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You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
Alright. Welcome to the You Can Mentor podcast. This is Zach, and I'm with my man, AD. AD, say what's up?
Speaker 2:Hey. How are you?
Speaker 1:Man, AD, Eric Diaz. He is with GRIP Outreach for Youth in Chicago, Illinois. And guys, if y'all haven't subscribed to our YouTube channel yet, you guys have to just to see AD's hair. I mean, his dreadlocks next level. Next level.
Speaker 1:I mean
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Jealous, man. So how's it going today up in Chicago?
Speaker 2:It's good. Cold, but the snow is melting, so that's that's that's cool.
Speaker 1:Hopefully, pretty
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. Actually, by by next week, we're supposed to have some warmer 40 degree weather, so it's gonna get crazy in the city when that happens.
Speaker 1:I love that, man. So I have known about AD and about, what they do up in Chicago for quite a while, man. And I'm so excited to have you on our podcast just to kind of share about who you are and what you guys are up to. So, man, just like super fast, can you just give me just a tiny bit of a little bit of background on who you are, your family, what you do at GRIP?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. For sure. So, yeah, my name is AD. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I'm trying to think. Grew up on the Northwest Side of town and thought that that's where I would serve. You know, there's a there's a funny I've heard a new quote, tell God your plans and then, you know, watch him, you know, do something opposite. Yeah, I thought, you know, originally when I became a believer in 02/2009, I thought I would stay and just serve San Antonio, the Northwest Side was like blowing up, like community college wise and population wise like large populations of people moving from California now like even Illinois.
Speaker 2:So the Northwest Side Of San Antonio has just blown up and continues to expand. But yeah, backing up, grew up in Catholic household and just didn't really yeah, just went to church and I just wanted to get out so we could go eat on a Sunday and then one of my cousins became a believer, a Christian and so her and her boyfriend were walking with Christ and they invited me to this camp and this camp had basketball so I was like, oh alright, like now I'm interested. Alright, I'll go who? And so I experienced some form of Christianity, some level of like I saw like I saw thugs crying like you know hood dudes crying and I got exposed to like Christian hip hop and and so that was all the Christianity I knew and and so my I needed to go to this camp that was like the camp became like my gospel unfortunately, so I just I would go every summer to get you know refired or my faith rekindled and then I graduated and went headlong into like graffiti, graffiti addiction I would say and but outwardly I was a Pharisee, I didn't cuss, I wasn't doing drugs, I wasn't like messing around with girls and stuff and man by God's grace I got caught up like in a cult that was just like very emphasized very much in baptism and baptism in their church and a God once again used like Christian hip hop to help me like sift through that.
Speaker 2:There's some things wrong there that some Christian hip hop artists were exposing and I met some people on Myspace and I start they met me halfway because gas prices had gone way up and San Antonio was really really huge and I started to hear the gospel probably like February for a couple months just hearing the gospel, going to some Bible studies and then God pulled back the veil and I saw the glory of Jesus Christ in 02/2009 and I wrote out I put together some scriptures for a gospel message and I started going out with the with the brothers that I got saved through and under and around and they would go out, you know, evangelizing sort of like, you know, preaching the gospel with a bullhorn and then I took that and I was encouraged by that but we started doing things our way and by our way, guess like me and like the Christian hip hop or the hip hop heads that I was surrounded by and so we would go out downtown and make a yeah, make a joyful noise, make music, we would we would freestyle, we would have some beats, and then we would draw a crowd and then as a crowd wanted to hear more, we would preach the gospel and and then break out into like, yeah, one on one conversations if they would let us.
Speaker 2:And so yeah, yeah that's how I, you know, were my first few years and ended up working at Kids Across America and God used my graffiti art artistic talents there and we did like graffiti, I would teach kids through graffiti and make money like, hey we were created to glorify God through art, through basketball, through everything. And also got involved with I heard about Kids Across America six months after I got saved in 02/2009 I went to this thing called Legacy Conference here in Chicago and that's where it was my mind was blown like I would meet brothers and sisters from Florida, from New York and I and then you would hear like, oh you got saved too, you came to know Jesus too, like it was just, it was mind blowing and that became a big family reunion for me and that's where I got to know Brian Dye and I was discipled by him like every summer I would go and hang out with him for weeks at a time since 02/2009 and then some doors opened up in February I met my wife in 2015, we got married or we got married in 02/2015, and then the doors opened up for us to move to Chicago in 02/2019 with my two kids.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, man. That's a great story, dude. I absolutely love how the the Lord can use whatever it is that you're passionate about to help people experience You know, like me, I don't even know what it means to do graffiti. You know what I'm saying? But the fact that He can use you and the fact that you have experiences with that and you have a talent, it's just like whatever you care about, if you give that up to the Lord, he can use it in that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I just think that's so powerful.
