Those experiences helped me learn principles I’d like to pass along to you. My hope is that they will help you if you choose to give or receive the benefit that comes from capable mentoring. Here are five that stand out to me.

Approach mentoring with humility and gratitude

This relationship benefits greatly from humble hearts. When the person doing the mentoring believes they’ve got all the answers and that the person being mentored just needs to listen and learn, you’re off to a bad start. People pay attention to people who pay attention to them. When the sharing of ideas begins with my understanding of what’s important to you and why it carries the weight it does, it has a greater chance of yielding healthy fruit. I try to approach the process from the viewpoint, “Here’s something I’ve learned in this area. I’d like to see if it sparks a fresh idea for you.” That way, I’m coming alongside my mentee to guide rather than making pronouncements. But humility and gratitude must cut both ways. When the person receiving the mentoring has an open and humble heart (rather than thinking there’s nothing new he/she needs to learn), true growth can take place.

Set goals that are both short-term and realistic

Any mentoring relationship must have a clear destination. It’s best for both the mentor and the mentee to define what success in this relationship looks like to them. This will help them come together on goals they can both support. I’ve seen (and been part of) too many projects that never clearly understood where the finish line was. Because of that, success was compromised by the simple fact that no one clearly understood where they were going or how they would get there. The clearer and more attainable the goals are, the easier it will be to gauge where you are on our journey toward meeting them.

Mentoring should be symbiotic

Remember the words “symbiotic relationship” from high school biology? They describe a bond between two different organisms that produces a mutually beneficial relationship. Symbiosis also applies to mentoring. The mentee benefits from the wisdom being shared by someone who in many cases has been exactly where the mentee is now. But this isn’t a one-way street. The mentor also benefits. He or she is following the biblical example of taking those hard-fought lessons God has taught them and helping others see or do things differently. Sometimes the greatest impact you can have on a mentee is to say, “Don’t make the same mistakes I did.”

Mentoring IS a relationship

It’s too easy to forget that mentoring must be more than a way to learn. Mentoring builds a deeper bond between those who are involved in it. God has designed relationships between two people (or two radio stations) to do more than meets the eye. In my years as a mentor, I’ve gained much from relationships that, on the surface, appeared more one-sided than they actually were. I learned about the individual people I was serving and listened to where they were in their journey with Christ. This not only made our relationship sweeter, I developed a better understanding of why they were who they were and how their role was important to fulfilling God’s call on their lives. As is often the case in God’s economy, what appeared from the outside to be my contribution to them turned out to be a gift to my own heart – and theirs too, I hope.

Mentoring takes time

Like many things in life, mentoring takes time. While it can produce results (seemingly) overnight, most of what grows from mentoring takes time. The ability and commitment from both parties to embrace the power of allocating time is key. Whether you’re considering becoming a mentor or a mentee, the discipline of slowing down and not feeling like you have to have an immediate answer will serve you well.

Mentoring is multi-faceted and almost always includes elements of listening, asking  questions, encouraging, and teaching. Each of those things, done correctly, takes time. Whether you’re a mentor or a mentee, you will hear things that will take time for you to process. To do that well, you may need to ask clarifying questions to better understand your path forward. Once that pathway is clear, the mentor and mentee can both begin walking toward the same destination.

With more than five decades of experience in Christian radio, Jon Hull is an Audience Growth Consultant for Finney Media. He can be reached at jon@finneymedia.com

The post 5 Things I’ve Learned In Mentoring first appeared on CMB.

The post 5 Things I’ve Learned In Mentoring appeared first on CMB.

I’m old enough to remember when the words “radio” and “records” were accurate descriptors of the players on the field.  Here in 2025, we no longer play records per se, and the platforms we occupy are much broader than only radio.  But, for the sake of this conversation, I’ll stick with those monikers.

For much of my radio life, the relationship between those who create and produce the songs and those of us who are privileged to play them for a listening public has been a symbiotic one.  It was predicated on the fact that radio needed records, and vice versa. As in many relationships, each partner had seasons where they felt they were working harder than the other one was.  For the most part, though, we reached a comfortable stasis that worked well for everyone.

But…times have changed.

