I thought I was OK at the Mentoring/ Pastoring side of my life until..

 

 

 

I started my MTh Thesis in March 2014.  If  you had have asked me in Feb 2014- I would have said that  mentoring/ pastoring was a strength. Until I had a year with a supervisor who was excellent at it . Going back to being a mentee under Dr David Parker was a great experience from me – and here is what he did that was so empowering

 

 

1. He believed in me

He believed I could do it more than I believed I could. He told me repeatedly I was going to get this done – and for some-one who was rusty and much more a practitioner than an academic this was a priceless gift.

2. He challenged me

He sent me emails where I had to google what the words meant before I could follow his directions.  He  returned sections I had written with extensive notes about where my holes were and sent me back to the library to keep researching – he refused to let me stay where I was and kept pushing me to learn more. It was so good for me.

3. He was so generous with his knowledge

If I had a question, he had an answer. In the end if I had forgotten to get one reference (which I did) and needed to go back to the library he saved me time and found it from his library . I always felt like I could ask anything .

4. He was available to me

As he lives a few hours away and his teaching schedule and mine often clashed we did most of our meetings over email and an occasional face to face or Skype. But I he was always present I would get emails back within hours at the pointy end of the project, when he went away he told me – I could rely on his on-going dialogue – it created so much security.

5. He was understanding of my world

When I told him he would not hear from me for a while as I was going to a US conference, coming back and going to a College Missions trip – he got it. He didn’t make me feel guilty – he gave me space and made me want to get back to studying ASAP.

It made me reflect on my mentoring roles- I am no-where near as good as Dave was – although my mentoring roles are different to a Thesis Supervisor – this experience made me want to be better at all areas of mentoring and pastoring. I saw the impact this had on my life- and how it allowed me to achieve more than I thought was possible -in the academic world that so intimidates and intrigues me.

As I travel into 2015 – as much as I learned about the topic of my thesis – one of the gems I carry from the experience is an inspiration to be a better mentor.

Anyone else had a mentor who inspired them ? Why ? Comment away.

( P.S For those of you who don’t know – my blogging has been scarce in the past few months as I have been finishing an MTh Thesis at Alphacrusis College as well as working full time- I did it to challenge myself, to keep learning and to set up my future. It was stretching, exhausting and truly wonderful. My blogs will be more regular again now – it is so nice to go back to  writing a page without a single footnote !!!)

I know I have used that photo of my little nephews  before but I couldn’t resist – its one of my favourites !