True Mentorship

True Mentorship: Linking Purpose, Legacy, and Manhood

What separates a man who drifts through life from a man who leaves a lasting legacy? In this powerful episode of the Supporting Dads/Spiritual Dads Podcast, D Gatheright the host is joined by four dynamic guest speakers for an honest and inspiring conversation about the true meaning of mentorship.

Drawing from the timeless wisdom of As a Man Thinketh, the panel explores the powerful truth that thoughts without purpose become directionless, and directionless living often leads to catastrophe. The discussion challenges men to become intentional about their thinking, their decisions, and the legacy they are creating for the next generation.

Whether you are a father, mentor, coach, pastor, or a young man searching for direction, this episode will challenge you to think differently, live intentionally, and recognize that true mentorship is about more than giving advice—it's about modeling purpose, building character, and equipping others to fulfill their God-given calling.

Because when a man discovers his purpose, he stops drifting... and starts building a legacy worth following.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_04 0:00

Welcome, welcome, welcome, everybody. This is the Supporting Daz uh podcast. This is Spiritual Dazz Podcast. We are back on. We are doing something very unique and awesome tonight. We have four or five gentlemen, four gentlemen on that is going to share their experience about being a man. True uh mentorship. That's what we're going to entitle this True Mentorship. What does that look like? What does true mentorship look like? And then one of the things that we're going to do is we're going to talk about in the true mentorship. Um, we're going to have a conversation around uh some of the things that these brothers do as their mentorings. Uh, we got different ones on tonight. Uh, thought and purpose. How do your thought perceive your purpose and you go after it and make it happen? So that's what we're gonna talk about tonight. We want you to tell a friend, tell a neighbor the about the link. Will you hear it? Thumbs up to it. We want you to share. One of the things we want to challenge everybody that are listening, we we looked at our stats. We're very excited that we are going around the world. So uh shout out to every country that cut this on, every city that's listened to this voice uh every month. We just a month. But tonight I brought some backup. I brought a Benjamin Watson, I brought a Brandon Frank, I brought a Dwayne Patterson, I brought brought uh Minister Sean Pritchett. We are going to uh have some fun, talk about this, be excited. Hopefully, this is something to motivate Brother Maine to develop a thought. And when you develop that thought, you fulfill that thought with your purpose. All of it works together. So before we keep going on, we want to send a shout out to our pastor who was just so awesome, so wonderful, Pastor Angela uh Abrams. We want to send a shout out to my beautiful, lovely wife who just celebrated 33 years. So we're super excited about her family members. We're just so excited, and and and with this excitement enthusiasm, we're inviting our brothers to just come on, jump in as we uh ask the question. Uh, we just go ahead and and and and don't wait for the next one. You just jump in and answer the question, somebody talking, just give them a chance to finish talking, then you clarify it. But before we do all of that, we'll be remiss if we do not ask the Lord to come in and to speak to us through prayer and wisdom and guidance on how to reach that brother that needs a thought, need a purpose. Let's let's go. So we're gonna ask uh Elder Preach it if he could lead us in prayer and then we'll proceed from there.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this time, this gathering. God, Lord, this group of men that you have called, oh God, in this night, in this hour. Father, we pray, oh God, Lord, that you continue, oh God, to bless this ministry, oh God. Continue to bless our leader, oh God. Now, God, we ask that you just come in. God, give us the wisdom, give us the tools that we need, oh God, to continue to not only grow stronger than you, oh God, but to grow stronger as men. Father God, to continue to help us to be responsible, to be accountable, to be knowledgeable, oh God, of the things that you are calling us to lead, of the people that you're calling us to attend to. Father, we thank you now, oh God, for every man that represents the kingdom of God on tonight. And we pray, oh God, even for the men that are not here, Father, we pray, oh God, that you continue to bless them and bless their homes in the mighty name of Jesus. God, we open ears tonight. Our hearts are open, ready to receive what you have in store for us. God, continue to bless our leader, oh God, Pastor Gatherite, our senior leader, Pastor Angela Abrams, and God continue to cover our presider, Bishop Lambert Gates. Lord, we love you and we bless you in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 3:50