Speaker 2:I would even say even the things that you don't care about. So I'm not sure how much the Lord used this one brother along with other brothers that you know I was growing in the Lord with but I remember kicking it with KB, you know a a pretty big now he's a very big gospel, you know, Christian hip hop rapper guy, and he picked me up, in like twenty ten from from the airport. I was going to hang out with him and some other brothers and sisters and they were going to Bible College and I was just like, man, you're so, you're so lucky, man. You get to go to Bible College and learn about god and and I'm I'm like, I'm I'm at a secular like community college and I and like, I got math homework and this and that. He's like, brother, you better be doing those math problems to the glory of God.
Speaker 2:And I was my mind was I was like, oh, I never I never heard of this before. So, first Corinthians ten thirty one is very huge in my life. So whether so whether you drink or eat or whatever you do, do one to the glory of God. And so that's been like a life mission for me, you know, I want to do all things to the glory of God. Even even eating and drinking, like I want to do that like, God, thank you.
Speaker 2:You know, I want to do graffiti now, like, God, thank you. I want to use that in a manner that is he's gonna be pleased by, you know.
Speaker 1:Awesome, man. Absolutely love that. So, AD, you're the men's mentorship manager at GRIP. Tell me what the heck that means.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So we Yeah. Grip has been around for SLAM might have been before Grip, but I I I wanna say maybe twenty five years. They've been meeting at the Cabrini Green area and it was started by a group of individuals who they saw the kids that they had been pouring into and then after middle school, they would just drop off. Just drop off into just all sorts of crazy craziness, right?
Speaker 2:And so they began looking for mentors to come and do a high school ministry and so that brought on the men's mentorship manager and so my goal as we look for Christian mentors in the city I meet with them once a month ideally and we you know as you get involved in this one like Satan doesn't like that like Satan doesn't like that Young women and young men are meeting Christian, you know, mentors and so you know there's spiritual warfare involved, there's just life circumstances, trials and so I meet with them try to support them and support the relationships that they're going after as well. So we get up, get a bite to eat, get some coffee, I pray for them, I let them know, you know, things that we're trying to do in that month. And then I help navigate just any relational issues that they may be having with their students or their families. Yeah. Just try to support them.
Speaker 2:Man. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Cabrini Green. So my dad was born and raised there. Wow. Man. So yeah.
Speaker 1:So for those people who don't know, it was the and I could be wrong about this, but I don't think I am. It was the first governmental housing, construction in the entire US, and it's right smack dab in the middle of Chicago, and, it's a tough place to be raised. So
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately, you know, they've torn most of it down, but there's still there's a pool. There's a pool back to come back to Cabrini Green for a lot of students. There's some row houses left, you know, a lot of much like a lot of other cities, there's been massive, like, gentrification, you know, but there's still, you know, there's still families that are are in and around and still students that that need, you know, support.
Speaker 2:So
Speaker 1:Yep. Man, so I think one thing that I really love about GRIP is just your intentionality. And it just seems like everything that you guys do has a purpose behind it. And so if I you guys haven't checked out their website yet, go because there's a lot of really, really cool information on it. But tell me exactly what is GRIP because it because it stands for something.
Speaker 1:Right?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. So GRIP, you know, much like, you know, getting, you know, a grip. Yeah. They wanted to get a grip on students, but first first thing was gospel.
Speaker 2:So we wanted to, yeah, share the gospel with students and one way to share the gospel or one of the best, you know, ways something that's needed is relationships as well. So we call them life on life relationships to to make disciples, right? So, you you want to share the gospel but you also want to be in relationship. You want to, you know, love your neighbor that you're preaching the gospel too. Also, relationships lead to immersion.
