Woman to Woman Mentoring

Woman to Woman Mentoring was birthed in 1995 when its founder Janet Thompson received a call from the Lord to 'Feed My sheep.' At the time, Janet was running an insurance agency and enrolled in Fuller Theological Seminary. She had been asking the Lord what He wanted her to do when she finished Seminary. In search of the answer, she attended a Women In

Ministry Leadership Conference in Portland Oregon where she heard the words, "Feed My sheep." When she asked, "What sheep? Where? And what would I feed them if I found them?" she again heard, "Feed My Sheep." Janet said an obedient, "OK" and then prayed for more direction. The Lord was gracious...the very next morning the conference speaker spoke from the verses in John 21:15-17 where Jesus is saying to Peter, 'If you love me, feed My sheep.' The title of that session was 'Shepherding Women in Your Church."

Janet was attending Saddleback Church where she has been a member since 1987, but up to that point had not been involved in Women's Ministry, so she was hesitant that the Lord had the right person. She didn't know any women in her church and had specifically told the Lord she did not want to work with women! She had not appreciated the way women treated each other in and out of the church. But within weeks of returning home from the Leadership Conference, she heard the first bleating sheep calls. Two women asked Janet to mentor them. One was a woman in her insurance field and the other was a friend of one of her daughters. To learn what mentoring meant, she read the now out of print book, Women Encouraging Women by Lucibel Van Atta. Deciding she could do this, she began to mentor both of these women and determined that the sheep were indeed women and feeding was mentoring.

Several months later, Janet ran into the Pastor to Young Adults at Saddleback. He mentioned to her how many of the young women in his groups were asking him were they could find a mentor. Janet told him her 'Feed My sheep' story, and soon he and the Pastor to New Ministries encouraged Janet that it was not just these two women that needed mentoring but also the women of Saddleback Church. They handed her the Twelve Steps to Starting a Ministry at Saddleback and she started through the steps.

Janet says she thought she would go to the bookstore and find a book on starting a Mentoring Ministry. What she found was many books on mentoring but none on how to start a Mentoring Ministry. So with much prayer and research, she presented a plan to the pastors. Her plan was to have women interested in being mentored, as well as those who choose to be mentors, gather together in a home for an Orientation Coffee and get to know each other. They would fill out profile cards, learn about mentoring, and share what brought them to the Coffee. An intercessory Prayer Team would pray over the profile cards and match spiritually older women with spiritually younger women based on Titus 2:3-5. Once matched, the M&M's (Mentors and Mentees) would receive training and prayer follow up, and at the end of six months they would gather again for a Celebration Potluck to share testimonies of God at work in their mentoring relationships.

The first Saddleback Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry Orientation Coffee was held in Janet's home in January 1996, and they have continued to hold four to five Coffees a year following the same initial format. As churches began to hear about the success of Woman to Woman Mentoring, they called Janet to find out how she was doing it. Prompted to write down everything she had done, she self-published Woman to Woman Mentoring: How To Start, Grow, And Maintain A Mentoring Ministry. As churches started their own Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry, Chris Adams at LifeWay Press heard about it and contacted Janet. Chris knew the need for this type of a resource and in 2000 LifeWay became the publisher of the Woman to Woman Mentoring Resources. For information on how to order these valuable step by step resources click here.

Janet also has authored the Face-To-Face Bible Study Series published by New Hope Publishers, Face-To-Face With Mary And Martha: Sisters In Christ, Face-To-Face With Naomi And Ruth: Together For The Journey, Face-To-Face With Elizabeth And Mary: Generation to Generation, and Face-To-Face With Euodia And Syntyche: From Conflict To Community are the first four studies in this series. These Bible Studies are unique in that they can be done by someone on their own, or two people can do them together, or their is a Leader's Guide for studying as a group. For more information and how to order the Bible Studies click

Woman to Woman Mentoring is now in its second decade at Saddleback Church, and Janet has learned a great deal about team building. She shares the joys and sorrows, the failures and successes, and the benefits of team building in The Team That Jesus Built. To be released Summer 2011 by NewHope Publishers.

Mentoring occurs in all walks of our life as Christians--the good times and the bad. It is simply sharing those 'been there done that experiences and with God's help I made it through and you can too!' God never wastes a hurt and while tough times build our character, He usually puts someone going through a similar crisis in our path for us to encourage. Janet's book Dear God, They Say It's Cancer is a mentoring companion for the woman with Breast Cancer and is written from Janet's own journey through the dreaded disease.

In her book Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, Janet mentors parents from her own experience as a prodigal daughter and having a prodigal daughter. Janet and her daughter Kim candidly share their own story along with stories from other praying mothers and prodigal daughters. But don't wait until you have a prodigal - learn principles in this book of how to pray proactivily for your daughter NOW.

Remember: Mentoring is simply teaching what you've been taught so you can train the next generation. You don't have to be a Bible scholar or a senior citizen. If you love the Lord and have seen Him at work in your life, then God's mandate is to share that with someone. Psalm 145:4 "One generation will commend your works to another."