Amen, amen. So we like to say we look in our time. We want to be mindful of time, mindful of our listeners. So we're gonna jump right in with a statement and then we're going to ask a question after the statement. And this is coming from, so if somebody wants to know where this stuff is coming from, it's coming from um, you know, as a man thinking. So in the book, it states that until thought, now remember we said thought and purpose. So until a thought is linked with purpose, there is no intelligent accomplishment. Uh, with the majority, the uh bank of thought is allowed to drift upon the ocean of life. So your thoughts are drifting if you they're not centered with a purpose. Aimlessly is a vice, and such drifting must not continue for him who would steer clear of catastrophic and destruction. Catastrophe and destruction. So, here, brothers, that we're talking about, brought you in to share with us. What is your thoughts when you hear the fact that if you don't link your thought with a purpose, you're like somebody out there uh in a boat, not knowing which way to go. The Bible says that, you know, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways because obviously he don't have a purpose, so he's all over the place. So something happens. It reminds me, I'm not gonna say who the guy is, but it reminds me of this guy that then bounced around to a lot of teams and everybody feel like they got a shot at the championship because he's on their team. I'm not gonna say who that is, but it just reminds me of that. Now, I'm sure he got a purpose because the championship, you know, is in his mind and his heart. But just to throw an ideal out there that how can we help brothers to, you know, bring it in, bring it in, bring it in, bring their minds in. So who wants to go first? Share your great wisdom that we know is out there. I'm looking at Brandon, he looked like he got a whole lot to say. Who wants to go first? That thoughtless man. How can that man get a purpose? And hey, let's be fair. Do we feel like men are out there aimlessly just, you know, it is what it is, type mentality. Y'all help me to get to some understanding, or help your listener to get to an understanding that no, it's not that. Brothers, this, that, and the other. Maybe y'all know something I don't know, and it's a great time to share. Because people need to hear what is the solution to the aimless brother. What do you think, Benjamin? You got you look like, man, you got your hands crossed, and you look like you're really in a thought. That brother that's out there, is he out there aimlessly? Or is he out there? Maybe that is his purpose.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Maybe that's funny you say that because we were just, I was discussing with an elder earlier today, is that a lot of times we're trying to fit in somebody else's different definition of manhood than our own. Wow. And, you know, with me and him, we have a saying, and I'm gonna share it with y'all, is that you can try to fit in, but really you should be trying to fight. And because the difference between fit and fight is the GH. And the G H, guess what that stands for? God's help. Okay. So if you try to fit into something that's not designed for you, and that right there says so much because you're going against what God intended for you to do, is to fight and create, really to defend his will. If that's what you so-called, you know, choose to do. But we were um just saying how, again, men have to redefine themselves, particularly black men. Black men, once we have a and if you look at it historically, I think during the the the uh civil rights movement and into the black power was probably the most divining point of our existence in this land, as we know as America. And we actually had them by the tails. So, in closing, just saying we have to go back to the drawing board and redefine our own manhood where no one else can do that. Not our women, not our opposers. Uh nobody can define black manhood, and just think about it. 30 some years, oh, will be 31 years ago, come October, we had a million-man march. We got together, we actually, in current times, had defined this is what we're gonna do, y'all. This is what we gonna do. But unfortunately, others were eavesdropping and look at the condition of our communities now. And they did whatever they could to disrupt our progress. So again, we have to, of course, fight, of course, most importantly, with God's help, be able to redefine ourselves.