Speaker 2:So, we want to, you know, preaching the gospel, being in relationships with these students, and then, hey, like, why don't you come to church with me as well, you know, or why don't you come to my small group? I've I've taken students to my small group and so that's it's a different aspect of church, right? So, we want to try to plug in these students to different churches, you know, in their area and then preparation. So, we want to prepare them for their future whether that be, you know, through prayer or through practical life skills. So, yeah, getting them prepared for their future.
Speaker 2:You know, how to work, how to communicate, providing programs that will, you know, help them with their future, which is what I was we were talking about in regards to future steps.
Speaker 1:Yeah. For sure. So make sure. Yeah. So I would love to hear about what are some of the things that you guys actually do.
Speaker 1:You know, you talked about SLAM some. I would love to hear more about that. I would love to hear about the work that you guys do in school. And then really just to focus in on how do you help prepare them for the future through your future steps program. So, why don't you just kind of start off and share with us about SLAM?
Speaker 1:You know, I'm a big guy, six'eight. Back in the day, I used to be able to ball a little bit. Now I kind of I'm just the old man sitting down there in the paint, you know, kind of setting screens and getting mad at people because they don't give me the ball. But I would love to hear about that. So
Speaker 2:Yeah. So Slim is a sports based, high energy, I guess, yeah, the mentorship, really like the core of of our ministry. So it's a it's a night where students come. Well, now we have, you know, we started out with the Cabrini Green location. Now we have Westside location and then Northwest as well.
Speaker 2:As, you know, families have have moved all over the city and and expanded, you know, away from downtown, unfortunately. So, yeah, Salaam is a night where all that we gather mentors, we we put them on teams, Christian mentors, we train them up, put them on teams and then as the students hear about it, so it used to just be word-of-mouth and you know had to shift, know, one because of new slams opening up, but also COVID, you know, made made some things hard like the word-of-mouth sort of stopped, you know, used to it would bring their little brothers and little cousins to slam and and that's how and then it would just, you know, word-of-mouth but we've had to change some ways since COVID. But, yeah, students get put on teams and then the teams compete so they play games. Well, we have an open gym and then they play some games and then they hear a gospel message. They break up with their mentor in groups or pairs and they go through the message, ask them in regards to, you know, how can I pray for you, start to build relationships on Mondays, play some more games and then, know, we try to figure out like how, okay, how are we gonna get you home type stuff?
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, that's that's the the Monday nights and the idea is, hey, look, Mondays is just used as a springboard for life on life. So, for some students, you know, they they're ready for mentorship, know, night one like, hey, like I'm, you know, they're very trustworthy, they're very trusting and like, hey, let's hang out, like, what do you do on Friday? For other students, it's gonna take weeks, it's gonna take months and so you don't know what you're gonna get and so you just roll with the punches and and the idea is to use those Monday nights to build relationship, to build trust and be like, okay, I can trust this guy. I can I can open up to him more and more and then it turns into, hey, what are you doing Friday? You know, or I'll come to your basketball game or you wanna go get something to eat which students love, you know.
Speaker 2:And then the idea is for as you're building, you turn into a life on life, Christ centered mentorship relationship.
Speaker 1:Now, AD, are we talking like 10 kids, 20 kids, or what are we talking about here?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So are you wanna do you wanna go with pre COVID or co or post?
Speaker 1:Man, do both. Talk about both.
Speaker 2:Pre COVID, we only had one location anywhere from 90 to 120 kids. So we packed it out and and then some nights, man, I I I came on right before COVID, six months, and there were some nights we had so many students where we had to have we had to, you know, shift around our schedule because we couldn't all fit them where the preaching was gonna go. So some nights, man, I I remember praying like, please God, like, I, you had to preach twice, maybe even like three times or something. So, it was, that was crazy. But, you know, the the first signs of we we opened up a a slam west and and then COVID hit so then we had to start all over but now you know the population on the West Side Of Chicago has grown tremendously so right now they're at man they've been hitting 80s, 80 kids and they started off maybe with like 40 the beginning of the year, they're at 80 whereas Central, not as many students and now we're pulling students from the South Side, We're right now probably like 40 to 50 students.
Speaker 2:If they all showed up, if all the students showed up consistently, we'd probably be at like 60. And and then Northwest, I think is about 30 to 40 students right now. Mean, what
Speaker 1:we really need
Speaker 2:is more mentors.
