Mentor Blog #1

I have been extremely blessed to have an excellent mentor over the last couple of years. His name is Mike, and he is a general manager for a minor league baseball team in eastern Indiana. I originally reached out to Mike after my first summer working for a professional baseball team as a sales executive two years ago. I sought his professional advice for moving my way up the ladder (i.e. trying to get a position with a higher level team), and also was seeking a Christian mentor in my life. After reading about him and quickly noticing that he was a Christian, I reached out to him, and he was kind enough to meet with me. So, I woke up one morning and drove three hours to meet and get to know Mike.

Since then, he has been an incredible mentor for me, both professionally and spiritually. He has helped me navigate the world of minor league baseball, and given me lots of advice on successfully launching a career in sports. Since beginning my mentoring relationship with him, I worked for another team this past season, and am set to move to southern Kentucky after I graduate in May, to work for a team in the same league as Mike’s team in Indiana. As I face this big transition in my life in the next three months, Mike has been incredibly helpful coaching me through what is to come. He has told me many things about his first few years out of college, and how he struggled to gain traction as a young man and as a Christian. Although I cannot go into great detail here, one of Mike’s biggest struggles starting out was his failure to surround himself with a solid Christian community. This can be especially hard to do when working in sports, as when our teams are in season we are sometimes working 60-70+ hour weeks. Still, Mike has emphasized repeatedly to me the importance of surrounding myself with quality people when I move to Kentucky. This sounds simple, but last time I was in an unfamiliar environment, two years ago, when I worked for my first team in South Dakota, I didn’t do a good job of finding a quality community. The result was a time that was, while very productive career-wise, also challenging and hard at points. I don’t want to make this mistake again, and I am looking forward to the challenge of getting used to a new job while also pushing myself relationally to be more extroverted and find a great community of people like I have found here at Wheaton.

I am thankful for my recent conversations with Mike, because he has reminded me of a simple truth that all Christians must be aware of: if we surround ourselves with good, quality believers in our lives, we are able to experience the joy that Christ meant for us to have, whereas when we fail to do so, we struggle in all areas of life, especially with our relationships to God.