SPEAKER_04 8:48

I I like that because if I'm hearing it clearly, it's saying fight for the purpose and fight for it with your purpose. Right. So that that makes a lot of sense because um my son, I'm I'm really gonna lean on him to see what he comes up with because he's doing a paper and it talks about the African-American uh and the question and debate and the information he's gonna find out is are they lazy or is the is it a misconception? And I believe the misconception because every brother I know, I don't know too many brothers that's own it, owning about it, about it, with their purpose. Now, understand this, with their purpose that is just single-mindedly doing something. I just talked to a guy the other day that's uh on the block, uh, Benjamin, where we grew up at, and we ran across each other, and I'm like, dude, I say, you know, it's a police officer, and I said, man, you know, I knew you put the years in. Are you retired? He said, Yeah, I'm retired, but I'm on my next thing. So I don't know anyone. I the ones that I run across that's really about it, everybody on this line that's about it. Uh Brother Dwayne Patterson and retired, that brother that took up a mantle with the church that's unbelievable. So it's not like they're sitting chilling talking, you know, drinking a Kool-Aid, like they got all these stereotypes about us, the Kool-Aid and the watermelon. But man, we about it. And I think that like Benjamin said, we need to go back to that because we did. And I was so disheartened after the Million Man March because it was like everything that was established and stated and expressed and made us feel good, preached it similar to the convention, made you feel good, made you feel wonderful, but nothing happened. So Benjamin put a nice little spin on it and it said, fight. Now the next thing they said, and somebody can, you know, comment on this one, they said a man should conceive of a legitimate purpose. That's what Benjamin said, a fight. Fight for who we are, identifying who we are. First of all, we identify that we've been made by God and we have a voice. And I'm telling you, man, like I say, my coach said today, he said, anybody that says that they're not a speaker, they're telling the fabrication, they're lying, because men, women, human beings were made to talk. We were made to communicate. My question to you is what are you communicating? So here it's saying a man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart and set out to accomplish it. That's the fight. My question to you guys, do you see a lot of that? And if you don't see a lot of that, why do you think you don't see a lot of it? So that's the next question. Do you see a lot of men out conceiving a legitimate purpose? And if you don't see a lot of that, hey, holler back at your boy. What's what's going on? Why is it that people are not getting this legitimate purpose and running with it? Don't be ashamed, don't be afraid. Remember, you got like uh six, seven, eight, nine, ten countries listening to y'all. They want to hear you. Hey, they want to hear what you think. Richard, you over there look like you thinking. Okay, Brandon, we got Brandon. Go ahead, Brandon.

SPEAKER_03 12:03

So, um, I believe that speaking from the or for the younger generation, I really believe that it'll start with the generation before us, as far as like the men that I see, even the ones younger than me, but it just be like when you when you look at the older generation, a lot of the older generations just be like, yeah, no, I'm not dealing with that, we ain't got to go through that. And but that caused a uh a problem because the younger guys who are around, the reason why they don't know what to fight or how to fight is because they don't have no direction on what they fight for. So if you don't have no purpose or you don't even know what a purpose looks like, you're not gonna be able to fight for, you know what I'm saying? And then that's gonna leave another generation blind. And then at that point, that's what it really becomes. Um a lot of people don't, other men that I do see um who are trying to find a purpose done had to fall so far that it almost feel like, oh man, we behind the eight-ball because we had to go through all of this just to get back to what a purpose looked like. Um I think that is what I see as far as like the biggest disconnect. It'll make people who in their 30s look like they in their teens or even sound like a teenager because they never had no guidance. And then the ones who are able to guide them feel that it's a waste of time to do so.