Speaker 1:Of course, man. Always. Yeah. But, man, what I love about that, AD, is, like, you are getting together people organically, and you're having fun. I mean, it's loud.
Speaker 1:They're hearing the gospel and it is on their own time. If a kid wants a mentor, they can get one. If not, they can come, they can have fun. And I just love that perspective and that model because it's just patience. It was like, hey, we are just gonna get these kids together.
Speaker 1:We're gonna have fun. We're gonna talk about Jesus, and we're gonna have faith to know that whenever the Lord's ready to move in a kid's heart, then we'll be there. So
Speaker 2:Yeah. For sure.
Speaker 1:That's great, man.
Speaker 2:And there's some promo too. You know, some students are like, man, I don't got a mentor. And, really, like, some of them, they have, like, two or three. You you have different levels of mentorship, you know, but we do want them to have, that one that they go to. And so
Speaker 1:That's awesome, man. Why don't you tell us about what you guys are up to in schools?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So before COVID, we had gripped the school. So there were some mentors, you know, I I just I was just in contact with a a potential mentor today and he's like, man, I got to get up at 04:30 in the morning on Tuesdays, so I can't do slam. So pre COVID, we would if there's mentors that couldn't make our Monday night ministry and, you know, time and and maybe even mentors that had families and kids themselves, we would point them to grip the school and so through certain partnerships with schools, we would be able to, yeah, bring in volunteers and serve the school, like serve the teachers, serve the students and maybe, you know, do a chess club. They would serve, yeah, just find some avenue to serve in the schools, maybe maybe even like a hall monitor, you know, to help.
Speaker 2:But, know, since COVID that we had to change that model and so now we're doing cookies and combos. And so we're at maybe, I'd say like six or seven schools in the city right now and we just we come to the schools and say hey we want to do this cookies and combos model where we we bring snacks and then we just have conversations and we start talking about life, We start we try to help them, you know, after COVID, it was really hard to get students to look each other in the eyes and just have conversations away from their phones. Yeah, you would find that man after going to cookies and combos conversation and getting your opinions out, getting, you know, your thoughts out, you felt better. You felt like, hey, like I feel, you know, having eye to eye conversations, face to face conversations, Maybe some of the students started to take their mask off. Like, man, it was it was great.
Speaker 2:And so we've been continuing to partner with schools doing cookies and combos right now.
Speaker 1:It's awesome, man. It's amazing what happens whenever you actually engage with people, you know? It's almost like we were made for it, you know?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So
Speaker 1:man. And then talk about the Future Steps program because I have heard that you guys have had a just like a bunch of success, not just with kids in high school, but kids after high school as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So Future Steps is run by my coworker Sean, and, you know, once a year, past couple years, we've been doing career career night at SLAM. And so maybe like 30 to 40 organizations come and we have like yeah. We're just trying to one, if if they're able to work at some of these organizations that partner with us, sure we'll like plug them in to get jobs and if not, we're wanting to get them to think ahead like what do you want to do, you know, do you want to go their nursing route, do you want to go, do you want to do hair, Do you want to be a lawyer? Do you want to work in aviation?
Speaker 2:Like, let's let's point you there. Let's try to get the ball rolling. How are your grades doing? So we we teach financial classes, we teach studying classes and then Sean will meet with the students that are really like serious and he'll be like, hey, like what do you want to do? Well, why don't you go the community college route because I'm gonna be saving you.
Speaker 2:I've literally heard him on the phone like, you know you're about to be 30, 30, 40 grand in debt for that that year. So but if you go to community college here in Chicago, they'll offer it to you for free. So it's it's really cool just to see like if a student is willing and there's so much out there for them to get set up for their future like the right way. And so, yeah, just different classes is trying to get students prepared for the real world life post high school.
Speaker 1:And just like there's so much power in relationship. Right? And it's like one thing that I love about mentoring is you never know what connection you have will be the open door for your mentee that will transform their life. You know? And so it's like, man, if you can introduce them to this person who runs this shop or this person who's engaged here or this person who does this and just see what the Lord will do, You know, you can sit back and watch some amazing stories happen because there is no such thing as a self made person.
Speaker 1:All of us have had some help. All of us have had someone put a good word in for us. You know, like my my first job was because my mentor knew a guy. You know, I got my job as a teacher up in Dallas because of my college roommate, right? Like almost every job that I've ever had has been because I knew someone who knew someone.
