believed that Apple was on the way out to only discover that over 9 million phones had been sold over the weekend when the predictions had been more in the order of 5-6 million phones. I haven’t had much experience with investing in the monetary arena of Wall Street. What I’m investing in are people. I know that the amount of time someone spends mentoring someone younger has huge dividends that can’t ultimately be valued in the price of a share of a stock.

This morning I met with a college student who had recently moved from Miami to Phoenix to attend a local private college. He has a multi-cultural background that truly reflects the work of New City – Barrio. He had lots of questions about what we do and how we do it. His biggest question was whether I was willing to mentor or disciple him. I was totally excited to have someone who fit the profile of our kids and teens in my neighborhood show a real interest in becoming part of our movement.

What struck me as I listened to this young man over breakfast was his passion to do life right. He was just as much into theology as he was into impacting the lives of the youth in my neighborhood. One of the challenges in life is its too easy to be in the academic setting and forget about the real world that doesn’t fit into the lecture of your last class. I will be the first to recognize that education in many different forms is the path to a better life. The only question mark is whether we take the classroom to the street!

I have become a proponent of doing on the job training instead of being solely in a classroom setting. I truly believe that most learning takes place outside of the classroom where you can see real life practices regardless of your field or academic pursuit. The people who have impacted my life the most are the ones who are out ‘doing it’ and not preaching or teaching from a podium with their PowerPoint slide with their fancy pointer.

I am so thankful for my mentors over the years that have walked with me in both good times and not so good times. I can remember a young scoutmaster, Ron W, who was there for me and a few friends that saw us all become Eagle Scouts at the age of 13! I can remember my first real church ‘gig’ where my youth worker mentor, Sandy, taught the basics of doing missions in the neighborhood. Little does she know that her imprint has led me to the work we are doing presently! I have others who I have gotten to know for a season that have helped me hone the craft of doing mercy work!

Please rethink how you invest your time, money and talents or gifts. I believe that the hope for the communities around us is through this type of mentorship behind closed doors that will change the face of the world. I am convinced that the time that my team of volunteers spends with my little kids and teens will shape their future and their potential in the coming years.