For reasons too many to list here, the companies who make the music don’t need radio the way they used to. They’ve found other avenues to sell their product. Unfortunately, many of us who work in radio either didn’t get or didn’t pay attention to that memo.  We’re still trying to live in the day when we could depend on record labels to spend a lot of energy and resources wooing and rewarding us.  Please pay attention to these next four words:  Those days are gone. 

As you read this, you may be scratching your head.  From where you sit – perhaps as the person at your station who takes the weekly tracking calls from labels and artist management – things still seem good.  You’re probably correct.  At your level things seem fine.  But at the executive level, where difficult resource and budgetary decisions are being made, radio isn’t the 800-pound gorilla we once were.  Your label reps are having to fight harder than ever to hang on to the budget for a promotional tour or artist junket.  And the phrase “but we need this station” rings more and more hollow every day.

Is there anything radio can do about that?  I believe the answer is “yes and no.”  No to the halcyon days of lots of product and concert tickets at our disposal.  But, yes to the premise that radio can create and pursue a newer, healthier relationship that better suits the economic realities of the mid-2020’s.

I’d like to recommend three things that can help put radio on that more appropriate and sustainable path.

1. Become servant-minded. What if, instead of looking for something that will make us feel valued (because we’re the ones being served) we became the ones committed to serving? While record labels don’t need us the way they used to, I believe we can, by our servant-hearted actions and attitudes, create an atmosphere in which they want to continue working with us. Back in the 1980s I worked for a group of radio stations that paid someone to reach out to local churches and ask how we could promote what they were doing – for free. It shocked them until they realized that all we wanted was to see God’s name honored and His Kingdom enlarged. One could argue this was a one-sided relationship: that the radio station was doing all the giving. I would contend that even if that were the case, a biblical principle of servanthood was being displayed.  

2. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes.  While we’ve all had to find new ways of thriving in the 21st Century, it’s been harder for those on the retail side than it has for those of us who depend on listeners to pay the bills.  What if we cared enough to understand their world and how we can continue to be an important part of it?  If I seek to better understand the label’s landscape and the reduced marketing budgets they’re operating under, perhaps I’ll do a better job of matching my appetites to their ability.  In fact, it behooves me as someone who still needs what they produce (more than they may need the airplay I can give them) to look for ways to remain part of the mix for them.  Is that more one-sided than we might wish? Perhaps. But if you think so, see item #1 above.

3. Be more creative. Successfully implementing those first two items will put you in the headspace to become successful with the third. This is where I believe the 21st century Christian music station can still bring tremendous value.  You and I must look for ways to creatively leverage every platform we have to maximize the impact of the artists and songs we play.  We’ve chosen them because they align with our mission.  So, why not work overtime to help them succeed?  In doing so, we’ll help our audience(s) find people who sing about things that matter to them – people who can be a vital part of creating a deeper sense of community.  How do we do this?  I suggest that we take the initiative: Look for and present ways to create winning partnerships that are filled with servant-minded empathy and action. It may not always feel like a 50/50 relationship.  But, as we’ve already seen from the items above, that shouldn’t be our goal.  Our goal should be to look for winning opportunities we can offer to those artists who honor Christ and fit our brand. Let’s commit ourselves to adding value to our partnerships by offering artists, labels, and tours access to our constituents on every platform we occupy, not just broadcast.  Don’t fall into the trap of believing “they need me.”  Instead, offer carefully thought-out and executed partnerships that come from the vantage point of, “How can we serve you?”  An appearance on one of your most downloaded podcasts?  Short video clips with the artist that are sent to specific donors?  Extras that don’t have any “strings” attached?  The specifics of how you do this will only be limited by your creativity and desire to serve.

You and I can directly impact the relationship Christian music radio will have with the people who create and produce it. Let’s work to change “us versus them” into “we.”  It’s going to take some work and creative thinking on all our parts.  It’s going to require that we stop living in the past and look clearly at the present. I also believe it’s going to require introspection and repentance. It’s human nature to enjoy being served, but we follow in the footsteps of the One who said (as His disciples argued over which of them was greatest): “I am among you as the one who serves.”

I hope you’ll take the challenge.

The post 2025: 3 Items for Your Resolution List first appeared on CMB.

The post 2025: 3 Items for Your Resolution List appeared first on CMB.