Speaker 1:And so I think there's just so much power in you talk about the big C church, you talk about gospel family. I mean, just what a great opportunity for us as mentors to expose our mentees to our network, to our friends, to people who can help take them, to wherever they hope to go. So
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. Life I'm I'm I'm finding that life really is all about who you know. And Man. Same people game.
Speaker 1:For sure, dude. It's a people game for sure. But, man, AD, I would love to hear about just this. You guys seem to have a certain kind kind of model, you know, equip, connect, grow, develop. Do you think you could just spend just a second on that and just how that impacts the relationships that you guys build up in Chicago?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think in regards to the equip equipping, I think, you know, for mentors no matter I think it could be a very daunting task to come in to one of our programs and to meet, you know, these, you know, 13 to 17, 18 year olds and you're just like, No, I'm too far, like, it's, it feels overwhelming, like I'm not cool enough, there's a lot of mentors like, I'm not cool enough, I'm not, I don't have the right lingo and so, one thing that we do want to do is we want to equip, like we want to equip the saints to meet the students where they're at. So one, we're just equipping them with like or asking the right questions like why do you want to do this, let's make sure that you're not trying to be a savior yourself like why, what's your why, you know, because there is a we we teach about the quick gap and so, and we're just trying to equip. I I really enjoy the the training that goes on weeks and weeks of training before a mentor starts and, yeah, going over the gospel, going over how to share the gospel, make sure that you're gospel fluent and then making sure that a mentor like isn't overwhelmed by the reality is like, man, I'm so different than the students that I'm meeting or I just don't have it all together.
Speaker 2:It's like, hey, like, just just be yourself, like, God and be present. And so I really enjoy the the equipping aspect of, yeah, the ministry. And then that leads to to growing. Right? And what was the other?
Speaker 1:Well, hold on one second, Adi. You said something about the you said something about a gap. Why don't you talk more about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Quick gap is the area that you so you have we try to break down like, alright, what are your expectations for this? Where do you think a student needs? And there's all these needs in this, that each individual student has so many needs in their life and you think that you're just gonna come in and just change it all. It's like no, like there's a there's a quick gap like your expectations versus reality like when when you don't when you get when your expectations get, you know, crushed by reality, it ends up like a lot of mentors quit, you know, they they don't this isn't what I was expecting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because like your expectations are way off. So we we try to get them to realize, hey, you're not going to save your student. You can't be everything for your student. You actually, you know, there's just so many areas that you can influence them and you actually need you need other people behind you, you need, every student needs a village, right? And so, yeah, we just get them thinking about, alright, what's gonna cause you to quit, at what point, like, can you foresee some areas in your life that, okay, yeah, I'm I'm off.
Speaker 2:I need I need to change that.
Speaker 1:So That's good. I haven't ever heard that before. One of the things that I love to talk about in regards to mentoring is, especially when you're going from one socioeconomic or just if the mentor's life is significantly different than the mentee's, right? Like different social classes, different race. Like, it's a whole lot more, like, going on the mission field than it is going to hang out with the kid next door.
Speaker 1:And so, like, if you think of a missionary, you know, like, if I'm going to China and I'm just like, hey, I'm gonna go to China. And I just show up there and I just think that it's exactly like how it is down in Waco, Texas. And I start, you know, like, oh, well, you know, down in Waco, we do things like this and we do this. And I don't know why you're doing it like this because we do it like this. That's just not gonna end well.
Speaker 1:And so, like, thinking of it more like a missionary, like, okay, you've gotta prepare. Like, you've gotta stay up to date on what's going on. You have to be aware of norms. You have to be aware of what they care about. You have to be aware of their values.
Speaker 1:You you have to come in as a learner, not as the expert.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And that takes a ridiculous amount of humility and patience and gentleness and self control. And, one one thing that I love about mentoring, is it hard? Yes. Because of everything that I just said. But if you can submit to those things, it will make you look more like Jesus in a powerful way.
Speaker 2:So Yeah.
