The Mantle: Impart, Empower, Deploy

By Jeffrey Taguchi and Heather Taguchi

Taking discipleship out of program and into every day life is what this book is all about. Simple tools for changing lives. Today is a great day to impact someone’s life!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781942306856

Book preview

California

INTRODUCTION

For a long time, I have believed that mentoring, by setting aside time and attention for teaching, training, and answering questions, would help hungry disciples of Christ grow in the things of the Lord at a much faster rate than they would without a proper mentor. But I found out that it is rare to come across people who make themselves available enough to mentor others. Up until I met Jeff, the closest thing I came to being mentored was in what turned out to be in a cultic environment, where people who didn’t want to work wanted to use me, my time, my energy, and my money for themselves. Needless to say, I left that situation, though it wasn’t easy. That was in 2013, the same year I met Jeff Taguchi, just a few months later.

One day, I heard that Jeff was going to be speaking at a church I had attended for a little while. I didn’t know anything about him and wasn’t interested in meeting him. In fact, I didn’t even go to church that day. It wasn’t that I was uninterested in God; I was hungry for God. But I was not interested in the usual church, the kind we find in most places rather than the Ephesians 4 type. I was probably experiencing more productivity and meaning in my personal growth in the Lord outside of church than in it. I wanted something revolutionary, something that can change the world. I wanted the real deal. I wanted true, New Testament Christianity. But I had yet to find it.

An Unusual Offer

Some time later, my mother called me and told me that she’d met Jeff and Heather Taguchi at church. She said nice things about them and urged me to go to church to meet them. I wasn’t especially interested, but I was at least more interested than I was moments before, so I walked to that church. By the time I arrived, it was already at the end of the church service. I didn’t care, because I didn’t go to church for the service; I just went to meet Jeff and Heather for the first time. Shortly after I arrived, I went up to the front with my mother to meet them. I discovered that they were distinctly different from the rest of the people in the church. Jeff was Japanese but spoke fluent English, and Heather’s a Caucasian who lived in New Zealand for a while, where I was raised. It wasn’t an awkward or difficult situation; they were easygoing and we carried on a conversation for a while. I briefly told Jeff my history in the Lord and how I felt like he told me to come to the States to pursue the purpose and destiny He has for me. During that conversation, it didn’t take him long to introduce his ideas about mentoring and offer to mentor me himself.

At the time, I didn’t understand that to be a compliment, because I didn’t know that Jeff actually had three requirements he looked for in people before offering to mentor them. The three requirements are summed up in the acronym HAT: heart for God, availability, and teachability. I think it was then that we exchanged numbers, but for some time, I was still cautious of Jeff. I was also very picky about what I was looking for in a mentor. I had quite a few questions written down on my phone just to ask him personally concerning what he believed.

One day, I saw Jeff at that church again and at the end of service, I went and sat in the pew in front of him to ask him those questions. He affirmed that he believed in God the way I did. I wasn’t that big on impartations, but somehow we had a conversation that included that topic, so I asked him to impart whatever he had on me. He laid his hand on me and prayed to impart something into me. He was quick to agree to it and do it, like a father wanting to give the best to his children.

A New Chapter

Jeff and I met weekly for about two hours. Mostly, we’d go to a Denny’s or Burger King and he’d offer to buy me a meal, but I’d refuse. I just wanted to talk. Sometimes we’d run some errands, but even then he’d give me his full attention. This went on every week. I found out that he did this every week with other people too, people who fit those three requirements.

I’ve met many leaders, preachers, and ministers in the church world, yet I have not met anyone who is willing to mentor others on this level. Most aren’t willing to take the time to connect, and usually ministers and leaders have their attention divided with so many people approaching to talk to them. In other words, there is absolutely no mentoring there.

Jeff, however, would set aside his own personal time just for me every week for two hours, giving me his undivided attention. Not only that, but there was a period of a few weeks when he gave me certain teachings he printed out and taught me those things while we met. This required time, effort, and resources. One time, he bought me a book on the prophetic, since I had mentioned some interest in learning and growing in that area. That was money out of his own pocket that he sowed into my life. Not to mention, he had to drive about half an hour every week to meet me. The fact that he spent time, effort, attention, and money on me shows clearly how Jeff felt about others: he valued them, he was interested in them, and he saw potential in them. I had believed in this definition of mentoring for a long time, and Jeff was the only one I personally knew who demonstrated it. I believe this is a huge part of Christianity and of every Christian’s life, whether they’re mentoring others or they are being mentored.

Christ-like Discipleship

The Gospels record that Jesus demonstrated this way of mentoring and discipling others. Jesus discipled people for about three years. Then, after He was raised from the dead, He passed the responsibility of discipleship to these people, telling them to make disciples of all nations and teaching them everything that He had commanded them. Notice that He said to make disciples of all nations. All nations means everyone. That means everyone is to be mentored. Yet 2,000 years later, hardly anyone is involved in mentoring. If everyone is to be mentored, there have to be quite a lot of mentors