SPEAKER_04 13:48

I I agree. I agree 100%. I told the group, um, I think it was uh my children, and we had a conversation. Me and Pritchard are gonna talk offline, but uh we had a conversation, Pritchard, in regards to uh what they had witnessed over the weekend. We'll leave it at that. And I say it's something because those individuals, just like Brandon was saying, didn't have the opportunity to share. And they was pretty much, they decided, uh Benjamin, to take flight. They didn't decide to fight. They decided, hey man, like Benjamin, I mean, like Brandon saying, hey, what's the use? And that's where I think as individuals like ourselves, we gotta be willing to respect everybody's journey. I'm gonna say that one more time so the audience can hear that. We have to get to a point where we respect everybody's journey. And like Brandon is saying, because everybody did not have, everybody on this line, you know, my brother included, can say they did not have a positive dad in their life. My dad, he was church, he was minister, but there were some things that even was challenging with that. But to go in Brandon's to say, to agree with you, Brandon, is what was showed to him. And see, that's where we got to reverse this curse. We gotta be able to fight, like Benjamin said, and say, that's not my purpose. My purpose is not hanging out on the street. My purpose is not sitting there drinking until I'm silly, my purpose is not just smoking all the bud I can. Because at that point, are you willing, are you really uh fighting for a purpose or are you lost in a distraction? So I always tell the kid, sixth grade, so I always tell them it's really easy to tell from positive and negative. You know, and I'm saying that because we, you know, we got so many people listening. Um it's easy to tell positive or negative. Real simple. Positive ads, negative subtracts. So we just got in our reflect, remember what we said? Reflect, check, and correct. As we reflect, we gotta do what Brother Patterson said. Brother Patterson said that he had a situation. We all had a flood, not a flood, we had a bad tornado. Gotta check on uh Pridget too. Pridchett, y'all right uh over there, man. Thumbs up, you you y'all good? Okay, we all out of power up here, man. But anyway, uh we had a bad storm here. Hit Patterson, hit myself, not our power out. Brandon, you good? I think y'all good because your your in-laws told us they was good. Y'all was good? No, no uh lights off and all that? No trees, okay, all right. So, then and and uh Benjamin said it just walked through uh Milwaukee and went somewhere else. So we already talked about that. But one of the things that Patterson said was he had his generator, he was ready. He was like, all right, I'm good to go. And he said, man, he recognized anytime you want Patterson, you can just stop me and say, no, this is how the story really went. He said that the uh generator wasn't going right, right? So something was going on with the generator. So he said, Man, I need to check that generator out. Now he came aware of, he was aware of the problem, and this is where Brandon is saying, a lot of the young men don't, I'm not even aware that there is a problem. They now not even aware. So we gotta take that into consideration when we're thinking about the journey that these brothers are on. They are not aware. So we gotta respect their lack of awareness, but we gotta fight, like Benjamin said, so that we can help them to become aware that this is bad. Because if that gets passed on to their generation and their generation and passing on to the next generation, think how terrible this cycle is going to be. And there is something out there that talked about if the recycle is repeated for, I believe, help me out, Benjamin, if you heard it before. 365 years or something, they ain't even gotta do it no more. We'll start doing it to ourselves. I think that was the correct number. It was like, and help me out, appreciate it if you heard it before. Whereas, as they say, man, you do these certain things with African Americans, then all of a sudden they're gonna start repeating it. And unfortunately, it's being repeated. Light against the dark, you know, the house and the field and all kinds of stuff that's out there. But back to uh Patterson, Patterson said that when he went to check his generator, he recognized, first of all, this was a problem. He went to check it, and checking it, he found the malfunction, and in the malfunction, he corrected the malfunction. So I'm gonna say to the listeners, as we are, as time is doing the time is doing, I'm gonna say, take that. Take that, run with it because we need to check where we at. We need to reflect on if it's working or not working. And if it's not working, make the necessary corrections. Groups like this is awesome because they give us strategies on how to deal with this. So we got we got a little bit of time left. Um read the last one. It said, the centralizing point of his thoughts may take the form of a spiritual ideal. So I well, you know, we got this preacher here, so let me see what he's talking about. So they're saying that if we focus on a spiritual ideal, that the success will be real. I uh hey, preacher, let me know. What you think, Reverend Preacher?

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Oh, I totally, I totally agree with that. Um, if the the Bible lets a note lets us know that, you know what I'm saying, you know, if we keep our mind, we think think on things above. Okay. You know, we think if we continue to think on things um that's above and in the kingdom of heaven, um, we'll be successful. Uh our our our our our thoughts are will manifest. Whatever we are looking to manifest will manifest. Because what? What do we do first? We sought the kingdom of God, we seek Him first, and all these things shall be added. So um I guarantee I definitely believe in that, that when your mind is towards God, when your thoughts are towards God, when your heart is towards God, um, everything about you is about God and towards God. That those things will manifest. We have a great success. The Bible says, this book of the law shall not depart out of that mouth, but thou shalt what? Meditate therein day and night. And then what'll happen? You'll make your way prosperous, and then you have what they call success. So I believe that. Yeah, you continue, you put God first, um, success will come your way. As a man, we got we, you know, as men, we we we we trying to handle everything on our own, but I'm learning, even as a slave man, even as a uh uh minister, even as whoever, a kingdom man, I'm learning continuously to put God first because I can't do it. I can try to do it, but it won't it won't succeed um the way God wants it to succeed. You know, it'll succeed in my eyes, but it won't succeed the way that, you know, it could be even easier than what I'm doing if you put God if I put God first. So I'm learning to always put God first. Sometimes it's not as easy as it sounds because as men are pricking a way like, no, I got it, but none of us are bigger than God. So we gotta submit ourselves, submit our ways into the Lord, and that's when things will prosper in our life as men. So continue to seek God first and watch what happens in your life.