Speaker 1:Cool deal.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's also interesting to see, like, I think me and a couple of mentors were talking about, like, you know, commitment to mentorship, commitment to like making disciples, you're not just like, it's funny how you can come into this thinking that you're gonna do all this change in the student's life when all the time God has you here and if you don't quit, He has you here in these tough moments, you know, because He's actually saving you. He's actually conforming you to His image, you know, and this this whole time we think that we're doing, you know, these students a favor that we're, you know, you could have a savior complex or whatever, But the whole time, like, God is working in you. He's changing your heart. He's molding you to be a more sacrificial, more loving, more caring, more understanding individual.
Speaker 2:So
Speaker 1:For sure. Alright, man. So we talked about equipping. Next is connect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we want to connect students, one, we want to connect mentors with mentees. We want to connect Christians, Christian adults with students, you know, in whatever neighborhood they're living in and so, the idea is just we're equipping you so that way you can connect with the student and we do train in regards to like, yeah, like this is, we have some Kahoot, what's it called, games to show like you're coming into a whole different world here, like, yeah, just different world views, different, you know, values, just different world and Different everything. Yep. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Do you
Speaker 2:find your mentors? Man, churches, you know, so churches open up their doors. We we partner with churches. We've had long standing partnerships with churches to yeah. They'll give us some stage time, they'll let us set up a table and the idea is like, man, do you want to reach also like the next generation?
Speaker 2:So, yeah, like it's hard, it can be hard to get teenagers in through the church door. The idea is like, man, let us, you know, train up some of your your your whoever's willing to serve with us and hopefully, some some students will begin to come in to your church as well. So I'm I'm really thank shout out to all the churches in Chicago that that help us out at GRIP and and yeah, making disciples. Where else? Sometimes it's just word-of-mouth.
Speaker 2:We've been we've we've done like things like downtown day. We've met. Yeah. It's it's crazy how honestly, it's it's at the end of the day, it's the lord that sends people our way but word-of-mouth, friends, churches, other nonprofits.
Speaker 1:Man, I'm gonna stop there, AD. And every nonprofit I talk to, like, everyone, they wanna know a couple things. One, how do we get more money? But two, how do we get more mentors? Right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And we've got recruiting plans and we got church partnerships and we go into schools and we do the downtown day and we do everything, but we what you just said is it's the Lord. And so, man, if you're running a mentoring organization that's trying to make disciples by way of mentoring, let us not forget that prayer and relying upon the Lord to bring you the right mentors, the right number of mentors at the right time is really what it's all about. And so if you're out there and you're like, man, we need more mentors. We need more mentors. We need more mentors.
Speaker 1:Let us try to try to change our perspective and say, man, maybe God has given us the exact number of mentors that we need today for this season. You know? Or maybe he wants to give us a new way to try to find mentors. Or, you know, maybe we just need to, you know, we just need to pray or we just need to fast or, like, we Yeah. Need to do whatever we can to stop trying to make the result happen in our own strength even though even though that's good.
Speaker 1:Right? Mhmm. And maybe let's bring the Lord into this equation.
Speaker 2:So Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's good news.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think, I heard like, a man of God say, like, when he really, like, wants to bring out the big guns, in regards to prayer, he's like, Lord, you know. You know, Lord. Like, so that's the reality. Like, he knows what we need and and we're working as well, but we're praying. We're praying every Monday.
Speaker 2:We start off with prayer. And my prayer as well is, like, God, don't don't let us just stop on Monday. Like, God, give me grace to continue to pray in Tuesday, you know, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
Speaker 1:It's awesome, man. Okay. So the last two we got, it's time to grow and then develop. Can you just kinda talk about those two things super quick?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So growing, we want our, you know, mentors as well as mentees to grow, to grow in the Lord, to grow together, to grow in relationship, all areas of growth. Hopefully, you know, the local church grows as well. And then we want to develop, so it's cool to see, you know, leaders come out. So we have like head coaches, yeah, mentors develop, as well as our students develop, like developing them for the future, developing them to serve their local community.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's what we're about.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, man. Man, tell me, like, what is your favorite story of you seeing God work at Grip? Like, whether it's a mentor mentee. Like, what if you find yourself getting discouraged, what's the story that you can think of to be like, okay. Like, I'm I'm in this role for a reason.
Speaker 1:I know God's moving. I know it's working.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I would say, like, a recent one, speaking of, like, growing and developing, there's, yeah, it's it's a blessing to see students come through our program and then come all the way back around. So now we have like, there's a former student. I remember even his mentor came over to my house to have a Bible study with other students and, you know, his student really didn't care, like at the end of the day, like a student went off to college, their their like relationship didn't stay, you know, all the way intact. But guess what?
