“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” As interesting as that question has been to some, my concern is more personal: If a pastor posts a blog entry and no one reads it, does it make any difference? Thankfully, due to 16,900 unique visitors to this blog this year, I haven’t yet posted something no one has read. But several of this year’s posts were more popular than all the rest, and I want to list them here. Maybe you missed one of these. Maybe you’d like to look at one of them again.

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In case you haven’t noticed it, there’s a feud going on these days between baby boomers and millennials. One website perfectly summarizes the accusations those in the two generations have been throwing at each other:

For a long time now, the cross-generational dialogue between baby boomers and millennials has been built atop several recurring themes. Boomers — the generation born roughly between 1946 and 1965 — scoff that millennials expect “participation trophies” for doing the bare minimum. Millennials say boomers are “out of touch.” Millennials (born roughly between 1980 and 1996) are “killing” once-stable industries like cereal by saving money, spending less, and “eating avocados.” Boomers have “mortgaged the future” in exchange for hoarding wealth while also voting to end necessary social programs. Millennials would rather complain about student debt than buckle down, work hard, and “get a job.”

I believe the church should step into this fray with a simple solution that would help both the older and the younger accusers. My proposal? Mentoring.

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If I had a mountain where I could carve the faces of those who have helped me most, here are the four I’d choose:

My dad, Jimmy DeVage.

Mike Baker, senior pastor with Eastview Christian Church, Normal, Illinois.

Drew Sherman, lead pastor with Compass Christian Church, in Colleyville, Texas.

Cal Jernigan, lead pastor with Central Christian Church, Mesa, Arizona.

Just as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln shaped our nation, these four have made me who I am. Their impact has been so great, in fact, I can’t explain why in just one blog post. So I’m taking two weeks to describe what they have done. As you read, you may think of your own mentors—or discover a strategy for being a mentor yourself.

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How can a Christian leader reach men who are far from God?

I’ve been asked that many times, maybe because reaching such men has become a part of my mission. In fact two or three times each month I gather with guys in a neutral location just to hang out together. But my purpose is deeper than fellowship.

Of course it always starts there: loud laughter, rude kidding, good-natured insults. Soon it transitions to life and talk about work and wives and kids.  

After awhile I pose two questions for each guy to answer. I’ve been asking these questions in meetings like this for seven years, and I continue to see the remarkable results they bring. The questions:

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It’s usually sad when a person is institutionalized.

When your aging grandmother becomes too confused to take care of herself, her children institutionalize her.

When your elderly uncle becomes too weak to live alone, your cousins institutionalize him.

When a child with a physical or mental disability can’t function in normal society, he or she is institutionalized to keep them safe and help them survive.

Institutionalization is about protection, not propagation; guarding, not going; building a defense, not mounting an offense.

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