The Heart of Mentoring - Book review

The Heart of Mentoring: Ten Proven Principles for Developing People to Their Fullest Potential, by David A. Stoddard with Robert Tamasy

Navpress is a great publisher of books on discipleship and mentoring and I learned mentoring through Navigator’s own Paul D. Stanley co-writing ‘Connecting ‘with J. Robert Clinton and Regent College’s founder, James Houston’s ‘The Mentored Life. All published by Navpress.. Initially I confess some disappointment reading this new book, finding it a substantially lighter read. Perhaps the simplicity of the main idea that mentoring is essentially founded in meaningful relationship and the subtext that there is no difference between discipling and mentoring, is my problem. Reading the back cover and internal commendations from US corporate leaders and the extensive reference to the Harvard Business Review and FORTUNE magazine, revealed that this book is not written for me, someone in the academic arena, to read. This book is written for the corporate business person to encourage them to take their faith seriously beyond the churches doors and into the work and home environments. The message is Go out and make a difference.

There are plenty of stories from the corporate career journey; many examples and situations to resonate with. It tries to resist the “how to” approach of a method rather introducing what Christians would call fellowship into mentoring. If you want the theory read Houston’s book, the different models read Stanley’s, if you want the motivational talk then read this book by Stoddard.

Christlikeness

“To facilitate this life with God, we become willing to do whatever we need to do to connect with God in the next ten minutes – even if it looks very different from what the people around us do or what has been described in a book. As we connect with God, we change.” (20)

If you are dissatisfied with your devotional life and the practice of daily Bible reading then Jan's book is a great introduction to Ignatian Gospel contemplation and other spiritual disciplines. What seems to set it apart is that rather than presenting the disciplines, nor presenting them as methods for change, it authentically “places Jesus in the center of your vision and lets Jesus lead...” This is more than a devotional read it seeks to help us rediscover Jesus in a transformative way as we attend soul school. I found much more a multilevel and multifaceted curriculum thus it is not something you do once rather it introduces you to the reflective life. Thus each chapter can be repeated with new insights that we might fulfill our calling to be truly Christlike. However this book is not a manual it contains many personal experiences and insights from her life and therefore it is humane and reasonable. Living or at least seeking to live a Christlike life is not for the elite but for all of us. It is simply a matter of the will and motives.

How Can A Good God let Bad Things happen?

I'm continuing to review books and this is my second for Navpress.

How Can A Good God Let Bad Things Happen? by Mark Tabb

Most of us don’t want to admit we can’t figure God out. Instead we try to explain him away. And when we hear someone cry out that God isn’t being fair … we step in with our best God talk and give that person all the answers. (p38)

I wasn’t sure what to expect picking up this book by Mark Tabb. There are so many classic books trying to face down the problem of evil and the problem of suffering and I was wondering "Not another heady intellectual exploration!" I was pleasantly surprised. The problem of suffering is, in reality, neither a theological nor a philosophical problem, it is an existential one. The book comes at issues reflecting on real life and Job’s reflections of life and at the same time holds theological and philosophical insights in tension. Each time as emotional responses came from me to something I read, the following chapter provided a deep insight. This is an unusual book well worth reading because it really doesn’t solve the problem but you feel like yours and Job’s issues have been addressed fairly and realistically. It is a simple book to read without being simplistic about the problem, made all the more difficult when desiring to maintain the notion of the sovereignty of God..