Speaker 2:Like, the Lord also like doesn't need us. He can do this all on his own and so thankfully, you know, through Sean staying connected, future steps guy through Sean staying connected with him, he's just the one telling reporting back to us, hey, I think the Lord's like working in this guy and it's it's just it's just that's the way he he that's what he does. He says he's in the business of saving people and so I'm really that that encourages me. I'm I'm seeing this student or, know, now he's no longer a student now he's a volunteer and he's serving and he's he's actually ready to jump into mentorship but right now he's just like, I'm gonna I'm gonna take things slow. He's serving in another area.
Speaker 2:So it's just really, I think those are the the stories that really encourage me where it's it's full circle, you know, even one of my students is coming back, former students, he comes and volunteers. He's not yet walking with the Lord yet, but I know that it's in God's timing. Right? And and I don't get to say salvation isn't of me. It's not in of our organization.
Speaker 2:Salvation is of the Lord. And so we're just trusting on him. You know, we're we're gonna let let God save.
Speaker 1:And and just like, if you're a part of a mentoring organization, if you oversee mentors, once a mentor gets discouraged, man, it it can go downhill fast. And so Yeah. One of my favorite verses, AD, is first Corinthians three:six. You know, I planted Apollos water, but God gives the growth. And it's very rare in my in all my experience that you meet a kid and you get to walk with him for a decade and you get to talk about Jesus and you get to baptize him and you get to disciple him and you're with him through college and you're with him through like, that is the perfect story.
Speaker 1:Like, everyone wants that. Very few get that. But if you can focus in on faithfulness, not fruitfulness, and what you can control instead of what you can't control, and just know that you know that God loves this kid more than you do, and God has a plan that is so much bigger than your plan. And so one thing that I really love to encourage people with is, hey, if you oversee mentors, time and time and time and time again, just preach the faithfulness of God. Preach that, hey, it might not that you're making a difference.
Speaker 1:It might not seem that they're listening. It might not look like they're changing, but that does not mean that God isn't working. That does not mean that God's not changing their heart. And sometimes that just takes a while, and sometimes we don't see it. But just because we don't see it doesn't mean that it's not happening.
Speaker 1:So
Speaker 2:Yeah. Walking by faith, not by sight. I had a That's right. Student. Oh, you know, he he lived with us for a little bit and then, you know, moved out and, you know, really, really hardworking kid.
Speaker 2:Just just recently, you know, actually in the summer just hit me up just out of nowhere. Hey, I'm I'm just not feeling like myself. Like, can I go to church with you? Yeah. Like, you didn't really come to church or less while you live with with us, you know, so like, yeah, so he comes to church.
Speaker 2:He he signs up, you know, you know, didn't didn't end up like doing that, but the Lord is able like and and he's in it's in his timing and yeah, I'm just it's it's humbling. It's humbling that, you know, you get humbled over and over again like you can't do it. You can't save, and God is faithful.
Speaker 1:That's right. He who calls us is faithful. He will do it. Alright, my man. Well, if people wanna find out more about GRIP, tell them how to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Gripyouth.com. You could search us up on Instagram, Grip Outreach for Youth. Yeah. We love, a lot of other, organizations have hit us up over the years.
Speaker 2:Some will even come and visit. And so that's one thing that I want enjoy about Chicago, I feel like I've learned that really well in Chicago, like, all the organizations coming together for the sake of the gospel for the sake of the youth for the sake of mentorship, like, hey, like, let's let's help each other out. And so I've seen Grip do that. And I've seen like the Lord bless that in other ministries that, you know, or we're not like setting up fences or, you know, man, we're just we're just out trying to, yeah, do the great commission, you know, and help each other along the way. So
Speaker 1:Awesome, man. AD, man, thank you so much for sharing about Grip, about your story on our podcast. I hope it encouraged you as a listener. Hey. If you haven't checked out our National Christian Mentoring Gathering that's happening in April, go on our website, ucommentor.com.
Speaker 1:Check that out. It's gonna be a bunch of people who love Jesus, love mentoring, all getting in the same space together. But, yeah, if you missed anything that we said, well, I'm sorry because this was a great interview. Just leaving super encouraged, JD. But remember this, you can mentor.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Amen.