Mentors commit themselves to training their team. Read Matthew 17:14-21.

Jesus disciples had been with Him continuously for almost three years observing Him instruct the crowds and heal the sick. As their understanding grew Jesus had given the disciples leadership assignments. At times the disciples were very effective but at other times Jesus assessed their work and held them accountable. John Maxwell’s notes in The Maxwell Leadership Bible give some insight into mentoring when a team falls short of expectations:

God-honoring leadership requires basic integrity or it will not be sustained. Read Hosea 5 focusing on verse 10.

Through Hosea God was pronouncing judgment on the people in the Northern Kingdom. In chapter five, He focused on the failure of the leaders in their assignment to live a positive example of integrity before the people. In verse 10, God condemns the leaders of the tribe of Judah for emulating the actions of the Northern Kingdom by moving the boundary stones. Boundary stones were legal markers placed generations earlier to identify property lines for each family’s God-given plot of land. These defined boundaries were not to be moved because they helped protect the inheritance of widows and orphans when something happened to the head of the family.

There will be times when leaders need to stand their ground even when their team disagrees. Read Ezekiel 2:1-10.

God made it clear to Ezekiel that He was not giving him an easy leadership assignment. He was to dash the hopes of his Jewish brothers for an early return to Judah from their exiled life in Babylon. He had to consistently remind them that Jerusalem would still be destroyed and that God wanted them to repent of their worship of other gods, their self-dependence, and evil treatment of the poor and defenseless. God told Ezekiel that He was sending him to a rebellious people who acted like stubborn children and made sure Ezekiel knew his call did not depend on the people’s response.