Mentoring that Shapes a Lifetime
Mark A. Taylor reflects on the death of his most effective mentor, Charles E. Stiles, and remembers the quiet, lasting influence Stiles had on students and young leaders. Through ministry experiences like the Come Alive Singers and everyday moments of guidance, Taylor recalls lessons about serving others, honoring believers, and keeping people at the center.
- A mentor’s influence is often formed through shared service, not just programs or classrooms.
- Serving others well and treating believers as brothers in Christ marked Stiles’ leadership.
- Simple commitment to Christ, lived out in close community, can shape a lifetime of ministry.
By Mark A. Taylor
As we assembled this issue about mentoring, I received word that my most effective mentor, Charles E. Stiles, had passed away.
Mr. Stiles was alumni director at The Cincinnati Bible Seminary (now Cincinnati Christian University) while I was a student there. I am one in a long line of young people he directed toward the ministry. Before he assumed the Bible college job, in his local church and Christian service camp ministries, he had touched the lives of dozens who serve faithfully today.
At CBS he created the school’s outreach tool, the Come Alive Singers. We traveled the country singing about Jesus and talking to high school students about Bible college. No one was more changed or matured by that enterprise than the Singers themselves, under the influence of Mr. Stiles.
A few snippets stand out in my memory.
- After arriving at a church that was not going to use the Come Alive Singers as all of us 20-year-olds “knew” they should, Mr. Stiles said, “We’re not here to tell them how to do their ministry. We’re here to serve.”
- Driving home at night after one of these programs, when the discussion turned toward believers in groups outside of the Christian churches: “I must treat as my brother in Christ everyone who calls Jesus Lord, regardless of whether we agree on other doctrines.”
- Standing outside the bus, this time during a college choir tour, with a forced firm facial expression when I was the last one to arrive for the morning departure: “Taylor, are you late—again?!”
- When I was getting his advice, some time after that, about a retreat for college-age young people I was putting together at the Western Hills Church of Christ in Cincinnati: “Remember, the people are the program.”
No one demonstrated the truth of this conviction better than he did. Somehow just being with him—laughing, receiving his constant ribbing, feeling free to be one’s self around him, working together in some sort of Christian service—pointed many of us to a lifetime pursuit of that service. No classroom or program accomplished so much for any of us.
Sometimes, in this complicated world, we become intrigued with complicated solutions. Charles Stiles demonstrated, without fanfare and with little acclaim, that the best approach may be the simplest: commit yourself to Christ and then rub shoulders with others whose commitment needs to grow.
Any of us could wish our approach were always this strategic and our influence so long-lasting.
Author: Mark A. Taylor
Mark A. Taylor, who served as Christian Standard editor from 2003 to 2017, retired in June 2017 after almost 41 years with Standard Publishing (Christian Standard Media).
