The One Behind the One, You Are

BY DARON BROWN

The ground beneath me felt a little less stable.

For decades, I benefited from the up-close mentoring of two extraordinary men. One has been my pastor since college days. He is a consummate pastor who shaped my pastoral identity. The other was my district superintendent during my formative years of leadership development. His mentoring is what made them formative. Both are giants in my eyes. Both treat me like a son, and I see them as fathers. Both believe in me more than I believe in myself. I thrived under their spiritual direction, encouragement, correction, and affirmation. A few years ago, both retired at nearly the same time. That was when my ground shifted.

Both are still alive, available, and accessible. But life, for me, became different when they stepped back from ministry. All of a sudden, I was doing ministry without the direct mentoring of these primary figures. I am happy they served well and now enjoy a season of life apart from the chaos of ministry. At the same time, I was not prepared for the ways I struggled personally when they retired. I felt a sense of loss. Then I felt guilty. After all, who am I to feel sorry for myself? I had two great mentors. Some people struggle to locate one.

I asked the Lord to help me find my footing. After a few months of prayer and self-pity, I heard the Lord’s voice reframing my thinking. Instead of changing my circumstances, God changed my focus. He spoke in a way I can understand. God said, “Daron, you’ve been a Luke. Now be a Yoda.”

In the classic Star Wars saga, Luke Skywalker is the young hero called to do something great. For him to fulfill his calling, Luke receives training. The one doing the training is Yoda, a strange, old figure whose calling is to make the young Luke ready. Luke is the one. Yoda is the one behind the one. Or, to be true to Yoda, the one behind the one, Yoda is.

Luke is in the foreground and in the moment. Yoda is in the background, able to see the bigger picture with greater clarity. Luke is young and on the journey toward wisdom. Yoda is seasoned and wise. Luke lacks experience. Yoda draws deep from centuries of lived experience. Luke speaks often. Yoda’s words are few and focused. Luke is mainly responsible for Luke and his own territory. Yoda is responsible for territory beyond himself, including Luke. Because Luke is young and wide-eyed, he cares too much about too many things. Because of Yoda’s experience, he knows what is worth caring about and what is not. Luke lives in receiving mode because he needs to receive. Yoda lives in giving mode because Luke needs to receive. Luke is a sponge. Yoda is a fountain. Being Luke is hard enough. Being Yoda is harder and more complex.

In my second half of life and ministry, God is calling me to see myself as less of a mentee and more of a mentor. Others saw it in me before I did, just like others spotted my call to ministry before I did. Obviously, I had to realize and accept it for myself. I’m learning how to be a mentor—not that I’ve grown out of my need for mentors. Making this transition is more difficult than one might think. It feels like an animal shedding its skin or shell to grow into a new season of life. Part of the challenge is this: By the time someone is seasoned enough to mentor well, they are so settled in their ways they are unwilling or unable to adjust to being a mentor. With the Lord’s help, I’m pushing through the internal shift and learning the skillset and necessary practices to mentor well. They include relational investment, active listening, funneling credibility, encouragement, discernment, and the ability to call something out of people. More than anything, it requires willingness to step back to push others forward—to believe in them more than they believe in themselves.

The ground beneath me still feels unstable. Nevertheless, I am learning my call is to provide some stable ground for others.

Rev. Daron Brown lives and pastors in Waverly, Tennessee, with his wife, Katie, and children, Kendall, Parker, and Macy.