The Lasting Impact of a Mentor Who Believed in You
Ronnie Herrera knocked on a stranger's door in the Dominican Republic looking for a mentor. What followed reached villages that had never met the man who started it. In this episode, discover what 2 Timothy 2:2 says about the lasting impact of one person's investment in another.
Ronnie Herrera knocked on a stranger's door in the Dominican Republic looking for a mentor. What followed reached villages that had never met the man who started it. In this episode, discover what 2 Timothy 2:2 says about the lasting impact of one person's investment in another.
Ronnie Herrera grew up in the Dominican Republic without his father. His dad had left for the United States when Ronnie was 8, looking for work. Over the years that followed, the family lost everything to Hurricane George, and his father suffered a brain blood clot from the accumulated stress. Ronnie was a teenager, and he felt hopeless.
He came to faith at a Christian school and felt pulled toward mission work. He and a friend heard about an American missionary couple living nearby, so one day they walked up to that door and knocked.
The couple who answered, Miguel and Kristina Santiago, had been praying for months for God to send them young people to disciple. What happened next stretched across decades and into villages that had never met the man who started it.
Most people who are doing something meaningful can trace it back to someone who saw something in them before they could see it themselves. This episode is about that person and that investment.
There's a man in his nineties named Dr. Hugh Huguley who probably doesn't fully know what he did for me. He was a Bible college professor and I was going through some of the toughest stretches of my life. He believed in me when I wasn't sure I believed in myself. His smile and his encouraging spirit kept me going more than he probably realizes. We still talk on the phone from time to time. I'm still standing in part because of what he put in.
Paul describes this chain in 2 Timothy 2:2. What was put into him, he put into Timothy. What Timothy received, he was responsible for passing to others. The investment was always meant to multiply.
Seth Barnes spent one month with Miguel Santiago in Peru in 2002. Miguel took what he received and invested it in Ronnie. Ronnie took it into his village. His village took it into the next one. By the time Ronnie was done, there were communities full of people whose lives had been shaped by what Seth put into one man for 30 days. Seth had never met most of them.
That's the math of mentorship. The original investor rarely sees the full return.
BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER:
- How one man's month-long investment in Peru reached villages he never visited, and what that reveals about the return on mentorship
- What Paul's instruction to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2 says about the responsibility that comes with being invested in
- 2 concrete challenges: one for the person who needs to find someone to invest in, and one for the person who needs to call the mentor who shaped them
One investment in one person can become more than you'll ever see.
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Ronnie Herrera grew up in the Dominican Republic, and his
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father wasn't there. His dad had left for the United States when
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Ronnie was eight, looking for work. After that, Ronnie's
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picture of a father was a voice on a phone line from far away,
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asking what he wanted from the States. Over the next few years,
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the family lost everything to Hurricane George, and then his
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father suffered a brain blood from the accumulated stress.
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Ronnie was a teenager by then, and he felt hopeless. He came to
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faith at a Christian school and found a passion for sharing what
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he'd He and a friend felt pulled toward mission work but didn't
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know how to get started. They'd heard of an American missionary
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couple living nearby who might be able to help, so one day
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Ronnie and his friend walked up to their door and knocked. We'll
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come back to what happened when that door opened, but
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first, welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm
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Bart Leger. There's a man in his 90s named Dr. Hugh Hughley who
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probably doesn't fully know what he did for me. He was a Bible
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college professor, and I was a student going through some of
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the toughest stretches of my life. He believed in me when I
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wasn't sure I believed in myself. His smile and his encouraging
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spirit kept me going more than he probably realizes. We still
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talk on the phone from time to time. Decades later, I'm still
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standing in part because of what he invested in me. And that's
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what a mentor does. And most of us have someone like that. A
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person who looked at us and said, even if not in so many words,
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that we had something worth investing in. Today's episode is
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for two groups of people. Those who had someone like Dr. Hughley
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and need to remember what that and those who may be that person
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for someone else right now and maybe doesn't even know it yet.
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Here's what the Apostle Paul said to young Timothy in 2
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Timothy 2.2.
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Paul is describing a chain. What was put into him, he put into
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Timothy. And what he put into Timothy, Timothy was now
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responsible for passing to others.
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When Paul came to Jerusalem after his conversion, the
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disciples were afraid of him, and they had every reason to be.
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But Barnabas vouched for him, stood beside him, and gave him
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an opportunity the others weren't prepared to give. Paul
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became Apostle Paul partly because Barnabas was willing to
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go first. Most people who are doing something meaningful can
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trace it back to someone who saw something in them before they
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could see it in themselves. That's a description of how the
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kingdom has always operated. One person invests in another, who
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invests in another, and the return on that first investment
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compounds in ways the original investor may never even live to
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see. Seth Barnes spent one month with Miguel Santiago in 2002
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teaching him to plant churches. He couldn't have known then that
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Miguel would take what he received and put it into a young
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man named Ronnie Herrera of the Dominican Republic, who would
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take into his village, who would take it into the next one, until
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there were entire communities shaped by what one man put into
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another man for 30 days. That's the math of mentorship. You may
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be one month away from starting something you won't see the end
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of. Now let's get back to Ronnie. The couple who answered were
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Miguel and Cristina Santiago, and they had been praying for
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months for God to send them young people to disciple. Miguel
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took Ronnie in the same way someone had taken Miguel years
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before. He had been discipled by a man named Seth Barnes, who had
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spent a month with him in Peru teaching him to plant churches
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before sending him on his way. Seth had invested in Miguel the
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same way. Miguel did the same for Ronnie, and Ronnie, after
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years of being mentored, felt God telling him it was time to
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do the same for others. He went back to his community and began
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investing in a group of young men. They led worship services
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and taught adults to read. They cooked meals for the village and
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discipled individual believers, one at a time. When the people
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of Cativo caught the same passion, they began investing in
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the next village, who began investing in the one after Seth
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Miguel to Peru for one month in 2002. By the time Ronnie was
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done, there were villages full of people who had never met Seth
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Barnes, whose lives had been shaped by what Seth put into one
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man. That's what one investment in one person can become. You
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may not know who's watching you right now. You may not know
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whose door you're the answer to the way Miguel and Cristina were
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the answer to Ronnie's knock. But someone is watching, and
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someone's paying attention to how you carry your faith and how
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you treat people when things are costly. Here's today's challenge.
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who could use what you have to offer. You just need to be a few
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steps ahead and willing to share what you've learned from being
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there. Call them this week. Have coffee.
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and you'd like to invest some time. That's how the chain
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starts. That's how Seth got to villages he never even visited.
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And if there's someone who believed in you the way Dr.
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Hughley believed in me, call them this week too and tell them
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what their investment meant. They may not realize the
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difference they made in your life. Lord, you used people to
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shape us, and you want to use us to shape others. Show us the
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person you've placed in front of us who needs what we have. Give
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us the courage to invest even before we feel qualified, and
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let the return be far more than we could have planned. In Jesus'
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name, amen. If you need prayer today, I'd love to hear from you.
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You can leave me a voicemail at dailydevotionsforbusylives.com
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slash voicemail. I listen to everyone, and it would be an
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honor to pray for you by name. Thanks for joining me on Daily
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Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, one investment in one
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can become more than you may ever see. Come back next time
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for more encouragement to help you live grounded in God's truth.
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Until then, God bless and have a great day.