SPEAKER_04 21:28

Love it, love it, love it, love it. And and this guy right here thought he got away because I shared a little bit of his testimony. So I'm gonna ask Dwayne. Dick, what's a takeaway for you, man? What can you take away out of this whole conversation? And then we read this a little bit. Thank you, thank you so much, uh, Reverend Pritchett. Nobody can polish it up like you. All we need is a little music, man. And then you're gonna show Kurt Franklin how to really get it done. So I'm that's what I'm talking about. But anyway, uh Dick uh Dickie Patterson, what What have you taken out of this whole conversation? Nice takeaway that you think that our listeners should then say, hey, this is what I see, this is what I heard, and this is what I think you know is worth passing on.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

It's nothing like having uh somebody to look up to, or for the most part, but God to put somebody in your life that's knowledgeable, that can help you accomplish what you're trying to do, and and not trying to do everything on your own. Like the problem that I was having with my generator. I couldn't think of, I couldn't think about what, I couldn't come up with what the problem was. But I I told myself, let me stop, let me go to sleep and rest, let me pray about it. Okay. And when I I prayed about it, it's like God told me to check the holes on the generator for that the propane goes through. And and to, first of all, he told me to just put some gas in. Okay. Because the generator runs off of propane and gas. So he told me put put some gas in. Put the gas in the generator and started up brand like it was brand new. I said, okay. Then I turned around and I'm trying to fix the problem with the propane. And I moved the line. I took the line completely off and made sure that nothing was blocked. But then when taking the line off, I'm like, wow, this was loose. So the propane was leaking out. Tightened up the propane line, started to generate up, ran like brand new. And and I couldn't have done that on my own. I couldn't have thought about it on my own because I had been trying for days. But God told me in my sleep, get up and put some gas in.

SPEAKER_03 24:18

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

And then uh check the line for the propane, and lo and behold, everything's running like it's brand new.

