1. Communication via Email is always the first step. This is important because it allows you to establish initial contact with your Mentee via a safe method as you are just getting to know each other.

2. If you wish to take things to a more personal and more connected level, the next stage of mentorship interaction is voice-to-voice communication (via phone or online voice streaming). It is recommended that this only begin after four or five emails exchanges have taken place. This gives you time to gain confidence in the identity and motives of the mentee with whom you are communicating.

3. After a series of mentorship voice-to-voice calls have taken place (via phone or online voice streaming) over a minimum of four weeks, and if the mentoring relationship is growing in healthy and appropriate ways, and if the Mentor feels comfortable and confident in the Mentees motives, then a video chat session may be initiated. This is the highest and final level of Communication that is recommended by DNA Military. For safety reasons, in-person meetings are discouraged. **Note that, as a DNA Military Mentorship policy, face-to-face meetings are discouraged because DNA Military cannot take responsibility for vetting the motives, mental stability or states of mind of those who will contact you. For this reason, it is recommended that you communicate only via long distance. In addition to this, it is required that you be extremely careful about what kinds of personal information you disclose in order to protect your privacy and safety.

Guidelines Regarding Controversial Topics

I cannot emphasize this next point enough – our mission is to provide encouragement and to facilitate spiritual growth, not to engage in debates on controversial topics. Engaging in peripheral discussions is one of the easiest ways for a mentoring relationship to get off track. Our mission is to introduce and deepen a relationship with a military individual and walk with that person while they grow closer to Jesus in the basics of prayer, the Word, the gospel, salvation, and the Christian life in work, marriage, and family, and to avoid controversy and conflict.

Operation Timothy takes on the basics of the faith and walking with Jesus without engaging the ongoing debates of denominations, scriptural translation preferences, doctrinal debates that tend to divide, important Christian causes outside the subject of the gospel and spiritual growth, social disagreements, cultural battles, political issues, etc. Our mission is spiritual reproduction. We desire to stay focused on providing Christlike encouragement, support and mentorship in matters of character and spiritual growth.

No doubt there will be a few who will want to get you to take on one of the above issues to support their position or to expose yours or that of DNA Military on a divisive topic. Their motives may be sincere or insincere. In either case, by signing up to be a DNA Military Mentor, you are agreeing to be disciplined, to use self-control, and to avoid being baited into such debates or discussions. If conversional social, political or denominational issues arise, please respond with statements along the lines of the following:

" We don't take on those issues."

"Those questions and issues are not the focus of DNA Military"

“My role as a mentor is simply to elaborate and coach others on the messages Phil Downer provides."

"I am not comfortable addressing those topics, but you are welcome to email your questions to Phil Downer at phil@dnamilitary.org."

"I can see that these issues are very important to you. I am not able to address them, so I would like to suggest you seek someone else not affiliated with DNA Military for these discussions."

Your mentoring through DNA Military may differ somewhat from the mentoring in which you are personally engaged due to the fact that, in those mentoring situations, you perhaps are willing and able to take on the various difficult and controversial issues that arise. I respect that. I am sure that no three of us mentoring military individuals agree on every possible issue! Political or otherwise.

Our mission in the DNA Military Mentorship program is to walk alongside a military individual coaching encouraging them and building trust.

Once we have won trust and have begun sharing the basic truths of the Scripture (the deity of Jesus Christ, how we can find new life in Him, the truths of grace, the promises of God, life walking in the fruits of the Spirit, the practice of prayer, confession, Christian community, etc.), our overarching goal is that we could help an individual engage with Jesus Christ and with the Word of God with their mind, will, and emotions. We believe that facilitating these kinds of mentorship relationships can be a catalytic experience that powerfully fosters spiritual growth in the lives of the military personal who will become involved.