Mentoring: The Concept of "Deorbiting"

Over the course of the past twenty plus years I have been privileged to counsel thousands of men and women, boys and girls. And during my long tenure in this field, I have gathered a few dozen of my clients about me, and provided them a one on one mentoring program; primarily to those enrolled in higher education, pursuing ministry, or already involved in formal or informal ministry.

And now in my latter years I have been compelled to offer some of the same self-authored topical teachings, which I previously offered my interns, to groups and congregations in the local area. 

There is a concept which I refer to as “Deorbiting” which I teach, and which I developed, but, for all I know, may well have been espoused by someone before me.

I am quite a fan of manned and unmanned space flight, and as an adolescent I closely followed the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space missions. I recall the first sub-orbital flight of Alan Shepard; a distant relative of mine. And as I was preparing to be married, a scant three weeks after the event, I remember watching Neil Armstrong’s first tenuous step; beamed live from the surface of the Moon. 

“One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.”

Any time a manned (or unmanned) spacecraft attempts to escape the gravity of the earth, three variables must of necessity be present.

Mission – What, after all, is the raison d’etre? (purpose of the flight)

Power – In order to escape the bonds of earth an interstellar vehicle must increase its speed from 17,500 mph to 25,000 mph. 

Direction – A particular azimuth, (or compass heading) is locked into place.

And it occurs to me that the same concept and the same variables which are integral to spaceflight also apply to the practice of Mentoring.

For you see, a novice unlearned, untrained disciple of the faith is much like a spacecraft which for a season wanders in a circular orbit around another body, and is in the process of Preparation.

 

But which when the time is right undertakes the second phase of the process.

For you see, Preparation is as crucial as Mission. For Mission depends on Preparation. Without Preparation there is no Mission.

And having properly prepared, those variables equally applicable to space travel begin to play out.

The disciple or trainee or intern or student has, in the course of Preparation, been Empowered to complete the task at hand, and emulate the message of his or her master.

And by this time, his or her Direction is clear, and set in place. The “how to” of the “what for.”

 

And I think one additional variable ought to play itself out in the process; a variable all too easily overlooked or taken for granted by those servant-Leaders who have so unselfishly taken a promising individual under his or her “wings.”

And that variable is that of Planned Obsolescence. 

For you see, as much as it may seem incongruous, as servant-Leaders, we have been called to prepare the next generation for service, and to quietly and quickly step away, and allow him whom we have mentored to “Deorbit” our influence, and to go about fulfilling the mission to which God has called him.

This principle is aptly characterized by John the Baptist’ words.

“I must decrease. He must increase.” (John 3:30)

Or to put it in the vernacular,

“Forget the messenger, if you will, but always

… Remember the Message.”


By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "Wednesday Night Teachings" Copyright pending

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