SPEAKER_04 24:29

Wow. Wow. That that man, you you you you said a mouthful because if people could figuratively put that into their life, especially gentlemen, especially men, uh, we talking about supporting dads, we talking about spiritual dads, um, men in general, mentors, those individuals out there, and we can spread this, share this, uh, just like I have a similar story. I'm gonna make now like two seconds because I want to reflect back on what Patterson is saying. Same way with me. I had studied literally, uh, I was like going, my my job, Benjamin, for the last since the eighth when I failed the test, uh, you know, to become uh endorsed teaching middle school because I'm a high school teacher. Um, and so I had been going to the library like, man, it's crazy. My little iPad doing what I need to do, similar to what uh Patterson is saying. I got to a point I didn't know what to do. I said, God, I'm on this test, and Lord knows people that know to know have been through the thing. So it's similar to what Patterson is saying here. So is we doing a comparison. All right? Comparison is we both got to the point we did not know what to do. And I believe in my heart somebody is listening, don't know what to do. So Patterson said he went to sleep and the Lord revealed it to him. I'm sitting on the test. I mean, man, the heat is on because school started what? Preach it. Well, no, I'm sorry, preacher, I don't mean to mess up your summer. So I'm preaching, you put something over your ears real quick. Benjamin, you too. But school started. School started about two weeks. And I'm like, man, God, this ain't. I need to be in that school. I need to be doing my thing. Because I'm five years from my goal of retirement and moving on to the next thing. I'm not, I say, man, I feel you, bro. I feel you. I'm about to go out here, man, and make the rest of this rest of these, you know, so many weeks. But on the countdown, though, uh that's where I was at. And I'm sure Patterson was the same way, because it is no fun in the dark. We over here looking like, man, we got we over here like, boy, you could call it the romantic house. You can call it a house where we got seance going, candles all over the place. So I feel you. We got a cooler, well, you know, that's our refrigerator. So, man, we making it happen. We surviving. But the thing, even in that whole story, is me and we gotta make it happen. And we gotta show our kids that we can, we, hey, yes, it's hard, but I'm gonna do it hard. I might have to cry, but as I cry, I'm gonna rely. Rely on the Holy One of Heaven to show me. Because he said, if any man like wisdom, let him ask a guy who give a liberal and upgrade is not. So we hope that what we said is we say this last little segment, pray out of here, people. Please make sure you tell a friend, please make sure you tell a neighbor, because this is gonna go to a whole different level soon, and we really need your support. We really need, we ain't asking nobody for a dime. All we asking you for is to share the information. Can y'all do that for me? Share it with about five people and tell them get addicted to success for them. You know, uh, I found out my addiction today. I heard from my coach. He said, I'm addicted to doing the most. And not only doing the most, but doing it with the Holy Ghost. So there is my addiction. I want to make sure everybody is helped, everybody have a guide, everybody have a tool because we know as we mentor, as we are working in the classroom, as Brother Pritchett is taking on them, them two lovely young men that he's he's he's uh mentoring, his his uh his niece, also along with those two uh little ones, his nephews, right? Pridget, and then as Brandon is over there. I see him moving around with that king in his life, that you know, the prince, uh as Patterson is continuing to be that strong man for, you know, his um his his children that he's raising. But we ain't gonna put the other name to it. As Benjamin is out there uh in that school and and and doing a fabulous job that he's doing, getting the awards, getting the certificates, doing his thing. We wanna make sure that we continue, like this is saying, that we make this purpose our supreme duty. That's our whole duty. The Bible says what the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep his commandments. Part of that commandment is looking out for your legacy. Legacy is not only where you where a wise man leave an inheritance unto his children's children, but the legacy also. What good do we leave in the neighborhood? What good do we leave in the neighborhood? What do we run from the neighborhood? I go to my old neighborhood all the time. I look around, I'm I'm saying hi. You know, I'm not running, I'm not man, I'm I'm not no good for that. They better learn your own way. No, that should be our supreme duty. We should devote ourselves to its attainment, attaining this, attaining the fact that I'm gonna fight. Um there is no nothing else left in me but to fight. Fight for those children. Fight for your children, fight for that classroom. You know, fight for whatever your purpose is. All right, this is something, uh, this is the road to self-control, true concentration of thoughts because you got you focus on that purpose. Even if we fail again and again, but to accomplish this person's purpose is necessary. It's necessary because Brandon said it perfectly. Our young people need a blueprint, they need a guide. One of the things that helped me to raise my four that uh that um I'm so excited about. Can everybody hear me? Everybody still hear me? I'm still on. Okay. Gotta hurry up because my iPad doing its thing. But um, that I'm excited about was I was able to look at the model of my dad and pray and ask God for the wisdom. I say the wisdom that my dad had to raise the 18. So that I could raise my four. And I can say, thank God that I've raised them. Let's pray, because I don't want this thing to go out. Uh, preaching, you brought us in. Let's pray us out. And then me and stay on after I hit the end, and then we're gonna, you know, doing what we do. Go ahead, preach it.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

Eternal Father, Lord, we thank you for this time. God, we thank you for what you have allowed our ears to hear, oh God. We pray, oh God, Lord, that you continue to give us what we need, God. Lord, continue to give us a thirst to seek you, oh God. We know if we seek you, oh God, we will receive a blessing. We will receive the rewards, we will receive honor, we will receive success, oh God. Lord, if we continue to seek you, God, we receive strategy. Now, Father, we pray, oh God, as we leave this uh meeting, oh God, Lord, continue to cover us, cover our families, um, cover everyone in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord, we thank you until we meet again. We bless your name in Jesus' name, amen.

SPEAKER_04 31:40

Amen, amen. Uh plus the sin. I forgot to have my little thingy, J. Um, but we're gonna say thank you, gentlemen, for being a part of this. We want to say thank you to our listeners. We look forward to you being on the other episode. Do us a nice five uh kindness and make sure you tell five uh and we're gonna be alright. So thank you, gentlemen, thank you, uh audience, and we will see you guys on the next recording.